You talk about having to wait to experience emotional relief when forgiving. What do you mean by waiting and how long does one wait?
When I use the word “wait” I mean that you are not in complete control of your emotions. For example, if you are very angry at someone, you cannot just turn on a switch in your brain and then all of a sudden there is no more anger. Because of this, we have to be patient as our emotions gradually change from anger or sadness or disappointment to more neutral and then possibly to more positive emotions. There is no precise timeline for this. You will know that the transformation is working by introspecting and seeing small changes in your anger or sadness. As you see these small changes emerging, you can keep doing the work of forgiving and then you likely will experience larger and more positive changes in your emotions toward the one who harmed you.
