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Taking steps towards healing

Connection. Release. Relief. Liberation. Tenderness. Love. Being human — together. These are the words participants offered at our recent Healing of Memories workshop in Dakar, Senegal.


In 2024, I had the honour of being in Benin with 25 participants from nine countries across West and Central Africa for the Institute for Healing of Memories training. And in late 2025, we gathered again — this time in Dakar — with 28 participants from Senegal, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Congo Brazzaville, Luxembourg, Poland, Austria, the UK, and Spain.


Different stories, different histories… yet we came together in shared humanity: to laugh, to cry, to comfort, to hope, to dream, to listen, and to celebrate.


As Father Michael Lapsley, the Institute’s founder, often reminds us: “Every person has a story, and every story has a listener.” After surviving a letter-bomb attack during his anti-apartheid activism, he dedicated his life to supporting individual and collective healing around the world.


At the Dakar workshop, this spirit of healing took shape in powerful ways.


We asked together: How do we forgive? How do we release what has hurt us? How do we move forward without the weight of old pain shaping every step?


We came together in ritual to acknowledge our stories, honour our pain, and take a step towards letting go collectively. 


We created symbols of peace and hope — reminders that healing is possible. We lit candles: for loved ones who have passed, for those suffering in war zones, for children who have been maltreated and for anyone suffering in silence.


Each flame was a gesture of solidarity, a quiet prayer, a moment of shared care. When we soften toward our own story, something opens, energy releases and we have more space for compassion, for connection, for walking together with more gentleness.


As the year draws to a close, I invite you to reflect:


✨ What are you still holding that is asking to be released?


✨ What would it feel like to let go — even just a little — of the burdens you’ve been carrying?


✨ What act of forgiveness (towards yourself or another) could help you enter 2026 with less weight and more room to breathe?


✉️ If your story is calling for a new chapter, I would be honoured to accompany you. DM me to explore how we can work together.


👉 Stay connected: sign up for my newsletter to receive updates on coaching offerings, creative practices, and well-being projects you can get involved in: www.onesingingheart.com





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