Family Taboo

I recently listened to a friend speak of her mother—a relationship wound tight in thorns. She spoke in hushed tones, ashamed of the judgment she feared for her distance.

I held her story gently, because I’ve been there too.

Family is sacred, they say—but what happens when that sanctity comes at the cost of safety? Of voice? Of self?

Too many of us are told to endure harm in silence ,because “they are your family.” But what if we gave ourselves permission to break that sacred silence in order to save our own spirits?

What if healing meant creating new families—not of tradition, but of tenderness? Of those who choose us, and whom we choose in return?

Our Stories of Radical Honesty

In the space where shame once lived, we can plant seeds of radical honesty. And from that soil, grow forgiveness, empathy, and fierce self-love.

While it is very important to cultivate individual responsibility in every human interaction and to do our best to improve our relationships, it is equally important to give ourselves permission to move away from environments that are harmful to our sense of safety, mental and emotional stability.

And then, when we are in a safe space to heal, to express ourselves freely, to share our stories, to fully accept ourselves and alchemise our experiences into our strength, then we can regain the strength to move beyond the social conditioning that is so detrimental to our individual and collective well-being and cultivate acceptance of everyone as they are, empathy and forgiveness.