Full Description
Start your healing journey to forgive or seek forgiveness—buoyed by spiritual and psychological insights and practical steps.
"We have both witnessed the power of forgiveness as well as the devastating sense of loss that comes from withholding forgiveness. We invite you to journey with us as we explore all the dimensions of forgiveness, learning how to apply this gift to yourself and your life, as well as using it to guide others toward a happier, more peaceful existence."
—from the Introduction
Everyone seeks forgiveness at some point in their lives—in families, from friends, in workplaces, in communities or from ourselves—but we often falter when we discover the practice takes more than simply saying or hearing "I forgive you."
In this dynamic look at the process of forgiveness, conflict resolution experts Myra Warren Isenhart and Michael Spangle look at what is really keeping you from forgiving or seeking forgiveness. In addition to focusing on the soulful benefits of forgiveness, they also draw on insights from many fields—communication, psychology, counseling and theology, as well as their own original research—to explore the mental and emotional barriers in your path.
Learn how to:
Make distinctions between forgiveness, apology and reconciliation
Identify the conditions that make reconciliation appropriate or inappropriate
Understand the elements of an effective apology
Extend forgiveness to yourself
Assist others in their own forgiveness journey
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
