Practicing Forgiveness: A Path Toward Healing

by Richard S. Balkin

Our relationships enrich our lives. Strong bonds with family, friends, and colleagues make our lives full and vibrant, but they can also be a source of distress or even trauma. Few relationships are perfect, and we often find ourselves let down by even the people we count on most; learning to navigate the challenges is vital to protecting our health and wellbeing.

In this book the author presents a model for forgiveness that addresses how we either repair relationships when someone has harmed us, or how we move forward when relationships are beyond repair. Repairing a relationship is not always practical. The model presented in this book can be helpful to promote self-healing and to either re-establish relationships with others or move forward when reconciliation is harmful or not possible.

Practicing Forgiveness draws on the perspectives of counseling professionals from across the country to explore contextual and cultural aspects of forgiveness with stories, humor, clinical examples, research, and empirical findings, while also considering the influence of environment and religion. The forgiveness process is a universal one, and this book serves as a resource to anyone wishing to gain insight into their own personal journey.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[Jen Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has really helped me. It was a lot to take in and process, but it's a really, really good resource if you are having trouble trying to forgive someone. I suggest going through all my updates and reading all the blurbs I posted. There is a lot of good information there. Here is the last of what I really enjoyed from the book:

How one feels about whether reconciliation is beneficial is a decision the victim addresses; the decision for an offender to express remorse and change behavior is outside of the scope of the person harmed. Once again, the outcome of this process is likely influenced by the initial feelings the victim has toward the offender and the offender's openness to change.

Withdrawing from a relationship can be painful and a source of grief. This is why forgiveness is a process—a journey. Take your time. Be gentle with yourself.

Forgiveness is context-driven, and each situation should be treated as unique.

[Kaina Boyd]

Awesome to read if you're dealing with forgiving.