French to English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Quotes in academic paper

This is a quote from an academic paper on how consumers find their identity by purchasing brand names. For example, one line from the introduction reads: "Brands become individual sanctuary for consumers helping them to deal with the threats of everyday life."

There are various quotes from novels, journals, biographies etc. illustrating individual character's/musicians feelings of alienation, loneliness and other aspects of vulnerability we may possess. This is from someone's description of how they went straight to the Apple Store to replace a broken iphone, knowing that it was the brand, rather than the item's use, that they were more concerned with. The context reads:

‘il me manquait quelque chose dans la bulle intime’. Là, je vois le truc par terre, je le prends à la main, ça touchait quelque chose de plus intime, je sais pas comment l’expliquer…'

I wonder if anyone can think of a good term for "bulle intime". I was thinking of "my inner being". Is there anything more bubble-related?