The Confessions

"I confessed here three months ago about money I had borrowed from a friend and never repaid. Last week I transferred the full amount with a note that simply said sorry it took so long. They replied within an hour. We are having dinner next week. Karma moves."

"I confessed about my secret savings account. I told my husband last Tuesday. I showed him the balance and explained why I had started it. He was quiet for a long time and then he said he was glad I had it. The relief of being fully known is extraordinary."

"I posted here about being unkind to someone at school. Someone commented with a link to a project that helps people in exactly this situation reach out and make amends. I reached out. He responded. He said he had moved on long ago but that hearing from me meant something. I think it meant something to both of us."

"I confessed here about the argument that kept me from saying goodbye to my best friend. I cannot change that. But I wrote to his wife last month. Just to say I thought about him often and that I was sorry for the argument and the silence. She called me. We talked for an hour. Something healed."

"After confessing here about the colleague whose work I had taken credit for, I wrote her a message. Just an honest one. I told her that a piece of work I had presented years ago had been largely hers and that I had known it and said nothing and that I was sorry. She wrote back two days later and said it meant more than I knew."

"I confessed here about never calling my mother enough. I have called her every Sunday since. She has not said anything about the change in frequency. Neither have I. We just talk. About nothing much. It is the best thing I have done in years."

"I confessed about not visiting a friend in hospital because I was afraid. I cannot undo that. But I showed up for another friend last month who was going through something difficult. I sat with them in the same kind of silence I had once been too afraid to offer. It felt like paying something forward."

"I wrote here about never having told my father I forgave him. I called him the following Sunday. We talked for two hours. Neither of us mentioned the past directly but something shifted. He sounded lighter when we said goodbye. So did I."

"Six months ago I confessed here about the years I lost to drinking. Today I am celebrating three years without a drink. I do not know if confessing here was the turning point but it was part of the turning. Thank you to everyone who sent karma. You helped more than you know."

"I wrote here about a teacher I never thanked. I found the school and wrote her a letter by hand. Three weeks later I received one back. She remembered me. She said my letter had made her year. It made mine too."