5 Ways to Strengthen Your Intuition

Angela Christian
Jun 09, 2022
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Have you ever struggled with making a decision? Do you wish you had a crystal ball to guide you? Fortunately for you, we do have a built-in superpower that can help us with life’s biggest (and smallest) decisions: our intuition.

I’ll never forget the time I was on a flight home from Mexico and the turbulence was getting out of control. Overhead bins were opening, suitcases were flying out… it was terrifying. I started freaking out and was about to beg the seated airline stewardess for a mini vodka bottle, when I heard the voice in my head: “You’re going to be fine. You’re safe. Calm down.”

It was the first time I had heard “the voice.” It came from nowhere and it had a sense of authority that made me sit back down, and I slowly began to feel a sense of relief. The voice sounded like any other thought I’ve had, but it felt like it wasn’t from me. I understand now that it was my higher self coming through, speaking from a place of intuitive guidance.

Intuitive guidance can appear in different ways, therefore, it’s important to take the time to understand how yours shows up. For some people it’s a feeling in their gut, while others hear a subtle voice. Intuition can also show up as patterns, signs, or even as vivid dreams.


We All Have a Sixth Sense

Unlike what is depicted in Hollywood, we actually all have a sixth sense where both intuition and various psychic abilities reside. Due to the fast-paced lifestyle our society has become accustomed to, many of us don’t take the time to nurture and strengthen our sixth sense, leaving us feeling even more confused than ever. In this article, I’ll help you tap into your ancient wisdom, which will help you feel more confident, happy, and at ease.

How to Tune In To your Inner Guidance System

To begin working with your guidance system, you’ll need to understand how it shows up for you. The best way to do that is to spend more time in nature, take care of your health, remove toxic relationships from your life, and set aside time to meditate or simply sit in silence each day. I also recommend gettingquality sleep and keeping a dream journal next to your bed. As soon as you wake up, think about your dreams and then write down the people, events, and symbols that stood out the most.

We need to be taking care of our minds and bodies for our souls to speak to us. Our mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy, but it’s truly up to us. If you’re allowing your mind to focus on negative thoughts or distractions, it’ll be really hard to tune in to your guidance. Just as a radio station dial needs to be at the correct number to avoid static, we must invite silence into our life to “hear” the wisdom.

5 Ways to Strengthen your Intuition

1. Stay Hydrated

Have you ever had a massage or healing session where they’ve told you to drink a lot of water? That's because the human body is 70 percent water and your brain is 90 percent water. If you become dehydrated, you could experience a mineral imbalance and your blood becomes more concentrated, leading to unfortunate symptoms like headache, dizziness, and muscle cramps. We need water flowing through us to assist with self-regulating our emotions and neutralizing our energy.

As you can imagine, if you’re dehydrated it’ll be very difficult to hear any type of inner guidance. The more hydrated you are and the more your body is taken care of, the easier it’ll be for your intuition to come through.

2. Decrease and/or Eliminate Inflammatory Food and Beverages

The foundation of our inner guidance system is built on the health of our body and its functions. If possible, try eliminating sugar and alcohol, and decreasing caffeine while you’re working on strengthening your intuition.

Consuming too much sugar can have a negative impact on your ability to tap into your intuition. However, if you're someone who loves sugar, don’t be alarmed… just take small steps toward reducing your sugar intake. A study showed that inflammatory blood markers were improved by 30 percent when sugar was reduced.

You might not want to hear this, but alcohol reduces your vibrational frequency. I’ve experienced this firsthand in the past and can attest to the enormous difference of living a sober (or at least sober curious) lifestyle, in which it’s very easy to tap into my intuition, versus a life where I was consuming alcohol daily, finding it very difficult to connect.

I love my morning cup of coffee and won’t be giving that up any time soon. However, I only have one cup of the finest, mold-free coffee as I know it can stress out the adrenal glands. The spiritual reason behind this is that it’s very hard to go within and connect with your heart if it’s beating very quickly. The way I deal with this is to drink my coffee at 6 a.m. and then meditate around 12 p.m. or 1 p.m., once the alert feeling has passed.

