It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Traditions Around the World! Rachel Devine

December is a time for peace, joy, and love. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Even though the world, at times, seems to be upside down, we can still relish in the holidays. Potentially, 2.83 billion people celebrate Christmas, since that is the number of Christians around the world. Christmas brings festive cheer to many diverse cultures and nationalities. While some aspects vary, the unifying spirit of joy and togetherness is a common theme.There are 16.2 million Jewish people in the world who conceivably celebrate Hanukkah. Let’s look at old-world traditions around the globe for both Christmas and Hanukkah.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The dazzling Amsterdam canals glimmer during the Christmas season. Locals adorn canal boats with festive lights, trees, and decor to compete in the annual canal parade. Families also bike to Christmas markets selling delicious holiday treats like oliebollen (fried dough balls), erwtensoep (split pea soup), and glühwein (mulled wine). The Oude Kerk is the oldest in Amsterdam, it was founded in 1213. Many people enjoy mass at this renowned church on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

Germany

Germany glows during December with blazing Christmas markets, known as Christkindlmarkts, throughout Munich, Berlin, and other cities. Vendors sell handmade ornaments and classic German foods like bratwurst, potato pancakes, stollen fruitcake, and gingerbread cookies. Another fun tradition is pickle ornaments, where parents hide special pickle-shaped ornaments on the tree for children to find on Christmas morning.

Italy

The Italians showcase elaborate nativity scenes called presepi. People craft miniature figurines for biblical displays in churches and public squares across Rome, Naples, and other communities. Children also write wish list letters to La Befana, a friendly holiday witch who brings treats on Epiphany Eve. Of course, Italian Christmas feasts feature specialty seafood dishes, panettone fruitcake, and delicious pastries. The 7 fishes on Christmas eve is a long tradition in Italian families.

Greece

Christmas trees are not as commonly used in Greece compared to other parts of Europe or North America. Instead, most houses will have a shallow wooden bowl and a piece of wire is suspended across the rim. This wire frame is decorated with strings of beads and small ornaments. Greeks celebrate Christmas Eve with a meatless meal. It typically includes various salads, spinach and leek pies, breads, and seafood. Christmas day, roast lamb or pork is the traditional main protein. Also served are appetizers called mezedes which include foods like grilled octopus. Visiting relatives and friends on Christmas day into the next week is expected social custom to share holiday greetings and sweets like melomakarona honey cookies.

South Africa

In South Africa, Santa Claus is often called Sinterklaas or Kersvader. South Africans love to decorate their houses for Christmas. Strings of lights adorn both outside and inside the house, and a tree with tinsel and baubles can be found in most living rooms. Children eagerly await his visit, hoping for gifts and treats. Traditional South African meals for Christmas include Christmas trifle, gammon with Pomegranate and pink peppercorn glaze. Also mince pies and Christmas cake.

Ireland

An integral Irish Christmas symbol is the evergreen Christmas candle shone in windows to represent welcome hospitality. Irish families also hang mistletoe for good luck and enjoy Christmas pudding, followed by tea or mulled Irish whiskey. On Stephen's Day, groups go a'wren'ing door-to-door, singing carols and collecting donations while carrying wren bird effigies, an ancient cultural tribute.

United Kingdom

In England, Christmas crackers contain small gifts that people open before holiday meals. These pop-able tubes with paper crowns and jokes add playfulness to gatherings. British holiday staples include mince pies, roasted turkey or goose, and the monarch's annual Christmas broadcast. In Scotland, some still practice “first-footing” on New Year’s Day, where the first guest to cross a home’s threshold signifies good fortune.

United States

Americans embrace a blend of customs from around the globe. Classic Americana includes Santa Claus and his reindeer, stockings hung by the fireplace, caroling, Christmas light displays, and New York City's Rockefeller Center tree. Sugar cookie baking, radio broadcasts of “A Christmas Carol,” and holiday movie classics like “It’s a Wonderful Life” entertain households during cozy nights. A big tradition for some is midnight mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and other places of worship.

Australia

Since Australia experiences summery beach weather for Christmas, many celebrate with outdoor barbeques, cricket matches, and camping holidays. The traditional English-style roast turkey dinner turns into cold platters of seafood, meats, salads, and desserts like pavlova and trifle. Local flair also emerges through concerts like Carols by Candlelight and glowworm-inspired displays lighting up public parks and gardens.

Hanukkah traditions

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE. When the Maccabees reclaimed the temple from the Greeks, there was only enough oil to keep the eternal flame burning for one day, yet it miraculously lasted for eight days.

Some of the core Hanukkah traditions include:

• Lighting the hanukkiah - On each of the eight nights, Jewish families light an additional candle on a nine-branched candelabrum called a hanukkiah or a menorah. The center candle is used to light all the others.

• Reciting blessings - There are three traditional blessings recited every night during the candle lighting. These blessings give thanks for the joyous festival, the lights, and the miracles performed for the ancestors.

• Playing dreidel - Children play this four-sided spinning top game and win chocolate coins called gelt based on which letter the dreidel lands on. The letters stand for the Hebrew phrase “A great miracle happened there.”

• Eating fried foods - To commemorate the miracle of oil, it’s traditional to eat oil-fried foods like potato latkes, jelly doughnuts, and dairy meals.

• Giving Hanukkah gelt - The tradition is to give children chocolate coins as gifts to teach them charity. Many families also exchange small presents.

This global glimpse spotlights endearing traditions enjoyed by the young and old across many lands. Some of these traditions date back centuries ago. May these customs, both new and old, spark inspiration to kindle your own meaningful Christmas traditions this year!

Rachel Devine is the author of Discover the Power of the Secret Within, along with The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, all on Amazon.

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A Christmas Story: The Connection - Rachel Devine

The following is my most cherished short Christmas story. This story depicts the real meaning of Christmas and will put you right in the spirit of Christmas. I hope you enjoy this delightful tale of an unexpected connection on Christmas Eve. So grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy, A Christmas Story - The Connection.

She brushed the snow off her gray wool coat as she hurried into her apartment building lobby. The doorman greeted her with a warm smile, and she returned the greeting as she made her way up the three flights of stairs to her apartment. She could smell the freshly baked scent of sugar cookies filling the air, as she guessed this delightful scent was coming from Mrs. Granger’s apartment. Christmas was tomorrow, and she felt the holiday spirit all around town. Mr. Linden, the butcher, had given her an extra piece of ham as he made jovial small talk in his tiny store. Mrs. Jennings, her close neighbor, offered her a warm knitted scarf as a gift for this festive holiday. And a warm thought crossed her mind, as she remembered being in church the past Sunday and the pastor giving out sugar canes to the children.

She unlocked the door to her small railroad flat and hurried inside. It was warm as the pipes hissed the sound of heat coming into the flat. She took off her wool coat and her hat and glanced into the foyer mirror. Her long blond hair was ruffled, and she could see that her blue eyes looked tired. She had just passed her thirty-first birthday with a big party her parents had given her. It was a festive party, with relatives, birthday cake, and presents. She was truly blessed. Now all she had to do was find a husband, and her life would be complete, she thought as she made a pout smile into the mirror as it reflected back at her. She giggled to herself like a child as she thought about tomorrow and the kinship she felt with her family.

Yes, it was a special time of year. Tomorrow morning, she would gather up the small gifts for her parents and visit them for a special turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Her mother always made Christmas very special, and since Mary was a little child, she had fond memories of many wonderful holidays. Her mother will no doubt have those special chocolate cookies—the ones with delightful sprinkles and of course plum pudding.

Then a sudden thought of sadness rushed through her mind. What about those who can’t afford Christmas? What about those families who are having hard times? She had heard that many families were going to gather at the food kitchen on Bleeker Street for their Christmas dinner. She prayed the butcher and other storekeepers were especially charitable to those folks. She knew, however, that this was all in God’s competent hands and that such matters were better left to the “Big Boss.” But she couldn’t help feeling fortunate. She had a decent job at Kaufman's law firm, assisting the owner, a roof over her head, and food on the table. Many were not as fortunate as she was. Mary thought, what could I do to help those in need? She truly wanted to help those who were not as fortunate as she was. After deep contemplation, Mary decided to go out to the food kitchen at the other end of town and see if she could help in some way. She went to her cupboard and saw that it was sparsely stocked. But nonetheless, Mary grabbed a jar of strawberry preserves her mother had given her, dropped it into a bag, grabbed her wool coat, her scarf, and her hat, and darted out the door and ran down the three flights of stairs.

She hurried outside and into the snowy, cold air as she made her way through the cobblestone street to the trolley car that just happened to stop simultaneously as she stepped onto the curb. She made her way in and noticed an old man stooped over, barely able to hold onto the trolley pole, as it made its way through the snowy cobblestone streets. She couldn’t help noticing he had a terrible, disgruntled look on his face. His black tattered coat was well worn but clean, and his boots looked as if they saw better days. He did, however, seem to have a new black scarf wrapped around his neck. He was mumbling about needing to get to the general store before the store closed, making hand gestures as he thought out loud. How odd, she thought, that this elderly man is brave enough to confront the elements to get to the general store on Christmas Eve. And she thought she heard the word preserves, but she might have been mistaken. He must really need food, and maybe he is poor and lonely, she thought.

At that very moment, her eyes met his. They were dark, lonely eyes that spoke to her. She could see the pain of years of loneliness. She could also see in his eyes the glaring power of a worried look. He has seen very hard times in his day, she thought. She had this gift, the same one her father had, where she could read people’s eyes—not all the time, but most times. She could tell this man was not happy. She smiled warmly at him, hoping that he would feel the spirit of the season, and for a brief second, a wry smile appeared on his face and then disappeared as he made his way off the trolley. Mary decided to follow him to the grocer and see what he needed. Maybe she could help one individual tonight instead of going to the food kitchen, where people were sure to be helped. She didn't have that much money on her, maybe twenty-five cents, but that did not deter her from her charitable mission.

She hurried off the trolley and made her way towards the general store, on a mission of mercy. She felt the icy cold wind sting her face and the stone-cold pavement against her boots. She was happy to step into the store, where it was warm and dry. She watched as the old man made his way around the store, and she saw him pick up a few items. He put a small ham on the counter, along with bread and a jar of strawberry preserves. It looked as if he would have bread and preserves for Christmas breakfast and ham for dinner—a sparse breakfast indeed, she thought.

The storeowner, a burly-looking man, made some small talk with the old man as he announced that the total of his purchase was fifty-nine cents. The man put his hand in his pocket and came up with forty cents. “You are nineteen cents short,” announced the storeowner, who did not seem to have a charitable bone in his body. “Times are hard for all of us,” he continued. “I could give you credit, but you already owe me twenty cents from your last purchase. I am sorry.” The elderly man looked embarrassed and upset as he decided to put the strawberry preserves back on the shelf.

Mary could not believe what was happening as she reached into the bag and handed the man the jar of strawberry preserves. “Please take this,” she said. “It is my gift to you for Christmas.”

The elderly man looked quite puzzled, and for an awkward moment, there was silence. He then responded by saying, “Dear lady, who are you, and do you always walk around with a jar of strawberry preserve in your bag?” The man seemed very confused.

“No, actually, I was on my way to donate it to the food kitchen, but I found a better use for it, so please take it,” Mary replied.

The man was puzzled by this sudden turn of events and felt as if something much more important was taking place at this very moment in time. He felt a warm spirit of generosity, and it was piercing his heart with much comfort. He was reluctant to accept the gift, but he looked into the young lady's eyes and could see that it meant more for her to give the gift than it meant for him to receive it. He could read her heart; it was a gift.

After a few uncomfortable silent seconds, the elderly man smiled and said to Mary, “Dear lady, I will accept your gift and say thank you. This is very kind and generous of you. Merry Christmas, and God bless you.”

Mary felt this sudden feeling of luminescence fill her heart with joy, and she gave a silent thank you to God for this glorious encounter. She smiled warmly at the elderly man and chanted, "Merry Christmas to you, and may God bless you abundantly."

