Grateful for your work to make this podcast happen. Your intro on today’s episode one was also right on time for me to hear. No doubt all of us listening can identify within what you are sharing and what your guests will share. I’m so glad you’ve invited them, and us, in to the confessional.
I am absolutely astounded by that response. wow. wow. wow. Thank you for sharing and for putting the time into this podcast. I am going to look forward to this every week. YOUR WORDS are helping me continue my faith walk... something I nearly walked away from.
Richard Rohr has often said, we either transform our pain or we transfer it. Surely that requires forgiveness both internally and externally. We are always changing, always transforming.
Nadia, you gave me a connecting moment when I watched your clip about forgiveness - that it works like a bolt cutter to set the victim free. I remembered an afternoon more than three decades ago when I sat across a restaurant table and defined what that person had taken from me. The vacuous "I'm sorry - never meant to hurt you" didn't bother me, I had prepared for less. What mattered was that in that moment I was freed, I could move on. I still had battles to win, but that was the moment the because forward looking, not to run, but to rebuild. Yes, one of the most powerful tools in the universe is the ability to forgive - and walk away.
Yes, forgiveness is for the forgiver. I recall a children’s church activity where I had kids pair up and one would pull the weight of the other around. I asked them to be aware of how that felt in their bodies, bearing that weight. Then at some point I had them say, “I forgive you.” and let go. Then we talked about the freedom of that. When my daughter was young and asked if she should forgive her father for his abuse and abandonment, I told her she should, not because he would ever apologize or be open to accountability, not because his actions were ok or she could erase them with her forgiveness, but because the burden of carrying him would make her bitter and angry and not leave room for love and joy and peace. We forgive for ourselves.
I listened today. I lived in Topeka from 1987 until 2011 and was well aware and often face to face with the Phelps family and the protests by WBC. One of the things that always broke my heart was the children holding those signs. I probably saw Megan there. So glad she got OUT of that. I was touched by her saying that people on Twitter just treated her as a person and made a difference. Thank you for sharing her story.
In one of those God wink kind of moments today, the podcast app I use played the first confessional episode for me during the evening walk. It was like hearing it new, again the first time. Listening today, so near the election, and approaching the 17th anniversary of living sober, I heard Nadia's essay as a reminder that 5th steps necessarily come between 4th and 6th and require gentleness and forgiveness for ourselves which we can sometimes only see when a sponsor is there to mirror it for us - as Nadia did for Megan at the conference where they encountered the mother of a Newtown murdered child. I've been thinking about the Ghanan concept of Sankofa the past several days. This episode, especially as I heard it today, fits with that beautiful metaphor out of Africa symbolized by a bird looking back to gather a precious egg while its feet still point forward.
It’s so beautiful that it was the compassion of so-called enemies which was able to open hearts on both sides! May we all be filled with compassion every day, especially when it seems impossible.
Forgiveness asks us to stop pointing our finger at the people and events in the world as the cause of our pain, and turn instead to the unforgiving thoughts in our own minds. Here we can create change, which will lead to an ever-increasing sense of inner peace.
Grateful for your work to make this podcast happen. Your intro on today’s episode one was also right on time for me to hear. No doubt all of us listening can identify within what you are sharing and what your guests will share. I’m so glad you’ve invited them, and us, in to the confessional.
I am absolutely astounded by that response. wow. wow. wow. Thank you for sharing and for putting the time into this podcast. I am going to look forward to this every week. YOUR WORDS are helping me continue my faith walk... something I nearly walked away from.
Richard Rohr has often said, we either transform our pain or we transfer it. Surely that requires forgiveness both internally and externally. We are always changing, always transforming.
Nadia, you gave me a connecting moment when I watched your clip about forgiveness - that it works like a bolt cutter to set the victim free. I remembered an afternoon more than three decades ago when I sat across a restaurant table and defined what that person had taken from me. The vacuous "I'm sorry - never meant to hurt you" didn't bother me, I had prepared for less. What mattered was that in that moment I was freed, I could move on. I still had battles to win, but that was the moment the because forward looking, not to run, but to rebuild. Yes, one of the most powerful tools in the universe is the ability to forgive - and walk away.
Yes, forgiveness is for the forgiver. I recall a children’s church activity where I had kids pair up and one would pull the weight of the other around. I asked them to be aware of how that felt in their bodies, bearing that weight. Then at some point I had them say, “I forgive you.” and let go. Then we talked about the freedom of that. When my daughter was young and asked if she should forgive her father for his abuse and abandonment, I told her she should, not because he would ever apologize or be open to accountability, not because his actions were ok or she could erase them with her forgiveness, but because the burden of carrying him would make her bitter and angry and not leave room for love and joy and peace. We forgive for ourselves.
I listened today. I lived in Topeka from 1987 until 2011 and was well aware and often face to face with the Phelps family and the protests by WBC. One of the things that always broke my heart was the children holding those signs. I probably saw Megan there. So glad she got OUT of that. I was touched by her saying that people on Twitter just treated her as a person and made a difference. Thank you for sharing her story.
In one of those God wink kind of moments today, the podcast app I use played the first confessional episode for me during the evening walk. It was like hearing it new, again the first time. Listening today, so near the election, and approaching the 17th anniversary of living sober, I heard Nadia's essay as a reminder that 5th steps necessarily come between 4th and 6th and require gentleness and forgiveness for ourselves which we can sometimes only see when a sponsor is there to mirror it for us - as Nadia did for Megan at the conference where they encountered the mother of a Newtown murdered child. I've been thinking about the Ghanan concept of Sankofa the past several days. This episode, especially as I heard it today, fits with that beautiful metaphor out of Africa symbolized by a bird looking back to gather a precious egg while its feet still point forward.
It’s so beautiful that it was the compassion of so-called enemies which was able to open hearts on both sides! May we all be filled with compassion every day, especially when it seems impossible.
I saw this quote the other day.
Forgiveness asks us to stop pointing our finger at the people and events in the world as the cause of our pain, and turn instead to the unforgiving thoughts in our own minds. Here we can create change, which will lead to an ever-increasing sense of inner peace.
—- Michael Dawson
This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read!
That's astounding.
thank you, dear heart !
Thank you ❣️
❤️
So strong!!!!💪 chills
OOF that hit me right in the feels