3. Get Outside and Move Around

Nature is very healing and can actually help us tap into the ancient intuition we used when we actually lived outside and relied on it to keep us alive from predators and the elements. Many of us spend all day on our phone and/or computer, but our mind truly needs a rest and nature is the perfect place.

Many Greek philosophers discovered a deep, intuitive connection between walking, thinking clearly, and writing. Being away from social mediaand technology will provide space for your inner guidance system to come through.

Finally, sunshine and gentle sunbathing is very healing, as well. I recommend enjoying about 15 to 30 minutes of morning sun, which will energize your chakras and can provide powerful healing.

Photo by KoolShooters/Pexels

4. Breathwork

Breathwork is a very simple way to begin connecting to your intuition, while also healing your immune system and mind. When you breathe with intention, it canreduce stress and help you get more oxygen into your system. When your brain is receiving the right amount of oxygen, your intuition will be easier to hear. I highly recommend alternate-nostril breathing for 11 minutes. Try it now: place your right hand in front of your face and use your ring finger to close off your left nostril. Slowly inhale through the right nostril. Then close off the right nostril with your right thumb and slowly exhale through the left nostril. Repeat 11 times and you’ll feel refreshed! Another one of my favorites is the 5.5 breath.

5. Practice Silence, Meditation, and Awareness

Now that you’ve put a lot of work in for the mind and body, it’s time to start reaping the rewards! If you don’t already have a meditation or mindfulness practice in place, I do recommend taking at least 5 minutes one to three times per day for silence. Just focus your attention on your breath if you have trouble with mind chatter. When you breathe in, think: “I am,” and when you breathe out: “my breath.” Or if you’re an advanced meditator, focus on the silence and allow any thoughts to drift by like clouds.

During meditation, you’ll do a lot of soul work. This is where you’ll connect with your higher self or your guides, and set intentions for what you want to know more about. Meditation doesn’t have to be complex, in fact, it can be just taking a few minutes of silence. If you’re interested in more advanced meditation techniques, make sure to sign-up for my newsletter as I’m always providing free meditations and mindfulness practices for my inner circle.

Finally: Keep your eyes out for the signs, subtle whispers, and the patterns. When you take time for silence or before you meditate, you can ask yourself: “How do I truly feel about this? Please show me.” Or: “Higher self, please help me by providing a clear sign about what I’m needing help with (be specific).”

Many times the answers will show up or pop into your head when you least expect it. Be conscious of any signs or patterns in alignment with your question and pay attention to your dreams.

Don’t Give Up

Anything new takes practice! This includes learning how to tap into your intuition and get messages from your inner guidance system. Be patient with yourself and know that this is a very natural thing to do, therefore, your mind, body, and soul will support your progress.

Have you tried other techniques to open up your intuition? If you have, DM us @britandco and tell us about your experience!

Featured photo via Michelle Leman/Pexels.

She Lives Inside Me – How To Heal Your Inner Child

Clips comprised of nostalgic, emotional music atop old home videos of from childhood recently flooded my feed — each video paired with the phrase, “She lives inside me.” This sentimental trend took over TikTok, all seemingly in an effort to better recognize (and love) each person's younger self. This is often referred to as one's inner child...but what is an inner child? We chatted with a mental health expert to understand more about what this all means and how to heal your inner child.

What is the inner child?

@saralufkin

she lives inside me

♬ bug collector cover - BEN SCOTT

According to the therapeutic mainstream, we all have an inner child. Your inner child lives within your subconscious and sets the stage for the relationships, beliefs, and habits you have throughout your life. Carl Jung proposed the concept of the inner child, discovering that by tapping into the needs and beliefs from his youth, he could better facilitate his own understanding of himself. Ultimately, finding your way back to your childlike spirit can free you from unhelpful thought patterns and insecure attachments by healing your earliest responses to the world.

Your inner child feels hurt when your current self gets rejected. Your inner child silences themselves when someone’s angry at your current self. Your inner child laughs with joy when your current self explores nature. In summary, everything you experienced as a child lives on in you now. Why is this helpful to acknowledge? We spoke with Ann Odom, Child Therapist & Parent Coach, about uncovering the inner child and how it can benefit you now.

