What It Means to Love

There is a mirror each of us must eventually face, not to critique, but to see. To see what shame has hidden, what fear has silenced, and what love—when it is real—can forgive. Only when we walk through the brambles of our own vulnerability can we ever truly hold another. Not out of need. Not out of guilt. But out of presence.

This is the kind of love that asks nothing in return. It simply says: “I see you. And I’m still here.”

Many never reach that place. It is easier to avoid, to distract, to pretend. But to look inward, to tell the truth, to feel it all and still choose love—this is courage. This is life. And some will miss it entirely.

But for those who choose it—even just once—it changes everything.

Because placing the people you love ahead of your guilt, your shame, your story… that, too, is love. That, too, is integrity. And that, too, is the beginning of becoming whole.

—with love,

Marni Fraser

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