The man walked out of the store with a look of bewilderment on his face. Mary turned to the storeowner and said, "Here is the twenty cents the man owes you.” He looked at her, scratched his head, took the money, and walked to the back of the store, where a woman was beckoning him to come and help her with her purchase.

Mary walked out of the store feeling the spirit of Christmas all around her, but most of all within her soul. Her heart was filled with God’s peace and joy. This was what Christmas was all about, she thought as she got back on the trolley car. It was about giving, caring, and sharing. It was about love—the kind of love that is unconditional for all of humanity, not just family and friends. It was about being human. She knew she would probably never see this old man again. She didn’t even know his name, but she did know that the two of them connected in a spirit of generosity and kindness tonight on this special Christmas Eve, and no matter what happens in her lifetime, that will always carry around in her heart.

Rachel Devine

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Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a healthy happy New Year!

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The Healing Power of Spirituality for Addictions - Rachel Devine

Addictions afflict millions of people, trapping them in destructive cycles with substances like alcohol, drugs, or behaviors like gambling. Food addiction, specifically in the form of compulsive overeating, binge eating, and eating disorders, is rising rapidly.

The good news is that spirituality and spiritual practices have shown promising benefits for alleviating addictions through connecting to something higher than momentary impulses. Spirituality can help transform your life to one of purpose and freedom from addictions.

The Spiritual Dimension of Addictions

Research has uncovered that addictions often serve to temporarily fill an inner void or provide an escape. As psychology professor Dr. Philip Monroe states, “Addictions start with pain relief but end up causing more pain.” Underneath addictive patterns, there is often spiritual starvation or a longing for purpose and meaning in life.

By nurturing our spiritual needs, we can reduce the risk of harmful addictive behaviors taking root. Spirituality helps satisfy our core human need for inner fulfillment, beyond what any substance or activity can provide.

Inner Child Factor

To go one step deeper, the inner child factor plays a role in addictions. When we don’t get our inner child needs met, we have a a void within as mentioned previously. Some of us fill this void with various addictive substances, including food, drugs, or alcohol. Some fill the void by overworking, gambling or other obsessive behaviors. Filling your own needs with self-love, affirmations, self-care, are all ways to fill the void within with positive energy. This is part of inner child healing. Connecting to your higher power, whom I call God, can also help you fill the inner void.

Benefits of Spiritual Practices

Here are some of the top researched benefits that different spiritual practices offer for healing from addictions:

Meditation and Mindfulness: Meditation helps us connect to inner stillness beneath addictive impulses. One study found that a meditation program reduced alcohol and drug use by 60% in people. Mindfulness also minimizes stress and emotional turmoil that can trigger relapses.

Gratitude: Focusing on blessings counters the scarcity mindsets underlying addiction. People with gratitude journaling practices have been found to be up to 35% less likely to engage in substance abuse. Gratitude practice has a myriad of emotional, as well as physical benefits.

Self-Reflection: Prayer, journaling, or therapy sessions that explore the emotional roots and meaning behind addictions foster self-understanding. This self-insight cultivates compassion and helps align behaviors with values.

Sense of Purpose: Rediscovering a sense of meaning and purpose in life motivates positive change. Volunteer work, acts of service, or exploring passions boost this sense of meaning. One study found that a purpose-centered program successfully prevented alcohol addiction relapse.

Support Groups: 12-step programs and support groups provide a caring community and inspiration to persevere. Feeling understood by others with similar struggles helps mitigate the shame and isolation that feed addictions. Dr. Wayne Dyer, a renowned author of spiritual books said, “The success of 12-step programs lie in the fact that they help one connect to their higher power where there is strength to overcome addictions.”

Continued Commitment to Growth

While spiritual practices cultivate inner fullness and serenity, addictions can be cunning, trying to trick their way back in during moments of weakness. Being committed to personal and spiritual growth, one day at a time, is essential. Continuing on the path of recovery, with some or all of the suggestions will give you strength to overcome the addiction. Remember, there is strength and courage in numbers. 12-step programs is a great fellowship of people who will be supportive.

In closing, the path to overcoming addiction has its ups and downs, but by nurturing our spiritual dimension, we can find the light that guides us through the darkness. This very light brings us through dark times and emerges into the light of hope. Our essential healing waits below the surface of the light, ready to emerge as we open our hearts and connect to life’s deeper meaning.

Rachel Devine is the author of her new inner child book Discover the Power of the Secret Within, along with The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, all on Amazon.

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Rachel Devine

The holidays are fast approaching, with the start of Hanukkah already here and Christmas only a few weeks away, the mindset is on gift-giving. What better gift than the gift of empowerment. A book is not only a perfect gift, but a gift of knowledge and sometimes enlightenment. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Let’s look at this a little deeper.

My new book is called, Discover the Power of the Secret Within. With all of the millions of books you can choose from, you might ask yourself, why this book? And the answer may surprise you.

So, let’s peer into a window that explains what my book is all about.

This book is about creating yourself anew. It is about discovering the power of the secret within, which is elusive and mysterious. The power within you is a well-kept secret. Most people will not learn about it in their lifetime. It has positively transformed millions of lives. Those who discover the power of the secret within will be richer than any successful billionaire in the world.

So let me ask you these questions. Do you have long-forgotten dreams that you want to make a reality? Do you want to lose weight, start a business, find your soulmate, get a promotion, get healthy, or end an addiction? Well, now is the time to move forward and make your dreams a reality. Make no mistake about it; you have this miraculous power within you to create your destiny.

However, there can be blocks to realizing your dreams. There is another power called the subconscious mind that is in charge of almost every decision, every move, and every thought you make in life. Most people have no idea why they have a chip on their shoulder, why they keep meeting the same type of dysfunctional romantic partner, why they have issues at work, or why they have deep-rooted resentments, and the answer lies within.

Your inner child is part of the power of your subconscious mind, which has been picking up messages way before it was able to fully process what was going on. The subconscious mind holds most of your emotions, memories, experiences, traumas, and beliefs from the past. This dual force—the subconscious mind and inner child—drives your life 95% of the time! This is an incredible revelation that I explore in one of the chapters.

Do you ever wonder why losing a pet can be more devastating than losing a family member. There is a reason for this. I also link inner child experiences with grief, especially the grief of losing a pet. I found fascinating information that is incredibly revealing regarding pet grief.

There is also a link between our inner child and who we connect with in the dating world. Did you ever wonder why you keep meeting dysfunctional people or those you don’t connect with in the dating world? Or perhaps you wonder why are single your whole life. I put clarity in that area in one of my chapters. Once you can see a pattern in what is going on with the negativity in your dating life, you will be able to resolve any issues that are keeping you from connecting with a healthy partner.

This is just a small window into my book that reveals a world of clarity, hope, and empowerment.

You have a choice: continue your life as it is or empower yourself with proven, sure-fire techniques to unlock the secret within. Let us move forward together on this exciting journey into the depths of your inner world as we move on a positive and direct pathway towards discovering the power of the secret within to heal your inner child and manifest your dreams into reality.

Rachel Devine is the author of Discover the Power of the Secret Within, along with The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, all on Amazon.

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Why is Pet Grief so Painful? The Answer will Shock you - Rachel Devine

When I lost my dog Luke back in 2018, my whole world came crashing down around me. The emotions associated with the grief were, at times, unbearable. The question is, why is pet grief so painful? Why is it more devastating to lose a pet than a parent? The answer may shock you. I have come to learn so much about pet grief that is astounding. Let’s look at pet grief in details.

Your grief is valid

The loss of a beloved fury animal, a member of your family, can be devastating for many people. Your grief is valid. You connected with a bond that is very real with your fury friend, and the departure is very sad. The more we loved, the more we grieved. However, some people cannot understand this grief. When I was mourning the loss of my own dog for over 6 months, a friend said, “Shouldn’t you be done grieving by now?” She didn’t understand. The pain was overwhelming when my dog died, and it took 8 months of grieving to feel better. The key is to not get wrapped up in other people’s opinions and know that your grief is valid and that there is no timetable for grief. I suggest you be gentle with yourself at this time.

Process the grief

It is imperative to process the grief for your own well-being. If you don’t process the grief, it will come out of left field in the future and be more devastating than it is now. A good start to processing your grief is to reach out to other people who have lost a pet that you can relate to. People who have been through grief can provide a sense of comfort and understanding of your grief. They can offer you sympathy and their own techniques for dealing with their loss. The more you grieve now, the better you will feel later on. Talk about your grief, and if necessary, get a grief counselor who can help you with the grief process. Talking about the grief and journaling about it are two great ways to process the grief.

The Origin of Pet Grief

So why does it hurt so much when our furry friends die? Believe it or not, the answer lies in our childhood. As little children, most of us did not get all the nurturing a child needs. We may have been from a broken home, an abusive home, or one with great dysfunction, alcoholism, drug addiction, or perhaps sexual abuse. These types of homes make it hard for a little child to get their fundamental needs met of love, security and nurturing. There is a void within of not getting our needs met in childhood that carries into adulthood. There is a void within that is yearning to be filled with love as an adult. Some of us fill the void with addictions and compulsive behaviors like food, shopping, alcohol, drugs, and other addictions. And others fill the void with their pets' love. The unconditionally loving pet filled the void within, whether you realized it or not. Your pet was there to give you love, comfort, support, and security—all the things you may not have gotten in childhood. When your pet dies, part of your inner child dies along with the pet and that love, comfort, support and security is now gone. The pain can be devastating. You finally filled the void within with an unconditionally loving pet, and now it’s all gone! The pet’s death triggers grief for the pet, but it also subconsciously triggers grief for the wounded inner child.

Filling the void

Having this awareness of the inner child dilemma is priceless because it gives you a clear understanding of why your pain is so real. And with understanding come solutions. Filling that void within yourself will help you feel better. You don’t want to fill the void with addictions to numb the pain, because if you don’t grieve now, it will come back to haunt you. You can fill the void with exercise, journaling, and self-care. Taking a walk, bike riding, playing tennis, dancing, whatever you enjoy doing that will help you move is going to benefit you. These are positive ways to healing. Now is the time to love your inner child and treat him or her with much kindness and love. Self-love is key to filling the void within.

Reparenting your inner child

At a certain point, you can remember a time in childhood where you needed love, comfort, and security, and in a visualization, go back to that time and sit with your inner child. Visualize everything about your inner child. At that point, you can give your inner child all the love, comfort, and security he or she needs to feel secure and happy. The more you can fill the void with love, the more it will help you with processing the grief. Perhaps you can journal about what your inner child needs and then give them the love and support they need. Remember, your inner child is grieving the loss of your pet in a way that is vulnerable. Be the parent for that inner child and shower him or her with love. Doing this visualization is one layer of the grief that can be healed, as you move along with your grief process.

God and prayer

In times of grief our higher power can be source of much comfort. Staying in prayer and in God’s love is a great way to offer yourself self-care. Perhaps your place of worship has a grief meeting you can attend or you might want to form your own grief meeting. Staying in a community of like-minded people will help your healing process from the grief.

In conclusion, pet grief can be overwhelming, but understanding the origin of the pain and taking steps to grieve the loss will help you on your way to inner healing. Remember, time is the healer of all wounds, and at a certain point you will feel better. Trust the grief process and keep forging ahead with healing.

The rainbow bridge is an online community of people who are grieving the loss of a pet and can offer you much support.

The rainbow bridge is a way to honor your pet and get support too.

This is a hotline for those who need to talk with someone about pet grief. 

Pet loss 24-hour hotline: 1-800-946-4646.

Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within: Healing Your Inner Child to Manifest Your Dreams, is on Amazon now and will help you come to terms with the wounded inner child. There is a whole chapter on grieving the loss of a pet. This book makes a great holiday gift.