“The inner child is the part of our psyche that was formed when we were limited in our emotional coping abilities and is frozen in time,” says Odom. “The inner child is also the part of us that holds our attachments, our imagination, our creativity, our intuition and our ability to play.”

Why should I be healing my inner child?

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Everyone had unique experiences growing up – whether they were good, bad, or both — and what you live through affects you. The things that happened to you or around you as a child can especially affect your worldview. You were fresh to the world, still forming ideas and beliefs about family, friends, strangers, and yourself. Trauma experienced in childhood sets you up for insecure attachments, sensitivities, emotional distancing, nervous system dysfunction, dissociation, and more. If you feel one, or more, or all of these feelings, remember that they’re normal, and healing through the inner child is possible.

Inner child work puts us in touch with our truest selves, but is especially impactful for those searching for the answers behind their behavioral patterns. A lot of us may be holding in trauma, shame, and hurtful experiences inside without even realizing, and those feelings can culminate into unhelpful thoughts and actions that can affect others beyond yourself.

“Because our nervous system is being formed in the environment of our childhoods, we unconsciously carry the emotional pain of our lived experience into our adult life without even knowing it,” says Odom. “We shape-shifted and avoided parts of our authentic human expression [as children]; our nervous system stored big, hard emotions for later, and many of us in the therapeutic community are finding this is the root cause of our stress, disconnection, anxiety, depression and addiction in our culture.”

The most special aspect of inner child work is how it can open up a whole world of possibility: gained understanding of how your past shapes your future, raised self-awareness in your relationship with yourself and others, strengthened connection and acceptance with your true self, and renewed insights on using healthy coping mechanisms. More than anything, security is the goal of this work, says Odom.

“Our inner child has the core need to feel seen, heard, safe and unconditionally loved. When they feel accepted, soothed, and loved for all that they are (which now as adults, we are the one to provide that experience for them), they get the message that they are inherently worthy and therefore secure. When security is internalized, the world is viewed as a safe place, and this frees us up to have access to our gifts, our intuition, our ability to connect with others, to grow, explore and to play.”

How to heal my inner child?

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Though affirmations, somatic exercises, music, workbooks, podcasts, meditations, and journal prompts all can target your inner child, working with a therapist may be most effective in healing, allowing you to get down to specifics with them. Talking with someone face-to-face can really expedite the work, as long as you feel comfortable around them. Since access to therapy can be limited, there are multiple ways to interact and connect with our inner child on our own. Before you embark on your inner child journey, it’s crucial to view it as a relationship between you (the loving current self), and the younger, more vulnerable inner child.

“I believe that inner child work is beneficial for everyone,” says Odom. “However, if there has been complex trauma or severe abuse experienced by the inner child, this work is best done in the presence of a safe attuned trained professional as part of a more comprehensive treatment plan.”

One helpful self-practice is placing pictures of you as a child in visible places. Think about tucking in a picture by the mirror you look at every day, or hanging it up on the fridge. Frequently visualizing the inner child within you can provide ample space for constructive reflection. And this is exactly what the "she lives inside me" TikTok trend gets at – seeing your younger self, and tapping into their emotions that may impact your current self.

@maddie.comeau she lives inside me #foryou#childhood#childhoodmemories#nostalgia#ontario#foryou♬ The Bug Collector - Haley Heynderickx

“Finding photos of us as children, and putting them in a place we can see them everyday is a powerful symbolic gesture indicating that we see them now, and they are worthy of being seen,” says Odom. “When we show them they are seen, inherently valuable, and safe, the healthy wonderful parts of them come to the fore (playfulness, creativity, authenticity, curiosity, presence) and the wounded parts of them (anger, rage, worry, fear, selfishness) lessen. I think it’s a safe assumption that we could all use more access to the former, rather than the latter.”

Another grounding inner child practice is jamming out to the music you loved as a child. Listening and engaging with throwback tracks can bring out pent-up emotions, or just give you the time and ability to connect more with your ‘little one’ – just remember to keep an open mind in the process!

