How to Trust Your Inner Wisdom and Heal Through Creativity | Spiritual Friction
A conversation on inner wisdom, trauma healing, and transforming pain through creativity — a conversation with Devorah Brinckerhoff
There are moments in life when everything changes.
Not gradually—but all at once.
Moments where the life you’ve built, the identity you’ve known, and the relationships you’ve relied on begin to fall away. Moments that feel like endings—but are, in many ways, beginnings.
My conversation with Devorah Brinckerhoff is one I want to wrap my arms around and draw close. It’s a conversation that invites you into possibility… into wonder… into a different way of understanding the life you’ve lived.
When Life Comes to a Halt
Devorah shares openly about a moment when her life came to a sudden halt—when everything she knew was stripped away, and she was left to reassemble the pieces of her life through divine intervention, creativity, and what she now calls Soul Portraits.
Not through force.
Not through logic.
But through something deeper.
Through intuition.
Through creativity.
Through a willingness to stay present with the rubble.
“I was in my studio surrounded by what felt like the rubble of my life. And so I did it out of necessity, and I wasn't aware of what I was doing at the time. But a few hours into the process, I just stood back and realized that I was disassembling my life and reassembling it in a more digestible way. I had literally made it smaller so that I could integrate all the different layers and versions of who I had been.”
Inner Wisdom and Intuitive Knowing
Throughout this conversation, we return again and again to the idea that there is a form of knowing within us that exists beyond language.
An inner wisdom.
An intuitive voice.
Something that doesn’t always make sense—but feels undeniably true.
Devorah describes intuitive downloads—clear, embodied moments of knowing that later reveal themselves to be accurate and deeply meaningful.
These moments don’t come from thinking.
They come from listening.
From the body.
From the heart.
From a place many of us have learned to quiet.
The Dark Night of the Soul
There are seasons where everything feels disorienting—where meaning dissolves, identity shifts, and the ground beneath you feels uncertain.
This is often described as the dark night of the soul.
Not something we choose—but something we move through.
And yet, within that space, something begins to open.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Through presence.
Through awareness.
Through allowing what is there to be there.
Letting Go of Who You Thought You Were
“I was just like, there’s something wrong with me. So to leave that behind, to let it go, is the greatest. It’s freedom. It is empowerment. I learned very slowly over time how to look toward myself. And that self-sourcing, self-witnessing, self-love… I just want to live from that growing ember of love that exists inside of me.”
This is the work.
Not becoming someone new—
but releasing what was never yours to carry.
And learning to trust yourself again.
Creativity as Healing
At the center of Devorah’s work is a simple truth:
Creativity is a pathway.
A way of connecting with your inner wisdom.
A way of processing trauma.
A way of making meaning from what once felt overwhelming.
Through Soul Portraits, she invites people to work directly with their lived experiences—transforming them into something that can be seen, held, and integrated.
Not erased.
But transformed.
Connect with Devorah
Website: soulportrait.artInstagram: @devorahbrinckerhoff
Facebook: Devorah Hake Brinckerhoff & Soul Portraits
TikTok: @soulportrait.art
LinkedIn: Devorah Hake Brinckerhoff
Listen to the Episode
🎙 Spiritual Friction
How to Trust Your Inner Wisdom and Heal Through Creativity — with Devorah Brinckerhoff
Final Thought
“Don’t you stop by the trees that are growing all twisted and wonky and just stand there in awe of how they're always reaching for the light—in the way that they can. The trees know what they’re doing.”
Your voice helps others feel seen.