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Sugar Can Kill You: Let’s Explore This Fact Rachel Devine

Years ago, we were told that fat causes heart disease. Now we are learning that sugar is the culprit in many diseases, and excessive sugar can indeed kill you. Not only that, but sugar is highly addictive. It’s hard to get off sugar, but once you do, your life will become much healthier and I would think you would live a longer life. However, you want to have a good quality of life in your old age and one way to do that is to get off sugar.

Let’s dive into this further.

Sugar, carbs, and inflammation

When we consume excessive sugar, often in the form of soda, candy, baked goods, and other processed treats, our blood glucose spikes sharply, initiating an inflammatory stress response. Chronic inflammation triggered by a high-sugar diet leads to markers like C-reactive protein and arterial damage implicated in arthritis, chronic pain, heart disease, and other aging issues.

6 teaspoons or over 24 grams per day is considered excess sugar intake. As an example, 4 Oreo cookies have 26 grams of sugar. A can of coke has 39 grams of sugar.

The spike in insulin from excess sugar also triggers visceral fat formation around the organs. This visceral fat triggers the release of cytokines, nitric oxide, and other inflammatory signaling compounds. Additionally, a diet high in simple sugars causes specific gut alterations that promote leaky gut disease, allowing inflammatory antigens to escape into the bloodstream.

Over months and years, chronic systemic and localized inflammation sparked by sugar metabolism gradually degrades joint tissues and the cardiovascular system, leading to inflammatory conditions like arthritis, gout, atherosclerotic heart disease, and painful diabetic complications. This can also cause joint deterioration to the point of needing knee or hip replacement surgery.

Reducing intake of added and refined sugars in favor of anti-inflammatory whole foods high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants provides the best defense against inflammation and associated degenerative issues exacerbated by sugar-generated free radical cascades.

The Brain on Sugar

• Eating foods high in sugar triggers the release of dopamine and opioids in the brain's reward system, creating temporary pleasure and relief, much like using alcohol or other addictive substances.

• Some people use sugar when feeling down, like the proverbial ice cream after a breakup.

• With chronic sugar consumption, the brain starts requiring higher sugar intake to achieve the same "high," reflecting building tolerance, a hallmark of addictive disorders.

Shared Addiction Mechanisms

• Animal studies show rats experiencing sugar withdrawal react strongly when sugar is reintroduced after abstinence, similar to the restored drug supply for addicted individuals.

• Binging on high-sugar foods triggers effects on dopamine D2 receptors in the brain that parallel changes caused by drug abuse, according to scientists.

• Signaling cascades induced by excessive sugar intake ultimately reinforce addictive consumption habits through reward neurotransmitter dysfunction and dysregulated motivation pathways.

While sugar alone doesn't contain intoxicating compounds like recreational drugs, the brain essentially processes them via a similar addiction infrastructure as drugs of abuse. This creates very real dependence and withdrawal symptoms that perpetuate sugar cravings and substance addiction alike. Reducing consumption treats the root cause.

The root cause of sugar addiction

I believe the root cause of any addiction comes from our childhood. When we don’t get our fundamental needs met in childhood, we grow up to be needy adults with a void within. Some of us fill that void with food, alcohol, drugs, and other addictions. In order to break the cycle of addiction, I believe we need to focus on our inner child and what transpired in childhood. I believe the solution is to fill the void with a healthy filler rather than an unhealthy one like sugar. One healthy filler is exercise because it generates endorphins, the ‘feel good’ chemical similar to what is transmitted with addictions.

Another way to fill the void is with self-care and self-love. The wounded inner child, who may not have gotten their fundamental needs met, is yearning for love. Sit and meditate on a time in your childhood when you could have used some good parenting. Go back to that time and tell your inner child how much you love him or her. This is a powerful way to fill some of the wounded inner child void. However, please note that there are layers of neglection from our childhood, and this would be unpeeling one layer of many, so you will have to be diligent in continuing to do this.

Journaling is another way to get to the root of the problem and come to terms with emotions and feelings. Just write each day what you are feeling, especially when you crave sugar. You may find that you need a hug or some love rather than a deadly substance.

In closing, remember that you have the power within to stop using sugar. Once you make your mind up, you can supplement the processed sugar with other healthy foods, like fruit, homemade healthy desserts, sugar-free shakes, and so much more. You owe it to yourself to be healthy. In my world, giving up sugar was easy because I am now pain-free from any inflammatory consequences of eating processed sugar and I feel awesome.

Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within: Healing Your Inner Child to Manifest Your Dreams, is on Amazon now and will help you come to terms with the wounded inner child. You will find more solutions to addictions as well as other issues that stem from the inner child.

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7 Ways to Holistically Deal with Depression - Rachel Devine

Depression can be overwhelming. It could feel like you have to climb a mountain just to take a shower or get dressed. Something within always seems to be pressing against the norm. It might feel like there is a cloud always hovering over. When you feel this way, it’s time to start looking within to see what is happening on the outside. And there are holistic ways to feel better.

Alongside professional treatment, certain lifestyle adjustments and holistic self-care practices can help mitigate depressive symptoms gently yet effectively. Here are 7 research-backed ways to deal with depression holistically:

Increase Omega-3s

Studies confirm insufficient essential fatty acids, including anti-inflammatory omega-3s, correlate to higher rates of depression. Supplementing daily with quality fish oil, hemp oil, or flax oil nourishes neurotransmitter development tied to mood.

A 2019 meta-analysis of 41 trials showed a clear reduction in depression severity among those supplementing with omega-3 fish oils over those taking placebos. The holistic change to add fish oil to your diet will lift low moods.

Embrace Gratitude

Cultivating daily gratitude through routines like gratitude journaling literally changes brain physiology. MRI scans reveal improved connectivity in gratitude neural pathways. Appreciating blessings also combats the negativity bias underpinning depression. Count your blessings and your life will be happier.

According to a 2021 study of 200 clinically depressed participants, daily gratitude journaling for just 3 weeks reduced depressive symptoms significantly. Staying in gratitude will lift your mood.

Light Therapy

Exposing eyes and skin to bright artificial light that mimics natural sunlight actually modifies melatonin and serotonin light-sensitive pathways. Poor daylight exposure exacerbates seasonal affective disorder and depression.

A meta-analysis of 18 studies confirmed that both seasonal and non-seasonal depression responds to daily light box therapy. Just 30–60 minutes benefited the mood of 70% of participants.

Adopt anti-inflammatory diets

Chronic inflammation and gut microbiome imbalances correlate strongly with depression. An anti-inflammatory diet emphasizing plant foods rich in polyphenols while reducing inflammatory sugars, refined carbs, and fried foods tames systemwide inflammatory pathways.

Research finds the Mediterranean diet, with an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and seafood, effectively improves mental health.

Optimize Vitamin D

Some studies link vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk for depression symptoms such as sadness and anxiety. Vitamin D modulates hormones and neurotransmitters, influencing mood regulation. Much evidence links low vitamin D stores with seasonal depression as we get less sun exposure.

Getting your vitamin D levels tested and supplementing accordingly under medical guidance is advisable, especially during the darker winter months. Vitamin D also stabilizes mood disorders like bipolar depression.

Negative thoughts

Negative thoughts can exasperate depression. It’s not easy to be positive when depressed, but it's worth the effort. Try hard to change negative thoughts into positive ones. When things seem dreadful, ask yourself: Is it really that bad, or are your thoughts and fears magnifying your depression? Try saying some positive affirmations out loud several times a day.

Inner child healing

Finally, addressing unresolved childhood wounds through inner child work can also lift depression rooted in past traumas, attachment wounds, and mistaken core beliefs like worthlessness or defectiveness. These past emotional wounds get embedded in the subconscious. Techniques like dialoguing, visualizations aimed at reparenting your inner child's unmet needs for unconditional love and safety, releasing trapped emotions from painful memories, and replacing negative self-talk stemming from childhood with self-compassion will help transform depressive mind loops fueled by the wounded inner child. As these subconscious burdens dissolve through conscious processing, inner children feel seen and nurtured, freeing us to value our worth. Increased self-acceptance and integration of letting go of the past lead to wholeness, increased functionality, and brighter perspectives characteristic of holistic depression recovery.

The key point is that depression often links to oppressive inner critic voices, perfectionism, low self-worth, self-isolation, and hopelessness stemming from childhood maltreatment, emotional absence or even grief. By directly healing these past wounds through inner child healing techniques, we target the root psychological and subconscious drivers of depression for deep transformation rather than just symptom management.

While working with doctors to manage diagnosed clinical depression is vital, certain holistic self-care techniques outlined will empower you as a partner in sustaining long-term therapeutic benefits through your daily lifestyle change. Every small positive choice counts towards inner healing from depression.

If you need it, please call 988 suicide and crisis line. Your life is worth it!

More information on depression on Drugwatch.

Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within: Healing Your Inner Child to Manifest Your Dreams, is on Amazon now and will help you come to terms with the wounded inner child.

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Why is Dating so Hard? The answer May Shock you. Rachel Devine

If you are part of the dating scene, you know that it can be very hard, at any age. The challenges can range from getting stood up, to continuously connecting with the same type of person; to getting ghosted after numerous texts; or perhaps attracting scammers, and the list goes on and on. Why does something so soulful, loving, and beautiful sometimes turn out to be a disaster? And the answer may shock you. The answer as to why dating is dysfunctional resides within you. Let’s explore this in detail and see what is happening on the inside that is causing dysfunction on the outside. We want to look at how to break toxic relationship patterns. And we will explore how to attract your soulmate and also look at the power of manifestation, which is a big factor in the scheme of dating.

Like attracts like

First off, we attract into our lives what we are resonating with within us. In other words, if you are resonating with angst, stress, and negativity, you are sure to get more angst, stress, and negativity in the dating world and other areas of your life. On the other hand, if you resonate with kindness, love, and a positive attitude, you will attract the same. The law of attraction is clear: like attracts like. However, most of us are wallowing around in negativity when it comes to dating, so the key is to get around that and change your own attitude to fit what you are seeking.

The inner dictates the outer

Believe it or not, how you learned to love from birth to 7 years old is a big component in connecting to true love. Our subconscious mind is storing all that transpired in childhood. Now, to go one step further, the subconscious mind drives our lives 95% of the time! So it stands to reason that we are navigating our life with all that transpired in childhood. This is one of the reasons why most of us continue to attract people who are similar to our father or mother in the dating world.

Example

Here is an example of a pattern from childhood into an adult relationship of a friend of mine. Nancy was a middle child, or, as they call them, the forgotten child. She used to do good deeds to get love from her parents. She would offer to do the dishes, shine her father’s shoes, or help her mother with the housework. That is how she learned how give and receive love, but doing good deeds. This was her way to love from birth until she was 7 years old.

Fast forward to her first relationship. She met a man who was overwhelmed as a single parent with two kids, a demanding job, and financial issues, plus he had a big family that came first in his life. He wasn’t engaged in the relationship at all, and Nancy felt like she had to jump over hoops to get his attention. Nancy tried to help him out by giving him advice about his job, helping him move, and giving him support in any way she could with the children. She didn’t realize it at the time, but she was doing good deeds to get his attention, just like she did when she was a child. She replicated her childhood in this relationship, and he was actually a combination of her father and her mother! This became a pattern for Nancy in her future relationships. A good relationship has to be balanced where both parties get their needs met.

The Fix

The fix is to change part of the subconscious mind. The way to offset the subconscious is to reprogram what it was fed in childhood. The time to do that is at bedtime. As you are going into a sleep state, you are going from a conscious to an unconscious state, which is when the subconscious mind can be reprogrammed. The unconscious state is a powerful one of transformation.

The first step is to decide what you want to change. If you want to meet your soulmate, the most simple way to do this is to imagine being in a balanced, loving relationship with someone and resonating with the feelings. It is the feelings that penetrate the subconscious mind.

An expert in the field of the subconscious mind, Neville Goddard, makes the following statements:

The subconscious never fails to express that which has been impressed upon it. The moment it receives an impression, it begins to work out the ways of its expression. It accepts the feeling impressed upon it, your feelings, as a fact existing within itself and immediately sets about to produce in the outer or objective world the exact likeness of that feeling."