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Affirmations are another transformative method in working with your inner child. Internally telling your inner child “good morning,” “good night,” and other helpful affirmations increases the chance for everyday connection. Further, try continuing the internal conversation with your inner child throughout your days, especially if you’re experiencing a challenging emotion or situation.

“When we’re feeling a strong emotion in our day-to-day life, it’s typically coming from the unmet needs of our inner child,” says Odom. “Take some time to connect with them in your mind, ask them what they need and how they are feeling. I have full conversations in my head with my inner child now. Whatever she tells me she’s feeling, I validate her, tell her I hear her, her feelings matter, they make sense, and I’m so sorry.”

To Ann, another “profoundly healing” practice is meditation. Meditating (alone or guided) while visualizing your inner child physically existing in the same room creates such strong connections between you. You can imagine something as simple as welcoming your wounded inner child in through your front door, with an open mind and heart to help soothe them.

“Most of us naturally see a child as innocent, lovable, and worthy of protection,” says Odom. “When we start to understand that this little one remains inside of us waiting to be nurtured, seen and protected, we can take our power back and give ourselves what the world didn’t.”

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Header image by Claire Shadomy

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WTF Does The "Challengers" Ending Mean?

Challengers is honestly just one giant tennis match. While we watch Zendaya's Tashi, Mike Faist's Art, and Josh O'Connor's Patrick play the game in a literal sense, we also see their personal relationship spiral, ricocheting back and forth as each character plays a different role every couple of years. And the crazy Challengers ending is a culmination of this intense emotional journey because it solidifies Patrick, Tashi, and Art's relationship — both to one another, but also to tennis itself.

What did the ending of The Challengers mean?

Image via Niko Tavernise/Amazon MGM Studios

There is a lot of tension between Tashi, Art, and Patrick throughout the movie, and it all builds to the titular Challenger match. It's Art vs. Patrick, and they're playing for way more than just the title and the money (though of course, they're definitely playing for the title and the money) — this is one final chance to prove themselves to Tashi, who's sitting court-side looking very unimpressed.

Both men lose their cool during different sets, but it's in the third and final set that everything comes to a head. At the end of the match, Patrick confesses to sleeping with Tashi using a tennis ball and racket signal only Art recognizes. For a split second Art is is complete shock, and I expected him to completely lose it. And, technically, he does, but in a totally unexpected way. Rather than jump the net and punch Patrick in the face, Art channels his emotions into his tennis, and the fury he feels actually allows him break through whatever slump he's been stuck in.

Unable to have a conversation about Patrick's secret, Art and Patrick talk with their serves and returns. And because Tashi doesn't catch the signal, for the first time in the whole movie, she's cut out of the conversation.

Did Tashi love Art and Patrick?

Image via Niko Tavernise/Amazon MGM Studios

Tashi's been pulling the strings ever since she met Art and Patrick, and she's never not been in control. After Patrick sends the signal, she knows something is going on between them, she just doesn't know what — and it unnerves her. Thanks to Zendaya's expert subtlety, the twitch of her eyebrow or the particularly anxious way she grips her hands are the only things that give her away. But her confusion, and the men's anger, quickly turn to pure joy in the final moments of the movie.

Patrick and Art end up playing so intensely that they meet at the net and embrace, prompting Tashi's iconic tennis yell before she gives one of her first genuine laughs of the film and the screen cuts to black. The first time I saw the movie, I thought "What?!" but the more I think about it, the clearer the Challengers ending is.

Patrick and Art (whose relationship begins six or seven years before the movie opens) haven't spoken since the big fight surrounding Tashi's injury, and their hug proves they're just happy to be playing together again. It's what they've always loved, and their fight over Tashi almost ended it forever. Tashi's pure elation shows she's happy to watch some good tennis, especially after she failed to help Art break out of his rut.

We've only seen Tashi scream like that once before, when she admits to a perfect tennis match. While Tashi does care for Patrick and Art, the end of Challengers proves the characters' true love was never really each other — it was always the game.

