Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Apr/May 2018 Aspire Magazine Full Issue | Page 21

ometimes you meet a woman and know
in an instant that you’ve met a soul sister, a
kindred spirit. That’s exactly how I felt the
moment I met Mal Duane eight years ago.
Today I’m blessed to call her a dear friend,
travel buddy, and to be her publisher. unhealed. Months, years, even decades
later, they still lived as victims to their past
relationships, mired in fear, disconnected
from love, and filled with poisonous anger
and pain that ate them away from the inside.
I sat down with Mal recently to talk about her
book, Broken Open: Embracing Heartache &
Betrayal as Gateways to Unconditional Love,
which invites us to reclaim our self-worth and
bring forward the potential that lies beneath
our scars. Her story and journey are a true
testament that heartache and betrayal can
be gateways to unconditional love. WHAT IMPACT DID THIS HAVE ON THEM?
WHAT DOES BEING BROKEN OPEN MEAN?
Broken Open is about finding wholeness,
forgiveness, and unconditional love for
yourself and others after your heart has
been wounded by betrayal.
WHAT LED YOU TO WRITE BROKEN OPEN?
After suffering a
profound betrayal, I
started my healing
by attending a variety
of support groups.
Being with others
who felt as raw as I
did helped me.
Over time though,
I noticed that many
women
remained
caught in their pain after their relationships
ended, leaving their hearts broken and
In a quest to understand, I interviewed close
to fifty women from various walks of life.
The thread of victimization showed up over
and over. These feelings caused them to
reject getting involved again or opening their
hearts. Witnessing their pain and stuckness
inspired me to look deeper into why stories
kept some women reliving their betrayal.
HOW DID SEEING THESE WOMEN’S
STUCKNESS AFFECT YOU?
I realized that I needed to examine what
happened to me as deeply as I could, using
my trauma and experience to guide me
through the healing process. I chose to look
at MYSELF—not my husband or the story
of what happened. Betrayal was a wake-up
call to heal my broken heart.
WAS WORKING ON YOURSELF WHAT
SHIFTED EVERYTHING FOR YOU?
Yes, and with it the realization that I will
ever only know my side of the story, what
I can control. I won’t ever know, truly, what
somebody else’s intentions or plans are.
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