There's a little one inside you who's been waiting a very long time. For adoptees, she's often younger than words — holding the original loss alone since before you had memory of it. This week, we go inward to meet her.

I'm braiding together three things that changed how I do this work: Internal Family Systems (Richard Schwartz) to understand your parts — the wounded "exile" and the protectors guarding her; Self energy, the calm, undamaged inner parent that's been in you all along; and a real, repeatable reparenting process from Thais Gibson, plus the tender inner-child practice Gabby Bernstein teaches so well.

Then we don't just talk about it — I guide you through an inner-child healing meditation, right here in the episode, so you can meet her yourself.

This is the work that changes everything. Once she knows she's not alone in there — that there's finally an adult in the room, and it's you — the whole system softens. The protectors lay down their weapons. And you get to live as the person you always were underneath the survival.

Inside the episode:

• What the inner child really is — and why, for us, she's often much younger than expected
• Exiles and protectors, made simple: the wounded young parts, and the coping that guards them
• Self energy and the 8 C's — the inner parent no loss could ever touch
• Why the adoptee inner child is especially young and guarded — and how each attachment style guards her differently
• A reparenting process you can use in real time, plus the simple three: soothe, validate, reassure
• A guided meditation to meet her, ask what she needs, and bring her home

"You spent your whole childhood waiting for a parent who could reach the part of you that hurts. The plot twist of your healing is that the parent you were waiting for is the one who's been carrying her this whole time."

Mentioned in this episode:

• Richard Schwartz — Internal Family Systems: Self, exiles, protectors, the 8 C's
• Gabby Bernstein — Dear Gabby ("How to Connect with Your Inner Child") and Happy Days
• Thais Gibson + The Personal Development School — reparenting and Integrated Attachment Theory
• Episode 6 (coping mechanisms, the BTEA loop) and Episode 7 (somatics, the nervous system, the "voo")
• Seoul Tour Guide Alex Kim - https://www.facebook.com/groups/koreatravelguide

Resources & Links:

• Free Adoptee Workshop Sunday, June 28 @1:00 PM EST - The Art of Healing Attachments: You've felt the pattern your whole life — now give it a name. Take the quiz live and finally understand why you connect, and pull away, the way you do. You'll leave with real language for something you've carried for years. Join us for doing the deeper work to heal through subconscious reprogramming, somatics, and sharing with community! Sign up for the workshop by joining my free adoptee community on Skool (link below).
• Join The Empowered Adoptee Circle (free): https://www.skool.com/the-empowered-adoptee-7690/about
• Submit Your Question for Dear Claire: https://forms.gle/Z6mc6CxbY35jxkE5A
• Work 1:1 with Claire: [email protected] 

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