What did you think of the Challengers ending? After you rewatch the movie (and then rewatch it again), check out the other Most-Anticipated Spring Movies For 2024.

Lead image via Niko Tavernise/Amazon MGM Studios

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8 Common Dream Themes & What Each One Means

Whether you remember one (or more) of your dreams every night or it's a rare experience, you do, in fact, dream. We all do. Often, dreams are so nonsensical you can't even begin to parse their meaning, but every now and then, you have a dream that seems to be speaking to you. And you want to know — maybe, need to know — what it means.

But first, it's important to understand one thing: You are your best dream dictionary. We can break down common archetypes and their symbolism, but dream meanings are in fact very personal to you. How it makes you feel, what thoughts and feeling it brings up — is what is most important. Use that as your ultimate guide.

Below, we've broken down eight of the most searched dream themes along with common interpretations for each one. Let the analysis serve as a jumping-off point for your own dream interpretations.

What Does It Mean When You Dream About Snakes?

We can all agree that snakes are not the most beloved animal. In fact, they are one of the most feared. So unless you're one of the rare few that likes snakes, it typically represents some kind of fear, especially if it bites you (or tries to), according to Kritika Sharma in Dream Interpretation Dictionary A-Z.

And because snakes tend to lurk in the grass where they can remain unseen (until they're not), they can represent a fear or issue you're not yet aware of. If you dream of a baby snake, it may represent a threat that you are underestimating while a snake that knots itself could mean a problem is on its way out.

Why Do You Dream About Losing Your Teeth?

Teeth represent our ability to nourish ourselves — physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. So losing your teeth in a dream can be a sign that something is off in one or more of those areas. "These dreams expose your fears about being able to care for yourself and provide for your needs," writes Karen Frazier in The Dream Interpretation Handbook. "It represents feeling a loss of personal power in some aspect of your life."

See if you can remember why your teeth fell out in a dream. Frazier says if they rotted, it could mean you are out of alignment ethically. If they were punched out, it may mean that you said something that was not nice. And if they fall out in front of someone, it could mean you're afraid others will see you're not living up to your values or standards.

Dreaming About Being Chased — What Does It Mean?

This one doesn't take too much analysis to figure out: If you're being chased, you may be running from something. But it's probably not literally whatever's chasing you in your dream. Frazier says it could be an emotion, a responsibility, or a shadow aspect of yourself.

Common Dream Theme: Your Childhood Home

Seeing your childhood home can represent something about yourself that developed during the time in which you lived in that home. (This is true of any house, apartment, or dorm you dream of.) According to Sharma, you may have unfinished business with that aspect of yourself, or it could be that the thing that was developed there is now obsolete.

Alternatively, it could also reflect that you're currently focused on family, and you may be getting serious about starting one of your own.

Why Did I Dream About Being Kidnapped?

If you dream that you are kidnapped, it probably means you're feeling similar to how someone who's kidnapped might feel: manipulated, controlled, restricted, and/or abused. This could be a person in your life, an idea, or even something material. "It suggests you feel you are being kept from something or someone important, such as an aspiration or creative idea," writes Frazier.

Dream Interpretation: Falling in Love

Dreaming about falling in love or even being in love could go either way, according to Sharma. It could be an appreciation of the love you already have, or it could mean that you're not getting the love you desire. You can figure out which direction your dream is pointing you in by considering your own feelings about the dream itself and the current circumstances of your love life.

What Does It Mean If You Dream About Your Ex

The meaning behind a dream about your ex can vary wildly depending on the circumstances and the ex (your high school boyfriend carries a different weight than your last serious relationship). If it is a happy dream, it might mean your current life (or relationship) is lacking whatever aspect of the relationship you dreamed of. If it's a negative dream about an ex, it might be that you haven't fully worked through your feelings about what happened.

Also, if you dream you are either back with an ex or want to be back with them, Sharma says it could mean part of you wants that in real life. But again, it could also simply mean that you want an aspect of that relationship or person.

Why Do I Have Dreams About Dead People?