A step-by step guide to manifest your dreams

This is a step-by-step guide on how to change one aspect of the subconscious from a negative to a positive state. We will work on manifesting a good relationship and how to attract your soulmate.

1. Picture one image of what you want to have in your life as if it were already here. In this case, we are going to manifest a loving relationship.

2. Picture yourself in a loving, balanced, and happy relationship with a new partner. Just use one image. I suggest an image where you are embracing your future partner or on a date. You don’t have to go into specific details of what is going on or what this person looks like; just imagine being together in a way that makes you feel loved.

3. You will then resonate with the feelings of being in a healthy relationship. You would feel loved, secure, happy, content, joyful, excited, etc. Remember, it is the feelings that will resonate with you for 8 hours and reprogram the subconscious mind. Love is the strongest emotion to offset any other emotion.

4. Fall asleep with these wonderful feelings of love and the image in your mind.

5. Do this for at least 30 days. You will wake up feeling happy, after all you fed your unconscious mind loving thoughts.

   Please note that you can do this for anything you want to manifest in your life. If you want to lose weight and get healthy, picture yourself healthy and slim and resonate with those positive feelings as you fall asleep. If you want to get a promotion, picture one image of having a promotion. If you want to increase your wealth, picture being wealthy.

   These manifesting techniques will help you manifest your dreams.

   Higher consciousness

   You might ask yourself, How can reprogramming my subconscious mind make something I want materialize in my life?

   According to many spiritual and philosophical teachings, the subconscious mind is part of a greater universal consciousness, referred to as God, Source, or the Universe. I proudly call this power God, which is the power behind manifestation in all its glory. This higher consciousness, or God, is considered the fabric of reality, and our subconscious mind is believed to be a conduit connecting us to the power of God. In more simple terms, what we feed the subconscious mind with feelings gets imbedded in the subconscious, and God brings it to form. I truly believe this is the powerful secret behind creation in all its magnificent glory and form.

   The source of all power comes from our higher power, which is the source of all power in the world. God is the light that shines in our world, which eliminates darkness and brings goodness to form. God’s power is what brings miracles to light, goodness to the world, and hope to mankind. And this same power is what manifests our dreams into reality.

   In closing, remember that it is your inner child that is part of the subconscious mind dictating what direction your life is going in. It makes sense to reprogram the negative from childhood into a positive. If you want your life to go in a positive direction, you have to feed it positive thoughts and feelings.

   “A change of feeling is a change of destiny." Neville Goddard

   
   Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret within - Healing your Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams, is on Amazon now.

   Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center

Ways to Recognize when your Inner Child Sabotages your Relationships-Rachel Devine

The wounded inner child, carrying baggage from past hurts or abandonments, often undermines romantic relationships unconsciously. This is a very scary notion that there are aspects of each and every one of us that we are not aware of, which can destroy a relationship. By understanding your inner child’s dynamics and the way it acts out, you can heal its pain and break free of relationship-destroying patterns. But only when you can understand it, can you really heal its fury and live a happy life. Inner child healing starts with you. And make no mistake about it, we all have an inner child that causes havoc from time to time. Furthermore, those who are just ‘unlucky in love,’ might see a pattern from childhood to adult relationships that explains this dilemma. If you are dating and meeting the same type of dysfunctional person, with a different face, it’s time to look at the inner child. Awareness is the key to solving any issue. Let’s explore all of this together.

Defining the Inner Child

According to psychology pioneer Carl Jung, the inner child represents our instincts, vulnerabilities, feelings, and unmet needs from childhood. John Bradshaw, an expert in the inner child and author of Homecoming, further defines it as “the accumulation of all unmet childhood needs and wants that make up the childhood energies still expressing themselves in our adult lives.” John Bradshaw was an advocate for reparenting our inner child.

This inner child dwells in the subconscious mind, influencing behaviors independent of adult awareness. Our reactions to romantic partners frequently reflect the inner child’s projections. To be clear, the subconscious mind is like a vast memory bank holding all of our past traumas, experiences, and feelings from our inner child. During times of stress or triggers, the subconscious mind or inner child lashes out in very unexpected ways that are often unexplainable.

Inner Child Dynamics

The inner child dynamics are not complicated. There are 4 stages of infancy development. Let’s look at these stages:

The first stage is the infancy stage. This is the co-dependent stage from 0 to 2 years old, where we are completely dependent on our parents for survival. This is the stage where we need a lot of care, nurturing, and love. It’s a time in our lives when we depend solely on our parents for survival.

The preschool age from 2 to 4 years old is the stage of counter-dependence. This stage is often referred to as “the terrible twos.” This is a time when the child wants and needs to assert their ability to interact with their environment. The child is gaining his or her autonomy through co-dependence.

From 4 to 7 years old, there is the independence stage. At this time, a child is becoming independent and doesn’t need his or her parents to do everything, and the child becomes more independent of them.

At seven years old, the child is at an inter-dependence stage of being, which is much more independent from their parents than previous years, and pretty much can do most things for themselves.

All these developmental stages are a crucial time in a child’s life, and if a child does not get their fundamental needs met, there will be issues that develop later on in adulthood.

How we learned to love from birth to seven years old in our family of origin will determine our subconscious imprint that gets embedded in our brain. These imprints will determine who we connect with as a partner. When we get into adulthood, we attract those people who fulfill our innermost subconscious needs. This imprint from childhood is what we subconsciously navigate with when seeking out a partner in life. This is why it’s important to understand that we attract what we are resonating with. Additionally, this is the reason why most people marry a clone of their mother or father!

Recognizing Inner Child Havoc

Some signs your inner child is sabotaging your relationships include the following. These are all reactions to triggers, which would be a stimulus that elicits a reaction stemming from a negative childhood experience.

• Extreme defensiveness or mistrust of your partner’s intentions

• Severe jealousy about harmless interactions

• Constant need for validation and reassurance

• Major mood swings or emotional sensitivity

• Fear of enmeshment or losing yourself

• Panic when feeling alone or abandoned

• Difficulty with true intimacy and vulnerability

• Inability to keep a healthy relationship

• Extreme anger issues or fears

John Bradshaw explains: “The wounded inner child inside many people can destroy loving relationships. Your childhood wounds affect your relationships.” These wounds stem from the inner child’s neediness. This is due to not getting your fundamental needs met as a child, from infant to 7 years old. It is a good idea to explore this time in your life and what transpired. The patterns in our family of origin are usually what we bring into our relationships, friendships and work environment.

Healing your inner child

To short-circuit destructive inner child responses, self-awareness of the triggers through mindful observations of your emotions and reactions is key. The first step is to be aware of the problem and not ignore it. Then intentionally reframe your self-talk. It’s hard to do this in the heat of the moment, but reflecting back on the conflict you had with your partner is key to awareness because you can look at it during a calm time and adjust your actions in the future.

As an example, if abandonment wounds cause you to interpret your partner’s business trip as intentional neglect, remind yourself, “This is my inner child projecting past fears of abandonment. My partner loves me and is coming back.” Recognizing a pattern from childhood that correlates with the adult situation is the first step to healing.

For instance, if your father was working all the time when you were a child, you may have developed fears of abandonment, so your partner going on a business trip could trigger these painful feelings from childhood. Remember, all of your traumas and experiences are locked away in your subconscious mind and will get triggered when stressful events happen that jolt those inner child feelings. When you identify a pattern, you can go back to the time of the trauma from childhood and comfort and love your inner child in a meditation. John Bradshaw boldly suggests we go back to your childhood home and visualize your inner child in pain and comfort him or her. It is the most loving thing you can do for yourself.

Self-love

Self-love is crucial to having a healthy inner child. Cultivating secure relationships also involves reprogramming core relationship beliefs in your subconscious mind—for example, that you are worthy and loveable. Visualization, affirmations, and therapy can help instill self-reliance, regardless of your partner’s proximity or validation. It all starts with a firm, loving foundation in your relationship with yourself. Healing the inner child is crucial, and so is this inner child work. You have to be the one who is strong in your own skin, and it’s important to develop a good-loving, secure relationship with yourself. You can do this with daily affirmations and visuals of being strong alone, so when you are alone, your subconscious will draw on the visualization. I used to do a meditation where I would sit on my higher power’s lap as a child. In my case, I proudly call my higher power God. In this meditation, God would instill in me that I am worthy and loved, and I can never be abandoned because His spirit dwells within me. Of course, you have to use the higher power of your choice. Just imagine your higher power telling you how valued and loved you are, and give you assurance that you can never be abandoned.

Positive Affirmations

These positive affirmations are a good start to changing the negative subconscious to a positive one:

I am happy.

I am loved.

I am strong.

I am secure in my own skin.

I am at peace.

I am a child of God.

The more compassion, understanding, love, and stability you extend to your inner child directly, the less it will act up unconsciously in your relationships. It is like reparenting yourself with much love. You deserve that peace and stability. Using positive affirmations daily is a good start.

In closing, the inner child is a multifaceted issue and really does demand your attention. It is important to explore your inner child, who is very real and a very big part of your life, and try to see the patterns of self-sabotage when they happen. It will help your relationship become happier. Remember, awareness is the key to overcoming any obstacles in life. Having a loving relationship with yourself is the single most important thing you can do to heal the inner child.

Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret within - Healing your Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams, is on Amazon now.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center

Inner Child: A Pandora's Box of Addictions! (FREE Video - Get it now, instant download) Rachel Devine

(Get your FREE video on Inner Child: A Pandora’s Box of Addictions. Details at the end of this article)

The inner child might sound like a far-fetched notion of a Freudian era from the past. It might conjure up pictures of your childhood—the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, the inner child is alive and well and dwells within each one of us.

What is the inner child?

The inner child is our feelings, energies, needs, vulnerabilities, experiences, our neurological imprint. Simply put, the inner child is part of your personality that still feels and acts like a child. 

The inner child is in charge of steering our lives in one direction or another, depending on the emotions and experiences it was fed throughout our childhood. It’s a little scary to realize a child is directing our path. This revelation is enough to get anyone’s attention, as it is vital information on why your life is where it is today. The real crucial part of inner child dilemma is with addiction. If you tried to lose weight, stop smoking, drinking, gambling, or working long hours, and you can’t do it, it’s time to look at the inner child where the secret lies in curbing your addiction.

Your inner child is part of the power of your subconscious mind, that has been picking up messages way before it was able to fully process what was going on. The subconscious mind holds most of your emotions, experiences, traumas, and beliefs from the past.

This dual force, the subconscious mind and inner child, drives your life 95% of the time! This is an incredible revelation, which is explored in the video.

There is a fascinating link between addictions and early childhood interactions. However, there are solutions to overcome addictions, which are also explored in the video.

We all have choices. One choice is to continue to go about your life in a way that is oblivious to the power of the inner workings, whereas you can just continue to live in an unconscious state of daily routine, vices, accepting limitations in intimate relationships, as well as in your career and other areas, and perhaps allowing fears to dictate what direction your life goes in.

Or, you can become acutely aware of what is going on with your inner child, and your subconscious mind, each a driving force, and actually change the course of the direction your life is going in. And in turn, transform your life!

Get your instant download today. This is a free digital video that will help you come to solutions with your inner child dilemma and possible addictions. When you can tie the two together, you have a game-plan for healing.  Download my free video instantly - just add to the cart. This is a $10 value.

Another great resource is my new book on Amazon, Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Healing your Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams.

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What is your Inner Child? Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Rachel Devine

You might ask yourself, what exactly is the Inner Child and how does it affect me? I will explain all you need to know about what the inner child is and how it affects you in this article. I will use an important excerpt from my new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Healing your Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams!

The dynamics of our inner world are pretty intense. However, as I open up the nucleus of the inner child you will see how easy it really is to comprehend. 

