International Forgiveness Institute https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html What is one cognitive skill you want to see in primary school children who are beginning to learn about forgiveness? When you use the term “the forgiveness triangle,” what does that mean? Our Team What do meta-analyses say about the number of forgiveness sessions? How many tend to lead to success? Forgiveness Research Forgiveness for Individuals: Learning to Forgive Others Benefactors, Investors and Board of Directors How open should I be with my children (ages 9 and 11) regarding my father (their grandfather)?  He was abusive, and we are estranged from him.  Do I give my children details about the injustice as I start to walk the path of forgiveness? How should l correct a 6-year-old child who equates forgiveness with revenge? Can you please provide a reference in which you studied young children learning about forgiveness with the use of the concept of inherent worth? Thank you again for clarifying the concept of inherent worth.  Can you suggest a picture book to help children grasp the idea of inherent worth? Thank you for clarifying the importance of having children learn about inherent worth.  Can this actually be taught with children as young as six or seven years old? Recent Journal Publications with Authors from Our International Forgiveness Institute, Inc. How do you correct a young child who equates forgiveness with revenge?  You discuss how a child learns forgiveness from their family, friends, and someone of higher authority. What must a child learn specifically as the first step toward understanding forgiveness? In a society that places a greater emphasis on “boundaries” and “cutting people off,” is it beginning to be seen as a weakness rather than a virtue to forgive people for unfair treatment? During your forgiveness interviews with children and adults, what has surprised you the most? Of the things children are taught about forgiveness, what do you find to be something to avoid?  We Have Created a Diversion Toward Forgiveness Peace Builders Sometimes I start the process of forgiveness, but then change my mind and I am not ready any more to forgive. Is this ok? I mean, I almost feel forced to continue the process, especially if I tell the other person that I will try to forgive him. I don’t like to feel forced into something as personal as forgiveness. Dr. Enright’s Psychology Today Post for June 2026 Gets Essential Read Status Essays on Forgiveness at the Psychology Today Website An Examination of Forgiveness in the Context of Armed Conflict There are moments when I simply don’t want to forgive. When I feel so indifferent about forgiving, what do you recommend? You claim that forgetting can be harmful on page 2 of your book, Forgiveness Is a Choice. As I move past the painful, unfair circumstance, I believe that forgetting can be beneficial. Could you please elaborate? Is it psychologically impossible to “forgive and forget”? Wouldn’t we be eliminating an important lesson in self-protection if we truly succeeded in forgetting the unfair treatment? If everyone in the world found a way to control excessive anger, do you think forgiveness then would become unnecessary in the world? Anger is a normal reaction to injustice, right? Do we repress some anger when we forgive? It appears that my mother has a lot of guilt. Now she constantly asks me to forgive her for the way she raised me as a child. Actually, this is not a huge concern for me because she did well as my mom. So, even though I don’t believe she did anything wrong, should I tell her that I forgive her? Perseverance & Forgiveness I can understand my uncle’s pain, but I find it difficult to empathize with him—that is, to put myself in his position and experience what it’s like to be him. Without empathy, will I ever be able to feel compassion for him? Is forgiveness incomplete if I want a perpetrator to serve time in a correctional institution? I do have a desire to see this person in jail.  What do you think? I am kind of perplexed with myself.  I find it easier to forgive non-family members for deep injustices, such as people at work, than to forgive close family members for lesser offenses.  Why would that be the case? My friend is unrepentant for betraying me.  I now am worried that if I forgive, might this inadvertently justify her behavior in her own mind? Thank you for your answer about my partner, who blames me for being 15 minutes late after work.  If, as you say, she is accusing me of something that is not a wrongdoing, do I have the right to forgive her?  I ask because she simply is not thinking deeply enough about the situation, and so she is not engaging in deliberate wrong. Letting go of Grudges & Improving Your Health Regarding my earlier question, what if the “forgiver” is denying reality and keeps insisting that the other person did wrong when no wrong was done?  Here is an example: my partner keeps blaming me for being a little late coming home after work, even if it is, say, 15 minutes.  She wants me to help with the kids.  Yet when I am late, I am not doing any injustice because my boss insists that I stay a little later at work.  She keeps insisting that she needs to forgive me.  In this case, is it her call or does she need correction? Can you truly forgive someone who treats you cruelly yet sincerely thinks he or she was in the right, or is it just “moving on”? Forgiveness Guidelines for Therapists Enright Forgiveness Motivation Inventory The Struggle to Seek Forgiveness and to Forgive Home Dr. Forgiveness Answers 2,000th Question! It seems to me that forgiving myself is harder than forgiving other people. Do you agree with this, and if so, why might this be the case? I have forgiven a co-worker for unjust behavior, but I now am having a hard time trusting her. I know from your writings that trust is different from forgiveness. Can you give me some advice on how to increase my trust now that I have forgiven the co-worker? have a complicated situation. My father left our family when I was a child. Once I was grown, he came to me, asking for my forgiveness. I was angry and refused to forgive. Now I am feeling badly about that. Should I ask my father to forgive me for my insensitive treatment toward him when he humbly asked for forgiveness? Is it possible to actually become a forgiving person? I need some help in understanding what you mean by “bearing the pain” as part of the Work Phase of forgiveness. For example, do I reinterpret the pain as not so bad? Would you please elaborate on this for me? Thank you in advance. Our Forgiveness Blog