While many people believe that to dream of a person who has died is to be visited by them, that heavily depends on individual beliefs, so we'll focus on other interpretations here. If it's someone who passed away recently, or even not so recently, it could mean that your brain is still processing their death. Sharma writes that it could also mean that you or one of your relationships is lacking a quality or characteristic that the person who's passed embodied.

"Ask yourself what makes this person special or what you prefer about them," writes Sharma, so you can better decode your dream meaning.

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Featured image: Pexels/Ron Lach

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7 Devastating TV Breakups That Almost Broke Us

While it's always nice to see something realistic represented in our favorite TV shows, there are few things more painful than watching a TV breakup. Even when we don't actually know fictional characters IRL, it's absolutely devastating to see them break each other's hearts. (Although, it's equally as bad as never seeing your favorite prospective couple get together — I will never forgive The 100 for what they did to Clarke and Bellamy!!).

Keep reading to see some of our most heartbreaking splits — and then check outWhat Being Team Conrad Or Jeremiah Says About Your Dream TV Boyfriendto put a smile back on your face.

Image via NBC

Ross and Rachel from Friends

Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms of all times, and Ross and Rachel is definitely one of the most devastating TV breakups. In season 3, this iconic couple decides to take a break in and in "The One with the Morning After," Ross wakes up with another woman named Chloe at the exact moment Rachel shows up at his door. Rachel finds out about the affair, and after a fight in Monica's living room, the couple calls it quits.

Regardless of how you feel about Ross claiming they "were on a break" when he slept with Chloe, seeing Rachel's reaction (and knowing the trust between them was broken) is one of the worst moments in the whole show. Just thinking about it makes my stomach bottom out!

Image via The CW/WB

Rory and Jess from Gilmore Girls

This is one of my personal most-devastating TV breakups because it seems like, out of all of Rory's boyfriends, Rory and Jess are just perfect for each other when they start dating. Not only does their love of books bring them closer together, but their personalities are so compatible. But when Jess leaves for California at the end of season 3 — without saying anything to Rory, I might add — is unacceptable! It breaks my heart, and based on the final look he gives Rory during A Year in the Life, he also regrets it BIG TIME.

Image via The CW/WB

Damon and Elena from The Vampire Diaries

This Vampire Diaries couple was truly endgame, and the will-they-won't-they of it all was one of my favorite things about the show. So when they broke up (to my horror), I was devastated.

Damon and Elena admit they're bad for each other in the season 5 episode "While You Were Sleeping" (then Damon tells her he doesn't even want to be friends. Ouch!!), but it's the season finale, "Home," that makes me extra emotional. When Damon gets stuck with Bonnie on the Other Side, he says goodbye to Elena, who's begging him not to leave but can neither see nor hear him. Say it with me: gut! wrenching!

Image via Erika Doss/Prime Video

Conrad and Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned Pretty fans are PASSIONATE about whether they're team Conrad or team Jeremiah (trick question, my OTP is Taylor and Stephen), and even the most dedicated Conrad stan hates the prom scene. You know, when he breaks up with Belly at her prom, in the rain. I know he just thinks Belly deserves better, but it's still very painful to watch.

Image via FOX

Schmidt and Cece from New Girl

When I hear "devastating TV breakup" I IMMEDIATELY think of Schmidt and Cece from New Girl. Schmidt gets away with a lot of ridiculous things throughout this show, but dating two girls at one time is not one of them. After Nick has a hard time keeping Schmidt's love life a secret, Schmidt finally comes clean to Cece in "Double Date," leaving both her and me in tears. No matter how many times you rewatch the show, it truly feels like their relationship (and maybe even the friend group) will never recover.

Image via BBC/Prime Video

Fleabag and The Priest on Fleabag

In the history of TV, I don't think I've ever heard anything as heartbreaking as "I love you," "It'll pass." Like, who approved that line?! The viral moment comes at the end of the Fleabag series finale, when Fleabag is sitting with The Priest at the bus stop. Over the course of the series, we not only see how much these two care about each other, but how well they know each other (like how The Priest recognizes when Fleabag zones out). To be loved is to be known, and that's what makes this devastating TV breakup even more devastating.