I will start from the beginning. What transpired in our childhood determines how we develop as adults. Some of the things that transpired in childhood will plague you as an adult with things like alcoholism, drug or food addictions, anger issues, intimacy issues, fear of abandonment, commitment issues, claustrophobia, sexual disorders, continuous relationship failures, workaholism, paranoid tendencies, narcissism, fears, etc. These issues get embedded in the inner child’s psyche and carries into adulthood. This all stems from the roots that took place with the inner child and what went on in your early childhood. 

Inner Child Definition:

So, what does it mean when I refer to the “Inner Child”? 

The inner child is our feelings, energies, needs, vulnerabilities, experiences, our neurological imprint. Simply put, the inner child is part of your personality that still feels and acts like a child. 

The inner child that developed in each of our individual childhoods is what navigates our subconscious mind and drives our decisions in life, without realizing it. The subconscious mind holds all your experiences, traumas, and family interactions. The subconscious mind is the navigator of most of your life and is very powerful. In fact, the subconscious mind is in charge of 95% of your life, that includes your actions, decisions, and pretty much all that you do in a day.

When we struggle to move forward in life, or to get out of a bad relationship, or we struggle to start a love relationship, or we cower down in arguments, all of these decisions are coming from the subconscious mind of the inner child. That imprint that was embedded in our mind at different developmental stages is ingrained in our subconscious mind and our adult intellect tries to reason with certain decisions we make, but usually will lose out to the fear or insecurity of the inner child. And most people are oblivious to this conflict that is going on within them and have no clue as to why they make certain decisions that are unhealthy for them. Make no mistake about it, when I say, “subconscious mind,” it means we are totally oblivious to what is happening in that part of our psyches.

Stages of the Inner Child

Let’s look at this in stages. There are four important developmental stages of the inner child.

The first one is the infancy stage. This is the co-dependent stage from 0 to 2 years old where we are completely dependent on our parents for survival. This is the stage where we need a lot of care, nurturing, and love. It’s a time in our lives that we depend solely on our parents for survival. 

The preschool age from 2 to 4 years old is the stage of counter-dependence. This stage is often referred to as “the terrible twos.” This is a time when the child wants and needs to assert their ability to interact with their environment. The child is gaining his or her autonomy from co-dependence. 

From 4 to 7 years old, is the independence stage. At this time, a child is becoming independent and doesn’t need his or her parents to do everything, and the child becomes more independent of them.  

At seven years old the child is at an inter-dependence stage of being, which is much more independent from their parents than previous years, and pretty much can do most things for themselves.

All these developmental stages are a crucial time in a child’s life, and if a child does not get their fundamental needs met, there will be issues that develop later on in adulthood.

Inner Child Relationships

How we learned to love from birth to seven years old will determine our subconscious imprint that gets embedded in our brain. When we get into adulthood, we attract those people who fulfill our innermost subconscious thoughts. This imprint from childhood is what we navigate with when seeking out a partner in life. If you are wondering why you are having a hard time finding the right partner, look no further than your inner child for the answer. You can improve your love-life with some knowledge about the inner child, that will help you navigate the dating world successfully.

Example of Inner Child Tantrum:

It is important to understand the dynamics of the inner child with an example:

I will never forget this incident, which is an example of fears of abandonment from childhood. These fears develop when we don’t get our fundamental needs met, or we are emotionally abandoned by our parents because of their own dysfunctions.

I was walking my dog, Luke, at the time, and there was a white SUV stopped at the corner for the stop sign. The window was open and I could hear this man screaming at someone on the phone saying: 

“You are never home, we don’t eat together anymore, you don’t cook, you are such a witch” (although he used the b word), and he was berating her. 

I am sure the more he yelled and became angry the more she retreated and wanted to stay away from him. It was a vicious circle. And I thought to myself, all he wants to say to her is that he is lonely and feels abandoned and would like to spend more time with her. But I suspect his inner child, feeling hurt and being triggered by her pulling away, is setting off his fear of abandonment issues, so he is lashing out with intense anger, reverting to the way he behaved as a child. He was trying to get his needs met and she was pulling away, so his anger became out of control. The fear of abandonment starts with fear and morphs into intense anger. 

This is just another example of how the inner child wreaks havoc in our relationships and is in charge and very powerful. It dictates how we behave in certain circumstances. It controls us in a way that we are totally oblivious to. It subconsciously navigates our entire life. This man screaming at his partner is just labeled as temperamental and he had no clue that what took root in childhood determines his temperament as an adult.

Another Inner Child example

I think most of us can relate to this example of road rage. When someone cuts me off on the road, I go from fear to anger in an instant. The reason is because fear from childhood rears its ugly head and the person who cut me off has triggered that fear, which usually instantly morphs to anger. I find myself sitting in my car ranting and raving about almost having an accident and in that moment my inner child is dictating my angry words and actions.

In closing, I want to say that there are ways to reprogram the subconscious mind and change the negative imprint of the inner child. You also have the power to manifest your goals and dreams with this process of reprogramming. Get a copy of my new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within and learn the secret within that will transform your life!

Rachel Devine is the author of Discover the Power of the Secret Within, a book about the inner child and subconscious mind, The Third Road, a book that gently guides one to the power within and their purpose in life, and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, a spiritual book on dating and relationships. All are on Amazon.

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The Power of Gratitude to Change your Life Rachel Devine

It is the time of year to count our blessings as Thanksgiving is fast approaching. However, gratitude is beneficial everyday. Gratitude is more than just saying thank you. Regularly expressing gratitude has been shown in research to provide far-reaching physical, psychological, spiritual and social benefits. By focusing on blessings, rather than what is lacking, gratitude fosters optimism, strengthens relationships, improves health, and enhances overall happiness. The benefits of a gratitude practice is priceless. The power of gratitude is essential to happiness and living an optimistic life. A positive thought process will reap a positive life experience.

Let’s explore the benefits of practicing gratitude:

Physical Health Booster

Studies link gratitude practices with better biomarkers like improved sleep, lower blood pressure, and reduced inflammation that contribute to heart health risks. Sincere appreciation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering stress hormones like cortisol that can damage health if chronically elevated.

In a pioneering UC Davis study, subjects who journaled on gratitude experiences for two weeks showed a significant increase in biomarkers associated with health in comparison to control groups. Keeping a gratitude journal emerges as an easy but potent habit of many benefits.

Mental Well-being

Gratitude changes perspective from scarcity to abundance by redirecting focus towards all we have rather than what we don’t have. This positive reorientation has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, elevate mood, and increase happiness by over 25%, according to research from Positive Psychology pioneer Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky.

And remember, gratitude and happiness quotes are also a fun way to keep gratitude growing.

Relationship Bonds

Expressing thankfulness fosters stronger social bonds by making others feel valued and appreciated. Gratitude helps diffuse conflicts and facilitates connection through authentic positive communication. Studies demonstrate that regularly voicing genuine appreciation to partners, friends, and family deepens bonds.

Bestselling author Brené Brown wisely noted that “Joy comes to us everyday as a gift. The longer we can hold onto it, the more we can take time to appreciate it, the more that joy expands.” The joy expands because of the principals of the law of attraction tell us that, like attracts like. Shared joyous moments are doubled when expressed with gratitude.

Life Purpose and Meaning

Gratitude helps uncover the meaning in life’s ordinary moments by focusing attention on the gift of simply being alive. Even basic needs like food, shelter, or nature’s beauty become profound when received gratefully. Practicing gratitude brings heightened awareness to purpose and blessings.

Holocaust survivor and renowned author Viktor Frankl highlighted the essential power of gratitude and meaning in his classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Gratitude provides magic that can propel you to change your future course in life.

Doorway to Spirituality

For many spiritual traditions, gratitude sits at the heart of connection to the Divine. Expressing thankfulness for life's gifts cultivates humility and compassion. Regular gratitude meditations and prayers can facilitate a deeper relationship with God or existence itself.

Gratitude expressed in prayers in Catholicism, Christianity, Judaism and many more faiths, as a posture of humble appreciation, invokes peace and grace. Even non-religious individuals may experience transcendent moments of awe and grace through gratitude practices. Practicing daily gratitude is a form of graceful prayer and a blessing to all who cultivate gratitude in their life. Gratitude can help lead one to a life of humility and spirituality, when practicing gratitude daily.

Simple Habits

Gratitude is available to all through simple habits like beginning each day by listing a few things you are thankful for, saying grace before meals, keeping a gratitude journal, writing thank you notes, and meditating on moments of blessing. Consciously appreciating the people, experiences, and basic comforts that comprise your life opens the doorway to greater wholeness.

By changing your mindset from lack to abundance through gratitude, you gain a powerful perspective that research confirms provides tangible physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits. The more good we notice, the more good grows. Centering in gratitude transforms lives. What are you grateful for today? I am most grateful for my family. I am also grateful and excited about my new book I just got published, Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Healing the Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams!

Rachel Devine is the author of, Discover the Power of the Secret Within, The Third Road & Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack.

Devine Intervention - Inner Healing Center

Let me know in the comments what you are grateful for today.

Press Release: Discover the Power of the Secret Within - Rachel Devine

Press release for: Discover the Power of the Secret Within: Healing your Inner Child to Manifest your Dreams, Rachel Devine

NEW YORK, NY USA, November 19, 2023/ Independent publishing KDP. Featured on Amazon.

Non-fiction-self-help genre.

This book is about creating yourself anew. It is about discovering the power of the secret within, which is elusive and mysterious. The power within you is a well-kept secret. Most people will not learn about it in their lifetime. It has positively transformed millions of lives. Those who discover the power of the secret within will be richer than any successful billionaire in the world. Therefore, let’s dive into this intriguing notion in detail.

Do you have long-forgotten dreams that you want to make a reality? Do you want to lose weight, start a business, find your soulmate, get a promotion, get healthy, or end an addiction? Well, now is the time to move forward and make your dreams a reality. I will show you exactly how to do this. Make no mistake about it, you have this miraculous power within to create your destiny. 

However, there can be blocks to realizing your dreams. There is another power called the subconscious mind that is in charge of almost every decision, every move, and every thought you make in life.  Most people have no idea why they have a chip on their shoulder, or why they keep meeting the same type of dysfunctional romantic partner, or why they have issues at work, or why they have deep-rooted resentments, and the answer lies within. Discovering this aspect of yourself with awareness will empower you to transform your life in a positive way.

Your inner child is part of the power of your subconscious mind, that has been picking up messages way before it was able to fully process what was going on (mentally and emotionally). The subconscious mind holds all your emotions, memories, experiences, traumas, and beliefs from the past. This dual force, the subconscious mind and inner child, drives your life 95% of the time! This is an incredible revelation. I will explore this dual action-packed power in one of my chapters. 

I will also link a distinct pattern with our addictions to early childhood interactions and show you why it plays a big factor in determining perhaps your own addictions, or as I call them, vices. I will also show you ways to heal from these vices.

I will help you come to the empowerment state of taking back your life and teach you how to manifest your dreams into reality.   

I will also explore grief and how it relates to all of this. Do you ever wonder why losing a beloved dog, or cat, or any kind of pet, makes a person feel as if the grief is more devastating than losing a parent? There is a reason behind that intense grief, which I will address in one of my chapters. Furthermore, not only will you come to understand it, but you will be able to deal better with the pain and grief of losing a loving pet. 

We all have choices. One choice is to continue to go about your life in a way that is oblivious to the power of the inner workings, whereas you can just continue to live in an unconscious state of daily routine, accepting limitations in intimate relationships, as well as in your career and other areas, and perhaps allowing fears to dictate what direction your life goes in.

Or, you can become acutely aware of what is going on with your inner child, and your subconscious mind, each a driving force, and actually change the course of your journey in life.

You can learn how to change the way it has a negative impact to a positive impact on your life. Knowledge is power and awareness is the key. I will show you how to change the subconscious imprint that the inner child developed onto your brain in childhood, so you will be liberated from the chains of the negative, inner child influence. This will give you an edge in all areas of your life from dating to career decisions to family interactions.

