Forgiveness

Book description Forgiveness: When it works and when it doesn't is a journal, a workbook, a way to reflect on your journey of forgiveness. Forgiveness is after all a process; it is a path, a journey, not a destination. You will learn from your successes. You have had more of them than you give yourself credit for. You will be encouraged to be gentle with yourself and to accept your feelings and frustrations when forgiveness appears not to work. Forgiveness often appears to happen spontaneously. Often we do not even recognize it when it happens. Times we overlook the fault or misdeed of a family member, friend or stranger may not even register with us as a moment of forgiveness. Yet it is. Sometimes forgiveness is a deliberate act. You recognize that someone has offended you and you take specific steps to take that act into your awareness in a way that allows a relationship to continue and move forward. In any case, when forgiveness does happen, it is a miracle. You will experience the miracle and discover you have experienced more miracles than you recognized. There are times when it appears that forgiveness does not work. You just cannot seem to find it in yourself to forgive someone for what they have done. It may even happen that you deliberately choose not to forgive someone because holding on to the event or situation has its own pay off. You may be saying to yourself, "I am a forgiving person, why am I not able to forgive in this case?" You may experience feelings you wish would go away and you find yourself asking, "Why can't I get rid of this feeling?" This workbook takes these experiences seriously, thus the second part of the subtitle, "and when forgiveness doesn't work." You can use the workbook alone for your personal reflection, invite a friend to join you on the journey, or use it even in a small group.