Image via HBO

Carrie and Aidan on Sex and the City

After so much back and forth, it's hard to accept Carrie and Aidan's final breakup on SATC. But in season 4's "Change of a Dress," Carrie realizes she's not ready for marriage and Aidan realizes he doesn't trust her after her affair with Big. The combo of broken trust and being at two different life stages makes this extra painful to watch, and I don't think any amount of rewatches (or And Just Like That binges) is going to change that.

What's YOUR most devastating TV breakup? Let us know on Facebook!

Lead image via The CW/The WB

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Sophia Bush And Ashlyn Harris Made Their Relationship Red Carpet Official

Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris caused quite a stir at Elton John's Oscars afterparty, but for good reason! After dodging dating rumors for quite awhile, they dressed to impress and made their first public debut as a couple! Sophia even wore her best accessory — a mega-watt smile — that further confirms this blissful pair.

While some people love to know whencelebrity couples fell in love, the details about Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris' relationship have people wondering when this couple actually got together. Well, our wait is over because Sophia decided to open about what led to her romance with Ashlyn Harris and why certain rumors hold no merit!

Since we're clearly tuned in to this love story, here's everything you need to know about Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris's relationship!

Who is Sophia Bush?

Image via Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

Sophia Bush has had a lengthy career as an actress, and she's most recognized for her portrayal of Brooke Davis in the hit TV series One Tree Hill. She's also appeared in Nip/Tuck, Chicago Fire, Incredibles 2, and John Tucker Must Die. When she's not showing off her acting chops, she hosts the Drama Queens podcast alongside former One Tree Hill castmates Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz!

Who is Ashlyn Harris?

Image via Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for W Magazine

Ashlyn Harris is a former U.S. soccer player who had a successful run — no pun intended — as a goalkeeper during the career. She also won the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada and continued making an impressionable mark. However, she announced her retirementin 2022 and — per her Instagrampage — has gone on to become the Global Creative Advisor for Gotham FC and Adidas Football.

When did the dating rumors about Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris start?

Image via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images and Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

June 2023

Rumors about a possible connection between Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris swirled last summer when Cosmopolitanreported they were on a panel at Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity. Sophia shared a pic of the two at the festival on Instagramand wrote, "Love you @ashlynharris24 and @sophieannkelly" towards the end of her caption.

A source told Page Six, "It’s very new...They are definitely a couple.” But, Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris didn't confirm or deny anything at that time.

When did Sophia Bush file for divorce from Grant Hughes?

Image via Leigh Vogel/Getty Images

August 2023

A couple of months after Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris were seen getting cozy together, Sophia filed for divorce from her former husband Grant Hughes. Peopleshared that they were only married for a little over a year — 13 months — but didn't end on a bad terms. A source then told Entertainment Tonight, "Grant and Sophia are better off as friends and they weren’t getting enough time with each other before their breakup."

When did Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger file for divorce?

Image via Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

October 2023

While things seemed to quiet down, Ashlyn Harris soon filed for divorce from Ali Krieger after getting married towards the end of 2019. What's interesting is that a source told Peoplethis decision wasn't surprising. "Although it’s new information to the public, Ashlyn and Ali’s divorce began months ago and they have been living apart since the summer,” the source said.

This is also around the time it was speculated Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris had their first official date. A rep told People, "Grant will always want the best for Sophia, and is supportive of all that makes her happy and fulfilled." We guess it helps he and Sophia had a solid friendship before getting married!

As for Ali Krieger, she basically let the world know things were business as usual with an Instagrampost. She captioned a pic of her playing soccer with, "Preparing for playoffs while in my Beyoncé lemonade era." A comment from user @lgbtlfg said, "the fact that a lot of players in these comment’s usually mind their business and stay out of drama but are supporting ali should tell everyone all they need to know."

The only thing Ashlyn said about it on Instagramis that she never intended for her and Ali's divorce to be made a public matter. A portion of her note says, "This process is never easy, but we were making our way through."

Have Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris publicly talked about their relationship?