One of the reasons why dating is so dysfunctional is due to inner dynamics and I will go into very specific details on this and show you ways to overcome this dilemma. 

My goal is to help you move forward in areas of your life you thought were not possible. You will also learn the powerful secret on how to shift the subconscious mind to create exactly what you want in life. I will explain, step by step, how this powerful secret within will help you create your destiny. You have the power to manifest anything in life, from success, to wealth, to love, to good health, and so much more. I will guide you on how you can do this. It may sound foreign to you at this time. However, by the time you finish reading this book, you will have an amazing awareness and knowledge of the power of the secret within. 

In closing, I want to tell you I am so excited about getting my book published. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but I did it! I self-published my book on KDP, which means I did everything, from the cover, to the interior, and even to some of the editing! The few people that read my book already have been impacted positively by the powerful message. My book has valuable information that most people won’t learn in a lifetime. Embrace this moment, the only one we have, and get my book so you will be among those fortunate people who learn the valuable secret of the power within!

Also by Rachel Devine, The Third Road & Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack. Both on Amazon!

Devine Intervention - Inner Healing Center

How to Heal your Inner Child: 7 Step Guide Rachel Devine

The inner child, carrying emotional scars and false beliefs from childhood, drives many of our adult behaviors unconsciously. By learning to identify, listen to, and re-parent your inner child, you can heal past wounds for greater well-being. Make no mistake about it; I truly believe we all have inner child wounds that erupt during stressful, angry times in our lives. No one is immune from the terror of the inner child. The astonishing fact is that most of us are totally oblivious to the pandora’s box of horrors that resides within each and every one of us. Of course, there are different degrees of inner child fury; some are more intense than others. Let’s explore this inner child healing in more detail.

Dynamics of the Inner Child

The dynamics of our inner world are pretty intense. However, as I open up the nucleus of the inner child, you will see how easy it really is to comprehend.

What transpired in our childhood determines how we develop as adults. Some of the things that transpired in childhood will plague you as an adult with things like alcoholism, drug or food addictions, anger issues, intimacy issues, fear of abandonment, commitment issues, sexual disorders, continuous relationship failures, narcissism, fears, etc. These issues get embedded in the inner child’s psyche and carry into adulthood. This all stems from the roots that took place with the inner child and what went on in your early childhood.

So, what does it mean when I refer to the “inner child"?

The inner child is our feelings, energies, needs, vulnerabilities, experiences, and neurological imprint on our subconscious. Simply put, the inner child is part of your personality that still feels and acts like a child.

Impact of the Inner Child

“I believe that this neglected, wounded inner child of the past is the major source of human misery." John Bradshaw

John Bradshaw was a brilliant author of the inner child and extremely popular back in the 90s with his incredible book, Home Coming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child.

John knew the dynamics of the inner child because he lived it in his own childhood. The impact of the inner child is a lifetime battle, and it takes some work to get past the dysfunction. The impact can be devastating in love relationships, careers, family interactions, etc. The impact of the inner child can also become intense with adult addictions. Most of us have a void within that was not filled in childhood with love, nurturing, and security. Some of us try to fill that void with food, alcohol, drugs, etc. Some also try to numb the pain of past trauma with an addiction. This is something to be aware of in order to heal.The inner child can also cause havoc in relationships and family life. Sometimes stress can trigger events from the past of anger and fear, and a normal argument can turn into a bloody war because the inner child's pain from the past is erupting in the present.

Connecting to the Inner Child

According to psychology expert John Bradshaw, “The inner child must be welcomed, embraced, for better or for worse.” Begin communicating through journaling, recording dialogues, or meditations. Let your inner child express its pains and needs to you. The first step to healing is awareness. Become aware of this inner child that is longing for reparenting.

Bradshaw advised: “Do your best to provide the child within you what your parents couldn’t provide.” Offer soothing words, forgiveness, encouragement, and unconditional support to your inner child when it shares its hurt. Visualize cradling and nurturing your inner child.

You can also meditate on being with your inner child. John Bradshaw boldly asks us to go back to our childhood home. You can do that in a meditation and embrace your inner child with love and comfort.

Inner child therapy

Therapy is the key to healing the inner child. Brainspotting is a technique that helps clear the subcortical brain, where the trauma or past experiences live, so healing can begin. There are lawyers of embedded past experiences in the subcortical brain that is part of the subconscious mind. Therapy is a way to clear this one layer at a time. Therapy can also give you a place to talk about your inner child and be in the presence of a professional therapist who can guide you in the right direction of healing.

Subconscious mind

The subconscious mind holds all our past experiences, traumas, and feelings. We are not conscious of what is going on there, but this is where the inner child's feelings live. This is the trigger point during stressful times that unleashes the inner child fury. There are other ways to clear some negative experiences from the past and also fill the void within. The more you can clear your subconscious of past hurts, negativity, anger, and fears, the more your life will move in a positive direction. Feeding your subconscious positive affirmations also helps.

Clearing the subconscious

One way to help clear some negativity from the subconscious is through positive affirmations. Saying them often will offset the negativity from the past. Just say some positive affirmations over and over again in your day. A few examples are that I am loved, I am successful, I am beautiful, or I am happy. Visualization is another way to impact the subconscious, and the most powerful time is at bedtime because you are going from a subconscious to an unconscious state, which is powerful for penetrating the subconscious. Visualize one image of what you want to heal in your subconscious. Let’s say you are addicted to food or alcohol. You would put one image in your head of being free from alcohol, or if you want to lose weight, an image of you being slim and healthy. Fall asleep with the feeling of well-being and feeling healthy, happy, and loved. This visualization will leave positive imprints on your subconscious mind. Do this for at least 30 days and see if you feel better and stronger. You can do this with anger issues or fear. Just use the opposite positive emotion, see the image in your head, and fall asleep with positive thoughts. For instance if you want to get rid of anger, see yourself in an image of being calm, kind, loving, and peaceful. If you want to get rid of fears, see yourself feeling loved, courageous, in the loving arms of your higher power, whom I call God. Being in the presence of God will help you feel less fear, because love and fear cannot reside together and God is love.

Cultivate Self-Love

Lack of parental love creates inner emptiness. Now consciously shower yourself with self-love and positive affirmations. Build the unconditional self-love your inner child craves. Cultivating inner love for yourself is a very positive way to heal the inner child. Too often, we resonate with negative thoughts about ourselves that actually come from our childhood. Change those self-defeating thoughts to ones of love. Self-care is also crucial, so do good things for yourself daily, or at least a couple of times a week. I suggest you get a picture of yourself as a child and put that picture where you can see it and tell yourself every day, “I love you.”

John Bradshaw described inner child work as: “Learning to love yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself.” Extending compassion and care inward dissolves old wounds, so your healthiest self can shine through.

In closing, remember that you have the power to change your inner world into one of joy. You have the power to regenerate yourself with nurturing, love, and compassion. If you start to do inner child work, you will see that your relationship with family and friends will improve. However, the most important relationship you will ever have is with yourself, and when that improves, your whole world becomes a better place to be.

Rachel Devine is the author of, The Third Road & Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack and has a new book coming out soon, Discover the Power of the Secret Within, that explores the inner child and subconscious mind for healing.

Devine Intervention - Inner Healing Center

Inner child coaching

Ways to Recognize when your Inner Child Sabotages Your Relationships - Rachel Devine

Our relationships are precious. The wounded inner child, carrying baggage from past hurts or abandonments, often undermines romantic partnerships unconsciously. This is a very scary notion that there are aspects of each and every one of us that we are not aware of. By understanding your inner child’s dynamics and the way it acts out, you can heal its pain and break free of relationship-destroying patterns. But only when you can understand it, can you really heal its fury and live a happy life. Inner child healing starts with you. Furthermore, those who are just ‘unlucky in love,’ or can’t meet the right partner, might come to see a pattern from childhood to adult relationships. Let’s explore all of this together.

Defining the Inner Child

According to psychology pioneer Carl Jung, the inner child represents our instincts, vulnerabilities, feelings, and unmet needs from childhood. John Bradshaw, an expert in the inner child and author of Homecoming, further defines it as “the accumulation of all unmet childhood needs and wants that make up the childhood energies still expressing themselves in our adult lives.” John Bradshaw was an advocate for reparenting our inner child.

This inner child dwells in the subconscious mind, influencing behaviors independent of adult awareness. Our reactions to romantic partners frequently reflect the inner child’s projections. To be clear, the subconscious mind is like a vast memory bank holding all of our past traumas, experiences, and feelings from our inner child. During times of stress or triggers, the subconscious mind, or inner child, lashes out in very unexpected ways that are often unexplainable.

Inner Child Dynamics

The inner child dynamics are not complicated. From birth to 7 years old is a crucial time a child has to get their needs met, and if they don't, they grow up to be needy adults.

How we learned to love from birth to seven years old in our family of origin will determine our subconscious imprint that gets embedded in our brain. These imprints will determine who we connect with as a partner. When we get into adulthood, we attract those people who fulfill our innermost subconscious needs. This imprint from childhood is what we subconsciously navigate with when seeking out a partner in life. This is why it’s important to understand that we attract what we are resonating with. Additionally, this is the reason why most people marry a clone of their mother or father! It’s another way to get our childhood needs met with a partner that resembles our parents.

Recognizing Inner Child Havoc

Some signs your inner child is sabotaging your relationships include the following: These are all reactions to triggers, which would be a stimulus that elicits a reaction stemming from a negative childhood experience.

• Severe jealousy about harmless interactions

• Constant need for validation and reassurance

• Major mood swings or emotional sensitivity

• Fear of enmeshment or losing yourself

• Panic when feeling alone or abandoned

• Difficulty with true intimacy and vulnerability

• Inability to keep a healthy relationship

• Extreme anger issues or fears

John Bradshaw explains: “The wounded inner child inside many people can destroy loving relationships. Your childhood wounds affect your relationships.” These wounds stem from the inner child’s neediness. To reiterate, this is due to not getting your fundamental needs met as a child, from infant to 7 years old. It is a good idea to explore this time in your life and what transpired. The patterns in our family of origin are usually what we bring into our relationships, friendships, and work environment.

Healing your inner child

To stop destructive inner child responses, self-awareness of the triggers through mindful observations of your emotions and reactions is key. The first step is to be aware of the problem and not ignore it. Then intentionally reframe your self-talk. It’s hard to do this in the heat of the moment, but reflecting back on the conflict you had with your partner is key to awareness because you can look at it during a calm time and adjust your actions in the future.

As an example, if abandonment wounds cause you to interpret your partner’s business trip as intentional neglect, remind yourself, “This is my inner child projecting past fears of abandonment. My partner loves me and is coming back.” Recognizing a pattern from childhood that correlates with the adult situation is the first step to healing.

For instance, if your father was working all the time when you were a child, you may have developed fears of abandonment, so your partner going on a business trip could trigger these painful feelings from childhood. Remember, all of your traumas and experiences are locked away in your subconscious mind and will get triggered when stressful events happen that jolt those inner child feelings. When you identify a pattern, you can go back to the time of the trauma from childhood and comfort and love your inner child in a meditation. John Bradshaw boldly suggests we go back to your childhood home, visualize your inner child in pain, and comfort him or her. It is the most loving thing you can do for yourself.

If you are dating and can’t meet a compatible partner, it’s really time to look at the patterns from childhood, how you learned to love, and how that correlates with your adult relationships. The answers lie with the inner child dilemma.

Self-love

Self-love is crucial to having a healthy inner child. Cultivating secure relationships also involves reprogramming core relationship beliefs in your subconscious mind—for example, that you are worthy and loveable. Visualization, affirmations, and therapy can help instill self-reliance, regardless of your partner’s proximity or validation. It all starts with a firm, loving foundation in your relationship with yourself. Healing the inner child is crucial, and so is this inner child work. You have to be the one who is strong in your own skin, and it’s important to develop a good-loving, secure relationship with yourself. You can do this with daily affirmations and visuals of being strong alone, so when you are alone, your subconscious will draw on the visualization. Just visualize a positive feeling of safety and love.

Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are a good start to changing the negative subconscious into a positive one.

I am happy.

I am loved.

I am strong.

I am secure in my own skin.

I am at peace.

I am a child of God.

The more compassion, understanding, love, and stability you extend to your inner child directly, the less it will act up unconsciously in your relationships.

In closing, the inner child is a multifaceted issue and really does demand your attention. It is important to explore your inner child, who is very real and a big part of your life, and try to see the patterns of self-sabotage when they happen. It will help your relationship become happier. Remember, awareness is the key to overcoming any obstacles in life. Having a loving relationship with yourself is the single most important thing you can do to heal your inner child.

Rachel Devine’s new book, Discover the Power of the Secret Within: Healing Your Inner Child to Manifest Your Dreams, is on Amazon now.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center

Depression and the Inner Child: Reclaiming Your Joy - Rachel Devine

Depression often has roots in childhood wounds, faulty programming, and distorted negative self-perception, which arise from childhood. Another factor of depression is living in the past. When we spend a lot of time in the past it usually will bring on depression and anxiety, especially if you are lamenting over grief or misgivings. However, by understanding the role of the inner child and utilizing tools to transform limiting beliefs, you can counteract depression’s darkness.

The Inner Child’s Impact

According to inner child expert John Bradshaw, author of Homecoming, those carrying inner child wounds are particularly susceptible to depression in adulthood. Events can trigger childhood defenses and unmet needs such as:

• Beliefs you are somehow defective due to emotional invalidation or abuse by parents.

• Abandonment depression from unstable caregiver bonds or relationships or prolonged grief.

• Reawakened despair from a traumatic childhood.

Bradshaw states: “Depression is anger turned inward. Most depression has to do with some loss, either real or symbolic, and anger about powerlessness that cannot be expressed outwardly.” Remember you only have power over yourself and not over other people, circumstances or outcomes. Connecting to and counseling your inner child compassionately can aid healing.

Start Living

Life is short, get out and start living, even if you just take some baby steps. It’s important to be around positive people. When you are out, enjoy the moment, stay in the moment and don’t lament about the past or imagined future failures. Just stay in the moment and give yourself a break from the angst and negativity of depression. Being around friends and family can change your mindset to one of happiness.

Reframing Your Narrative

Cognitive behavioral therapy examines how your inner narrative fuels depression. Catch negative self-talk that is reinforcing falsehoods like worthlessness, failure, or isolation. Also watch out for feelings of despair that come from spending time too much time in the past or with grieving losses. Counter by consciously nurturing uplifting affirmations to transform toxic inner dialog:

“I accept myself even in suffering.” “This pain will pass." "I am worthy of love." “It’s okay to be sad, but I choose happiness.” “I am a child of God and I am healing.”

A life coach can also be a great resource in times of feeling down.

Visualize Ideal Scenarios

Imagining best case scenarios helps rewire your subconscious expectations from anticipating defeat towards envisioning success. Picture yourself joyful, embraced by community, and excelling despite current challenges. What would your thriving life look, sound, and feel like?

As depression expert Dr. Susan Johnson relates: “Depression can sometimes be like a thunderstorm, strong and overpowering. But like every storm, it will pass. Hold onto that hope.”

Try to fall asleep with an image of yourself feeling happy and loved by you. Remember you are the anchor that will help you during the storms of life. Depend on yourself to pull you out of the funk. Just imagine a happy image and fall asleep with the feelings of being happy, loved and content. Do this for 30 days and see what positive changes occur.

The Light Awaits You

However dark the void seems now, understand pain is temporary while your spirit is eternal. Manifest nurturing relationships, pursuits, and environments to shelter your inner light when exposed. You may feel fragile, but never broken. Healing flows when you’re ready.

As Bradshaw advised: “The possibility of joy is always available. The place to find it is to go to the darkness. Don’t run away from the darkness; go through it. You have to be willing to face sadness.” Healing happens when you go through the fire and come out on the other side in a new and positive light. Don’t fight it, just go with the flow.

When depression strikes, be gentle with yourself. Release judgment or pressure to “fix yourself” immediately. Transformation unfolds step by step when you courageously explore the shadows. Let compassion, not fear of imperfection, guide you to wholeness. These steps will help you on your way to the the light. That light always awaits you.

Mental health services resource.

Rachel Devine is the author of, The Third Road & Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack and has a new book coming out soon, Discover the Power of the Secret Within.

Devine Intervention - Inner Healing Center

Wake Up Call! It’s Time to Awaken the Real YOU!

From time to time I think we can all use a wake-up call. Especially when life becomes dull and meaningless. Some of us go from one day to the next in the same mundane routine, with no room for fun or happiness. Days become years, and years become decades, and one might look back and see opportunities that were squandered. What do you have on the back burner of your life that you want to do? What is waiting in the wings that can bring you joy and happiness? And the big question is, what is stopping you from living a life of fulfillment and joy? It’s time for a wake-up call and to discover the real you! It’s time to see an aspect of your life you may not be aware of. Let me clarify what I mean in this article and look at some positive thoughts and manifesting methods that can transform your life! Let’s awaken the real you to reality.

The real you

It might sound crazy, but there is a dual power within that drives your life. You may think that you have full control of your life, but the stark reality is that there is something within that is driving your life in a direction that you might not want to go in. That dual inner power is your subconscious mind and inner child. All of your past experiences, traumas, and feelings are locked away in your subconscious mind. Think about this for a moment. To be clear, you can’t consciously access this part of your brain unless you do some subcortical brain work. However, your life is ruled by your subconscious mind 95% of the time! That’s right, all of your decisions and day-to-day routine are directed by your subconscious mind. This is a fact. So the question is, how do you wake up that part of yourself to steer it in the direction you want your life to go? The next question is: how much trauma and bad experiences have you had in the past that are driving your life today? To make it more complicated, the inner child is part of this whole subconscious dilemma.

Example

In order to be more clear about this, let’s look at these examples:

I will never forget this incident, that is an example of fears of abandonment from childhood that are embedded in the subconscious mind. I was walking my dog, Luke, at the time, and there was a white SUV stopped at the corner for the stop sign. The window was open, and I could hear this man screaming at someone on the phone, saying:

“You are never home; we don’t eat together anymore; you don’t cook; you are such a witch” (although he used the b word), and he was berating her.

I am sure that the more he yelled and became angry, the more she retreated and wanted to stay away from him. It was a vicious circle. And I thought to myself, All he wants to say to her is that he is lonely, feels abandoned, and would like to spend more time with her. But I suspect his inner child, feeling hurt and being triggered by her pulling away, is setting off his fear of abandonment issues from his childhood, so he is lashing out with intense anger, reverting to the way he behaved as a child. He was trying to get his needs met, and she was pulling away, so his anger got out of control. The fear of abandonment starts with fear and morphs into intense anger.

Another example is road rage. As you are driving along, perhaps someone dangerously cuts you off, and you go from fear to rage in an instant. The rage is intense and comes out of left field. What is happening at this point is that your inner child is reverting to a time of feeling fear and is triggered by the danger it feels when the car cuts you off. The inner child in turn is erupting with rage. This rage is what is within you that is lashing out in times of danger.

Subconscious work

The subconscious mind is typically embedded with fears, anger, and neediness from the past. There are several ways to do some work on reprogramming the subconscious mind to become a positive state of being. One way is called brainspotting. Brainspotting is a technique done by a professional therapist that is able to clear away parts of trauma from the past so it does not affect your life today, as I just outlined. This is especially helpful for those with PTSD. However, not everyone wants to go through a therapist to clear the channels.

You could also get a life-coach to help you reprogram the subconscious mind. This is a very good option.

Another way would be to offset the negative subconscious thoughts with positive ones. There are several ways to do this that I will outline in the next section.

Positive tools

Visualization and affirmations are a couple of ways to reprogram the subconscious mind. As you are falling asleep, you are going from a conscious to a subconscious to an unconscious sleep state. Many experts agree that this unconscious sleep state is where we can reprogram the subconscious mind. Let’s say you want to get rid of anger from your subconscious mind. You do that by offsetting it with kindness, love and peace.

Here are the steps:

1. Fall asleep with one image. If you want to be less angry, put an image in your head of you being kind, peaceful, and loving. Love is a strong emotion that offsets many negative ones. You want to keep one image in your mind of you in a loving state as you drift off to sleep.

2. The feelings are what changes the subconscious mind from anger to love. Let me repeat that. The feelings are what changes the subconscious mind. So you want to resonate with loving, kind feelings as you fall asleep, because these feelings will resonate in your unconscious mind for 8 hours. This is a powerful time for changing the subconscious.

3. You want to do this at least for 30 days. You will find that the next day you will feel more loving and wake up quite happy after feeding your subconscious with loving thoughts for 8 hours.

Remember, your subconscious mind drives your life 95% of the time, so it makes sense to always feed it positive rather than negative thoughts and feelings.

Manifesting your goals

Manifesting your goals is another aspect of using positive visualizations and feelings to reprogram the subconscious mind. Let’s go one step further with this, and let’s say you want to connect with your soulmate. You would fall asleep with one image of having met your soulmate. You fall asleep with the feelings of how it would feel to be in a relationship with your soulmate. You would feel loved, secure, elated and happy. You want to resonate with these feelings as you drift off to sleep. Again, you would do this for 30 days and see how that works for connecting with your soulmate in your awakened world.

Say you want to lose weight or end an addiction. You can use the same technique as described above for this or anything else you want to manifest in your world. Remember, your subconscious mind drives your life 95% of the time. Feeding it future goals and dreams is a smart way to bring these dreams into your waking world.

In closing, it is important to wake up and recognize the part of you that drives your life most of the time. The real you is buried in many aspects of your past. You want to live your best life, and in order to do that, it is important to get rid of the baggage from the past of resentments, anger, fears, and neediness. There are many layers of negativity from the past that can be cleared away one thought, one feeling, and one day at a time and get you to a point of living your best life.

Rachel Devine is the author of The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, both on Amazon. My new book on the inner child and the subconscious mind will be out very soon.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center website

Inner Child: A Pandora’s Box of Addictions! Rachel Devine

The inner child might sound like a far-fetched notion of a Freudian error from the past. It might conjure up pictures of your childhood—the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, the inner child is alive and well and dwells within each one of us. The inner child is in charge of steering our lives in one direction or another, depending on the emotions and experiences it was fed throughout your childhood. This revelation is enough to get anyone’s attention, as it is vital information on why your life is where it is today. The really crucial part of inner child dilemma is with addiction. If you tried to lose weight, stop smoking, drinking, or working long hours, and you can’t do it, it’s time to look at the inner child. Reparenting your inner child is key. Inner child healing is possible in order to curb addictions. Let’s explore this a little deeper.

Inner child definition

The inner child is our feelings, energies, needs, vulnerabilities, experiences, and neurological imprint. Simply put, the inner child is part of your personality that still feels and acts like a child.

The inner child that develops in each of our individual childhoods is what navigates our subconscious mind and drives our decisions in life without our realizing it. The subconscious holds all your experiences, traumas, and family interactions. The subconscious mind is the navigator of most of your life and is very powerful. In fact, the subconscious mind is in charge of 95% of your life, which includes your actions, decisions, and pretty much all that you do in a day.

When we struggle to move forward in life, to get out of a bad relationship, to start a love relationship, or to break an addiction, all of these decisions are coming from the subconscious mind of the inner child. That imprint that was embedded in our mind at different developmental stages is ingrained in our subconscious, and our adult intellect tries to reason with certain decisions we make but usually loses out to the fear or insecurity of the inner child. And most people are oblivious to this conflict that is going on within them and have no clue as to why they make certain decisions that are unhealthy for them. Make no mistake about it, when I say “subconscious mind,” it means we are totally oblivious to what is happening in that part of our psyches.

