Full Description
Everyone seeks forgiveness at some point in their lives-in families, from friends, in workplaces, in communities or from ourselves. While we all need forgiveness to repair or let go of broken relationships, how to seek forgiveness and conquer the barriers that prevent forgiveness often elude us. Drawing on insights from many fields-communication, psychology, counselling and theology-as well as the authors' original research, the authors provide specific guidance about the personal journey toward forgiveness and offer a variety of tools toward achieving this goal: Ways to understand the relationship between forgiveness, apology and reconciliation, and the conditions that make reconciliation appropriate or inappropriate; The elements of effective apologies; Recent research findings to help readers understand the psychological, relational and spiritual complexities of forgiveness; Real-life examples of people in various stages of forgiveness; How to assist others to forgive in families, friendships, the workplace and communities; Reflection questions to help readers-individuals or groups, personal use or in counselling settings-explore their own relationship with forgiveness.
Contents
Introduction
1. The Nature of Forgiveness: Begin with a Clear Understanding
2. Ways We Experience Forgiveness: Three Perspectives on Harm Within and Between Us
3. Benefits of Forgiving and Being Forgiven: Releasing the Past, Embracing the Future
4. Resisting the Practice of Forgiveness: Why Such Difficulties?
5. What Facilitates Forgiveness? Personality, Relationships, and Communities
6. The Path to Forgiveness: Acknowledging Our Mistakes and Taking Action
7. Self-Forgiveness: Confronting Our Harshest Critic
8. The Role of Apology: How Apologies Heal
9. Reconciliation: The Bridge to Repairing a Broken Relationship
10. When Forgiving and Reconciling Are Difficult: Overcoming the Factors That Prevent Forgiveness
11 . Helping Others Forgive: Serving as a Peacemaker in the World Around You
Concluding Thoughts
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggestions for Further Learning