Image via Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Tequila Don Julio

March 2024

Besides showing up to Elton John's Oscars afterparty together, Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris were previously tight-lipped about their relationship. The only hint Sophia offered was much more of a reflective post about 2023 on Instagramat the beginning of January. She said, "This year taught me to listen to myself and no one else. To let go of expectation that wounds and grasp possibility that frees. To not care about optics and instead invest in honesty."

But, she's since chosen to own where she is in life.

Image via Lauren Dukoff/Glamour Magazine

Sophia Bush on the cover of Glamour Magazine

April 2024

Sophia Bush has now reached a point where she's publicly ready to stand in her truth regarding her life and her relationship status so much that she penned her own cover story for Glamour. The first thing she did was open up about how she really felt about her marriage and fertility struggles.

She wrote, "But after the wedding I found myself in the depths and heartbreak of the fertility process, which was the most clarifying experience of my life. It feels like society is finally making space for brutally honest conversations about how hard and painful any fertility journey is, but I kept mine private. I was trying to get through months of endless ultrasounds, hormone shots, so many blood draws that I have scar tissue in my veins, and retrieval after retrieval, while simultaneously realizing the person I had chosen to be my partner didn’t necessarily speak the same emotional language I did.”

Image via Lauren Dukoff/Glamour Magazine

As far as her relationship with Ashlyn Harris is concerned, the star is enjoying the love that exists between them. Contrary to alleged rumors, their initial relationship was a platonic one that stemmed from a place of understanding and support.

She told Glamour,“I didn’t expect to find love in this support system. I don’t know how else to say it other than: I didn’t see it until I saw it. And I think it’s very easy not to see something that’s been in front of your face for a long time when you’d never looked at it as an option and you had never been looked at as an option. What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me.”

She also added, "A lot of effort was made to be graceful with other people’s processing, their time and obligations, and their feelings. What felt like seconds after I started to see what was in front of me, the online rumor mill began to spit in the ugliest ways. There were blatant lies. Violent threats. There were the accusations of being a home-wrecker. The ones who said I’d left my ex because I suddenly realized I wanted to be with women—my partners have known what I’m into for as long as I have (so that’s not it, y’all, sorry!).”

Image via Lauren Dukoff/Glamour Magazine

It's safe to say that Sophia Bush is thoroughly comfortable with her love life and identity as a queer woman. She said, "I’ve experienced so much safety, respect, and love in the queer community, as an ally all of my life, that, as I came into myself, I already felt it was my home. I think I’ve always known that my sexuality exists on a spectrum. Right now I think the word that best defines it is queer. I can’t say it without smiling, actually. And that feels pretty great.”

And this is what it looks like to reclaim your narrative when so many people are looking at a brief glimpse of the lives of celebrities. We love that Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris are loving each other on their terms without feeling pressured to share anything before they were ready to. Our hope is that their love story continues to unfold beautifully.

Be sure to watch Sophia Bush's interview with Glamour's Editor-in-Chief Samantha Barry here!

Full Credits From Glamour Magazine:

Writer: Sophia Bush

Photographer: Lauren Dukoff

Stylist: Deborah Afshani

Hair: Matthew Collins

Makeup: Afton Williams

Manicure: Brittney Boyce

Have Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris made their official red carpet debut?

Image via Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Kimball Stroud & Associates

April 27, 2024

Per Glamour, Sophia Bush and Ashlyn made their official red carpet debut as a couple on Friday. They attended the White House Correspondent's dinner where they were dressed to impress in complementing black ensembles.

It's easy to see the glowing couple couldn't stop laughing and smiling as they posed for pictures that seemed to capture every good angle of their faces and style.

Image via Paul Morigi/Getty Images

After the dinner, Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris posed for more pictures on the red carpet leading to the Correspondent's after-party. Now that we're able to see their full faces, we have to talk about how well their hair and makeup complements their outfits. It's clear that Ashlyn's contour and bronzer were expertly applied to her face while Sophia's blush gave her a natural flush.

*Sigh* Their smiles are the only confirmation we need that they're enjoying the bliss of being a couple.

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This article has been updated.

Lead image via Paul Morigi/Getty Images

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