The wounded inner child

The dilemma ensues when our childhood was dysfunctional with things like alcoholism, drug addiction, abusive parents, etc. All of us have some degree of dysfunction from childhood; it is a matter of degrees. The inner child develops during the infant to 7-year-old stage. If you didn’t get your fundamental needs met at that stage, you would grow up to be a needy adult and perhaps fill that inner void with addictions such as alcohol, food, people, work, drugs, shopping, etc. This addictive behavior is to offset the void and also keep one in a numb state of having to feel our feelings. The wounded inner child wants to heal from the past. Inner child work is necessary to curb addictions.

Struggles with addiction

Most people struggle with addiction because, at the root of the problem, there is this feeling of emptiness within. I truly believe that if we fill that void with something healthy, it will help release the addiction. For instance, one can fill that void with exercise. Exercise induces endorphins, which make one feel good. When I tried to stop smoking, it was much easier when I exercised. Or you can fill the void with your own self-love. Loving yourself and parenting yourself can turn your whole world around for the better. Or you can fill that void with your Higher Power. The reason 12 step programs are so successful is because it reconnects one to their Higher Power. Being the parent of your inner child is key to releasing some of the hurt from the past. Parenting yourself is crucial to healing.

When you learn how to re-parent yourself, you will stop attempting to complete the past by setting up others to be your parents.” 
― John Bradshaw, Homecoming: Reclaiming and Healing Your Inner Child

Healing for the inner child

Once you can start to heal your inner child, the addictions will be more manageable. So, how do you heal the inner child? The first step would be to impress positive feelings into the subconscious mind. Remember, the subconscious mind drives your life 95% of the time. It makes sense to feed it positive feelings to offset the negativity from the past. The time to do that is just before you fall asleep at night. As you go from a subconscious to an unconscious state of sleeping, that is the most powerful time to feed the subconscious positive thoughts.

Make no mistake about it. Some of us are addicted to food, especially carbs and sugar. So, let’s say you want to lose weight. You will think about one image of yourself as slim, as if you already lost the weight, and fall asleep with that image in your head and with the feelings of how it would feel to be slim. You would feel healthy, happy, secure, etc. Those feelings will get into your subconscious mind and drive your life in the direction of losing weight.

Your story

In order to tame any addiction, your story has to align with the direction you want to go.

Here is an example of a negative story:

I have done everything, and I can’t lose weight.

What if we changed this story to a positive one?

I am willing to do anything to lose weight!

Your story must align with a positive light in the direction you want your life to go. Whether that is in business, healing, or anything you want to achieve in life.

Affirmations

Affirmations are phrases that are positive. Saying them out loud on a daily basis, consistently, will penetrate the subconscious mind. Whatever you say after the words “I am” is crucial to your inner child.

Some positive “I am” affirmations are:

I am loved.

I am beautiful.

I am successful.

I am happy.

I am a child of God.

Visualization

If you recall a time in your life when you were alone with some pain from childhood, you can change the feelings around. We all have them. Even being left out of a party can be traumatic for a little child. Just visualize that time in your life as a child and put yourself in that time frame in your visualization as an adult. Now you have a chance to comfort your inner child with words of kindness, love, and assurance. You can even give your inner child a hug. Going back to the hard times of your childhood and being a parent can heal one layer of many that would need healing. The more you do it, the more healing you will have.

In closing, it is crucial to connect with your inner child and start the healing process. You don’t want to live life in an oblivious state of not understanding the inner child factor. We all have hidden negative experiences from our childhood that cause havoc in our present world. Reparenting your inner child, with love, comfort and security is the most loving form of self-care. It will foster inner child healing and peace in your adult life. You have a choice, will you take this awareness to heart, or walk away to the same routine as yesterday.

Rachel Devine is the author of The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, both on Amazon. My new book on the inner child and the subconscious mind will be out very soon.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center website

The Power of Affirmations - Rachel Devine

Affirmations are simple, positive statements of empowerment that can reprogram thinking patterns when repeated consistently. Regularly affirming core beliefs about yourself, abilities, and worthiness shapes reality by training the subconscious mind to manifest confident new mindsets. The benefits of affirmations is priceless. Let’s look at the power of affirmations more closely and see how it can transform your life.

What Are Affirmations?

According to motivational speaker Tony Robbins, “An affirmation is a strong, positive statement that something is already so.” Louise Hay, a pioneer of affirmations, defined them as “a positive statement that asserts your power and worth.”

Affirmations redirect mental focus away from negative, limiting views to construct bold new empowering narratives. With time, the conscious mind absorbs these uplifting messages as subconscious truth. They are positive words that you can put on a sticky note and say them out loud often in your day.

The Power of Affirmations

The power of affirmations lies in the fact that, when done consistently, they can reprogram the subconscious mind from a negative to a positive way of thinking. Affirmations offset past negativity. When you feed your subconscious mind affirmations, it can transform your life to go in the direction of the affirmation. For instance, if you say often enough, “I am successful,” before long, your life will start moving in a successful direction because the subconscious mind directs your life 95% of the time. Therefore, the more positive thoughts that are fed into the subconscious, the more your life will go in a positive direction.

Louise Hay

Louise Hay on Affirmations

Louise Hay was a teacher, healer and successful author. In her book You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay wrote: “Affirmations program your subconscious mind and affect all areas of your life.” She suggests affirming ideal futures in present tense to manifest them, always maintaining positivity.

Some of her sample affirmations include:

• “I am willing to change and grow.”

• “My life gets more fabulous every day.”

• “I love, accept, and forgive myself.”

25 positive affirmations to ponder

• I radiate joy, beauty and passion in all things.

• Abundance flows freely through me.

• I am open and receptive to brilliant new ideas.

• Wisdom guides me to make excellent choices.

• I forgive those who have harmed me and wish them well.

• My courage makes me unstoppable.

• I am healthy, happy, and filled with energy.

• Every challenge strengthens me. I overcome obstacles with poise.

• I am boldly becoming my highest and best self.

• My confidence grows daily like a blossoming flower.

• I have so much to be grateful for. My life is a blessing.

• My positive thoughts create positive experiences.

• Love surrounds me. I am enough.

• I embrace imperfection - flaws make me beautifully human.

• My purpose becomes clearer each day. I know my path.

• Joy radiates from my light within; I spread it generously.

• I am guided to helpful people and opportunities.

• Obstacles become opportunities. Setbacks pave the way for comebacks.

• My needs are generously met with grace and ease.

• I am safe, peaceful, and free from worry. The universe supports me.

•  I will incorporate some prayer or meditation today.

• I will go to sleep with feelings of love resonating in my subconscious mind.

• I will reach out to someone who could use a friend today, or say a prayer for someone who can use it.

• I am at peace and do things that invoke peace in my life. 

• I am happy, and when negative thoughts are around, I will offset them with positive thoughts.

Benefits of affirmations

Benefits include increased positivity and optimism - Affirmations focus thinking on uplifting beliefs and attitudes. Here are some more benefits to affirmations:

• Improved self-esteem and confidence - Affirming one's strengths and worth bolsters self-assurance.

• Reduced stress and anxiety - Affirmations emphasize empowering capabilities versus worries.

• Manifest desired change - Affirmations shape subconscious programming to match declared beliefs.

• Find clarity and direction - Affirming ideals reveals passions and purpose.

• Foster creativity - Affirming removes mental blocks to tap inspiration.

• Build healthier habits - Affirming goals imprints new wellness rituals.

• Strengthen spiritual connection - Affirming oneness, gratitude, and positivity elevates consciousness.

Reciting uplifting mantras trains the subconscious mind to manifest the desired qualities over time. These positive thoughts affirmed will become reality.

Modern psychology verifies that words shape neural pathways. Affirmations leverage this mind-body connection to intentionally rewire limiting patterns. With consistent practice, affirmations create real change as they will navigate the direction your life will go in, and in a sense manifest your destiny.

In closing, remember that positive words have a powerful influence on what direction your life will go in. Recite affirmations several times a day and sit back and watch how the power of positive words will transform your life.

Rachel Devine is the author of The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, both on Amazon. My new book on the inner child and the subconscious mind will be out very soon.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center website

Defining Moments: How Quantum Leaps Shape Our Destiny - Rachel Devine

Certain pivotal events have the power to permanently shift the entire course of our lives. Understanding how these “defining moments” tie into quantum physics principles can help us appreciate how they transform us. A defining moment in life is a gift. These moments are a mystical blessing that come out of left field and literally transform our lives. Let’s look at this phenomenon more closely.

Quantum Moments`

Quantum moments have been described as surprising—unexpected, uninvited, and unforeseen. Quantum moments are benevolent; in other words, they come with feelings of peace, serenity, and bliss in a mystical fashion. The fourth quality of a quantum moment is that it never goes away. That moment is burned into our consciousness as a vivid picture that won't be forgotten.

Quantum moments are life-changing, if one is open to the message of the moment.

Quantum Physics

According to quantum theory, energy fields carry probabilities of potential outcomes until an observation or measurement is made, causing the wave function to “collapse” into a fixed occurrence. This is when the quantum moment happens.

Physicist Neils Bohr, a quantum pioneer, stated: “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."

So interactions between the observer and observed create reality. This means major defining events emerge from wave-like potentials into a transformed life direction.

Likewise, who we become from defining moments depends on our chosen response. Instead of passively observing a quantum moment, you can learn to actively engage in encouraging it deliberately into the reality you want.

Defining moments in action

Examples of pivotal life moments abound:

• A chance encounter with a future spouse in an unexpected way alters your course.

• A health diagnosis poses an opportunity to redefine priorities.

• An addiction bottom might redefine one’s life to purpose, as they climb back up.

• Discovering one’s passion in an unexpected way due to tragic circumstances.

• Feeling like you were born-again during a faith-filled experience.

Such defining moments carry tremendous potential for change at their inception. By intentionally selecting the narrative and actions going forward, you steer the possibilities toward your desired destination.

As speaker Tony Robbins said, “It's in the moment of decision that your destiny is shaped.” Life-changing moments require active direction to manifest transformative results, rather than passively allowing external events to dictate outcomes.

Personal defining moment

I had my own quantum moment on Christmas Day in 1997 in a church. I was separated from my husband and was caring for my four and a 10-year-old sons alone. Life was a blur from one day to the next. I remember lying in bed, feeling exhausted. I prayed for the gift of faith. It was a faint prayer that I honestly forgot about. Two weeks later, I took my sons to our church for Christmas mass. I wanted to feel the faith and warmth of my church that I had when I was a child. During the mass, I felt an enormous power seem to swirl from one end of the church to where I was sitting and pierce my heart. I had no idea what was happening. I just sat there feeling frozen in time, or, I should say, in the moment. A few minutes passed, and when everyone sang Silent Night, my heart was transformed into a feeling of peace that surpasses all understanding. I started to cry happy, confused tears. I felt like my soul was awakening from a long hibernation and I was granted the gift of faith on that glorious day. From that day forward, all I wanted to do was nurture this newfound faith. I joined my prayer group, became involved with the church, went on retreats, eventually directed spiritual retreats, did speaking engagements and wrote several books with a spiritual flair. That Christmas day in 1997 was the start of my spiritual journey of finding faith, purpose, and helping others along their life’s journey. That quantum moment transformed my life.

What about you? Have you had a defining moment in life that could be considered a quantum moment? Did this defining moment shape your destiny? Did it change the course of your life? Did you ride the wave to find out what it was all about?

In conclusion, by harnessing the currents of mystical change ignited by defining moments, you gain influence over your unfolding destiny. Pivotal points require a purposeful response to ignite a lasting positive impact. Don’t ignore these quantum moments. Rather, use them to shape your destiny and redefine who you are.

Rachel Devine is the author of The Third Road and Lessons from the Needle in a Haystack, both on Amazon. My new book on the inner child will be out very soon.

Devine Intervention: Inner Healing Center website