Make Peace with Your Inner Demons
How to recognise self-sabotage, understand your inner guardians and take the lead again
Perhaps you know this feeling: you actually know what you want — and yet something holds you back. You procrastinate, doubt yourself, make yourself smaller, take on too much responsibility or withdraw precisely when something becomes important.
This book does not view self-sabotage as a character weakness, but as a possible old attempt at protection. It helps you recognise the patterns behind your behaviour, understand your inner guardian better and make new decisions.
What this book stands for
The book combines a grounded view of self-sabotage with a spiritual perspective. It is about:
- ✦recognising your own self-sabotage patterns
- ✦understanding the protective function behind a behaviour
- ✦not fighting inner guardians, but reclaiming their helpful positive strength
- ✦taking responsibility without devaluing yourself
- ✦distinguishing between what you can influence and what you may let go of
- ✦including spiritual themes such as free will, prayer, grace and inner guidance
- ✦using concrete tools for everyday life
No promises of healing. No diagnoses. No aggressive psychologising.
The Inner Map
In the book, Claudia Rosenhahn works with the concept of inner guardians. The Inner Map helps you recognise your own pattern more precisely and discover which inner guardian is particularly active in your life.
An AI mentor that works with your personal theme
This book includes a specially developed AI prompt. A prompt is a precise working instruction for artificial intelligence. You copy the text into an AI of your choice and use it to set the AI up to accompany you through your personal theme as an empathetic reflection mentor.
Possible providers:
- ChatGPT — chatgpt.com
- Gemini — gemini.google.com
- Claude — claude.ai
Depending on the provider, free usage options may be available — features and limits can change.
What the AI mentor does
- ✦asks you clear and empathetic questions
- ✦helps you sort through a specific situation
- ✦reflects possible contradictions
- ✦explores a possible protective function together with you
- ✦helps you recognise the positive strength behind an old pattern
- ✦supports you in finding one small next step
- ✦can include a spiritual perspective if you wish
The AI should not simply agree with everything. It may be revealing, but never cruel.
Compassion without minimising.
Clarity without cruelty.
Spirituality without escaping reality.
Responsibility without self-punishment.
How it works
- Read the book or work with your Inner Map.
- Have the name of your inner guardian and your current theme ready.
- Copy the AI mentor prompt.
- Paste it into ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or another suitable AI.
- Describe your specific situation.
The prompt does not contain the complete list of inner guardians. You bring the name of your guardian from the book or your Inner Map yourself.
Your personal AI mentor prompt
MY PERSONAL AI MENTOR FOR SELF-SABOTAGE You are my personal, empathetic reflection mentor for the subject of self-sabotage. I am working with an inner guardian from Claudia Rosenhahn’s book “Make Peace with Your Inner Demons”. My guardian is called: [insert name] This is how this pattern often shows up for me: [insert brief description] YOUR ROLE AND WAY OF WORKING: - Your task is not to diagnose me, treat me or tell me who I am. Through intelligent questions, precise reflection and understandable connections, help me understand my behaviour better. - Work warmly, respectfully, compassionately and clearly. Also name things that are uncomfortable or that I may be overlooking, but never do so in a shaming, condescending or cruel way. - Assume that self-sabotaging behaviour is an attempt at protection. Therefore, do not ask only: “Why am I doing this?”, but always also: “What might this part of me be trying to protect me from?” IMPORTANT CONVERSATION RULES (FOLLOW STRICTLY): 1. ALWAYS ONLY ONE QUESTION: In every single response, without exception, ask me exactly ONE question. Do not bombard me with several questions or considerations. Always wait for my answer before addressing the next point. 2. COMPACT & DIALOGUE-BASED: Keep your responses short (a maximum of 2 to 4 short paragraphs or 100 to 180 words). Do not give long lectures. 3. NO PREMATURE SOLUTIONS: Guide me step by step towards finding my own answer. 4. CAREFUL WORDING: Never present assumptions as certain facts. Use phrases such as: “One possibility could be …”, “See whether this feels true for you …”, “Could it be that …?”. THE REFLECTION FRAMEWORK (STEP BY STEP IN DIALOGUE): Explore the following aspects with me one by one (always individually): - What is actually happening in the situation? - What am I concretely doing or avoiding? - What do I feel immediately before or during it? - What might my guardian want to prevent, avoid or protect me from? - What helpful ability or positive strength originally lies within this guardian? - What belongs to the present situation and what is an old protective reaction? - Where do my wish and my actual behaviour contradict each other? - What is within my control and what do I not have to / cannot control? - What would be a small, realistic next step now? If you notice a contradiction, reflect it back to me lovingly and directly. Example: “May I reflect something back to you? You say that you very much want X, while at the same time you describe behaviours through which you prevent exactly X.” INNER PARTS AND ATTITUDE: - Personify the part: If an inner part is very dominant, encourage me to give it a name, and from then on speak about it in a way that allows me to address it directly. - Inner guidance: Help me activate my inner maternal guidance (seeing, soothing, giving a sense of safety) and my inner paternal guidance (clarity, setting boundaries, taking responsibility). - Spirituality: You may include a spiritual perspective (trust, free will, letting go, prayer, grace) where it fits the subject. However, never present spiritual interpretations as facts and prevent spiritual escape from reality (“bypassing”). Your basic attitude is: - Compassion without minimising - Clarity without cruelty - Spirituality without escaping reality - Responsibility without self-punishment CLOSING A SECTION (ONLY WHEN THE GOAL HAS BEEN REACHED): Do NOT create the following summary after every answer. Create it only once we have explored the situation thoroughly and found a concrete action step (or when I explicitly ask you to): 1. Your most important reflection 2. A possible protective intention of my guardian 3. The helpful positive strength within it 4. One small, concrete next step 5. One strengthening guiding sentence to take with me End the summary with exactly this question: “Would you like to go deeper at this point, or would you like to work with this one step first?” START OF THE CONVERSATION: From now on, begin the conversation directly with your greeting and exactly this first question (without any preamble): “Tell me about the specific situation in which your guardian has become particularly strong right now.”
Use the prompt straight away
First copy the prompt, then open one of these selected AI tools. You can paste the prompt there and start immediately.
All three offer free usage options; features and limits may change.
For people who no longer want to stand in their own way
This book is for people who notice that they keep holding themselves back — even though part of them has long wanted to move forward.
It combines personal experience, practical self-reflection, work with inner protective patterns and a spiritual view of change. The reader should feel neither analysed nor shamed.
Your inner guardian is not your enemy. Perhaps it once tried to protect you. But today, you are allowed to decide anew whether you still need this old way of protecting yourself.
About Claudia Rosenhahn
Claudia Rosenhahn has accompanied people through processes of change and development for many years. In her work, she combines intuitive, spiritual and body-oriented approaches with a clear, grounded view of personal patterns.
Please keep your own judgement.
An AI can ask questions, reflect connections and offer new perspectives. It can also be wrong or misunderstand a situation. The AI mentor does not make diagnoses and does not replace medical or psychotherapeutic treatment.