Healing My Inner Child Through Self Love

By, Fiona M.

As I have come into Steps 10 and 11, with a solid daily meditation practice and my Step 3 prayer, and my Step 5 and 7 prayer (which changes every day), I think that I have found the root of my problem.

The thing which I suffered from the most in active addiction, which stole my life-force, was my obsession. 

Marijuana was always on my mind. The most important thing in my life.

Without it, I find my mind replacing it, with other obsessive objects. Something that I can think of, which my mind wishes to spin a fantasy of pleasure upon, that lifts me momentarily out of my daily life and out of a place of mindfulness, and presence. 

If I substitute this thought, this desired object, with an image of a fantastical world —I tried a fluffy pink marshmallow world 🙂 — from below up pops my inner child, needing love and care and attention.

I realise that in my obsessive thoughts, I am looking for something outside of myself which I can only find within.

As an adult, only I can give my inner child– the wounded/neglected feeling part of myself which was shut away in childhood—  the self protection, the love, and the care that they need.

On this day I give myself the love that only I can give.

Published in A New Leaf – February 2025

More Articles

  • Heard in a Meeting

    “Fear is courage that has said its prayers” Published in A New Leaf – February 2026

    Heard in a Meeting
  • Fire & Light

    Created by, Chris P. This is a drawing I made for the new year 2026, wishing for fire & light within. I started drawing only when I was about 9 months into recovery. Inspired by an MA fellow who shared their drawing. I always thought I couldn’t draw or paint and hence never tried. The…

    Fire & Light
  • Today I Choose

    Written by, Paul D. I was not always able to make choices. It is said that no man can serve two masters. I had only one master and its name was addiction.  This master forbids me to make decent friends because it wants me isolated and alone so it can kill me quietly in its…

    Today I Choose
  • What I Didn’t Do

    Written by, Julie A. Weed once felt like a soft landing — a cushion for my racing mind, a bridge out of loneliness. But over time, the cushion smothered me. Nights blurred into smoke, mornings into fog. I thought I was escaping, but really I was erasing myself. My wife held me through it, even…

    What I Didn’t Do
  • Tradition Two and Humility

    Written by, Anonymous “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority, a loving God whose expression may come through in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” -Tradition Two As a recovering marijuana addict, I am constantly reminded of how many “control issues” still lurk around the…

    Tradition Two and Humility
  • LGBTQIA+ and Being in Recovery

    Written by, Connor B. My first boyfriend was the one who introduced me to marijuana. I was 18 and he was significantly older. He took advantage of my naïve puppy love in many ways: pressuring me to give him a car loan, living in my dorm room for months, etc. But it was developing the…

    LGBTQIA+ and Being in Recovery