15 Inner Child Journaling Prompts to Spark Healing

“Everyone has a secret battle we know nothing about. That’s why we choose love, always.” —Emma Lovewell

We all have an inner healing journey that we often keep private and don’t share with others. This can show up in the form of hidden fears, doubt, insecurities, and even old childhood inner wounds that get blocked and stored in the body, preventing us from moving forward in life. One powerful way to begin or promote our healing journey is through inner child journaling.

What Inner Child Healing May Look Like

Many of us are so used to protecting ourselves from feeling our deepest core wounds that we don’t realize we are operating from a fractured place. Often these parts of us that are buried deep stem from stunted, unmet childhood needs.

To heal, it’s important to process these unmet needs. One of the best ways to do this is to allow yourself to feel your feelings. Witness what comes up for you when a stimulus or trigger causes a painful memory to resurface.

If you’ve ever experienced a traumatic event, you likely remember certain sounds, smells, or sights related to that experience. Even though it was in your past, when you encounter these sensory reminders as an adult, you may feel that same anxiety, unease, or panic.

What Causes the Inner Child Split

When we are deeply wounded at a young age, we often are not able to handle the pain, so we find ways to dissociate from the intense feelings. We split away from our whole self and start to operate as a fraction of our true self.

Then, later in life, especially when we fall in love or get closer to a new person, these old wounds may become activated. We may be triggered when someone gets angry, withdraws, gives attention to someone else, says mean things, doesn’t tell the truth, misunderstands us, etc.—and suddenly the pain that has been pushed inside us all these years comes roaring to the surface.

We think that we are reacting to the present situation, but what is really happening is that the old, unhealed abandonment wound has been working its way to the surface and now is in full eruption mode. If and when this happens, take a moment to realize this is an important time of deep healing.

These unprocessed emotions are coming to the surface so they can be transmuted from fear into love for good.

Inner Child Journaling to Heal

One of the best tools to help process this pain is journaling. This tool can help reveal better insight into yourself and the events that occur in your life. Prompts for inner child journaling are an excellent way to inspire self-reflection and to access parts of yourself that you may have packed away a long time ago and forgotten about.

To promote healing, try these inner child journaling prompts at your own pace.

1. What do you currently need in your life that you are not getting?

2. What and where was your safe space as a kid?

3. How has this safe place become your sanctuary as an adult, and how is this safe place helping or hurting you?

4. How do you feel right now?

5. When is the first time you felt this way in life, or how often do you feel this way in life?

6. What is your earliest childhood memory?

7. If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would you say?

8. What was the most difficult part of your childhood?

9. If you could describe your childhood in one word or one sentence, what would it be?

10. As a child, what did you worry about? How have these worries carried over into your adult life?

11. What was something you were insecure about as a child? How does it influence your life now?

12. Describe a time when you felt misunderstood as a kid.

13. What role did you play in your family structure and what beliefs were created in you by maintaining this role/identity?

14. How has this role helped or hindered you as an adult?

15. What did your inner child need that they never got? How can you give yourself that now?

Recognize that doing this inner child journaling work can be very healing and transformational. When you commit to showing up for yourself, your relationships will be stronger, deeper, and more rewarding. Because no matter what you have been through, we are all here for the same reason—to grow and expand into more love.

Experiencing stress? Try this rest-guided meditation to connect with calm.