12 Comments
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Devon Comp's avatar

So so so good, Deidre. Thank you so much for this. I will carry this message with me.

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Deidre Braley's avatar

Devon, that means so much. Thank you, and I’m so happy to be in community with you here.

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abigail rose's avatar

This really spoke to me. Thank you so much for writing so beautifully about something so tender and vulnerable and yet extremely weighty!

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Deidre Braley's avatar

I’m so glad to hear that it spoke to you. That means so much.

When I was writing it, I forgot to include perhaps the most important detail:

At the end of the long line of faces I saw to forgive, I saw my own. And I realized that I actually needed to let my own inner child forgive grownup-me, for not being everything she hoped I’d be yet. And that may have been the most healing part of all.

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Matthew Nash's avatar

Ooh this hit me like a ton of soft bricks that brought me back to forgiving and releasing and blessing the person that caused so much trauma and harm in my life Deidre. Your words here are medicine for the soul and Gods gentle hand with you has helped you offer this to us and so many people that need to keep doing the practice of visualizing and forgiving. May the peace and lightness you feel now still course thru you daily.

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Deidre Braley's avatar

Matt, I'm glad the bricks felt soft and not too hard; you offer a beautiful reminder that this is a practice that needs to happen over and over and over again—forgiveness is rarely a one-and-done kinda thing, I'm learning.

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Heather's avatar

Well, wasn’t prepared for the tears I just experienced!

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Deidre Braley's avatar

🥹🫶🏻

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Tohru Inoue's avatar

Powerful

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Deidre Braley's avatar

Thanks for reading, Tohru. I love interacting with you here.

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civil winters's avatar

*phew* [will be returning to this when i am ready] <3 <3 <3

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Deidre Braley's avatar

Civil, I understand—I had to do the same. When you're ready, I hope it helps you move toward more wholeness, more healing, more shalom.

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