The Forgiving Life: A Pathway to Overcoming Resentment and Creating a Legacy of Love

by Enright, Robert D.

• ISBN13: 9781433810916
• ISBN10: 1433810913
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-15
• Publisher: APA LifeTools

Summary

The Forgiving Life offers scientifically supported guidance to help people forgive those in their lives who have acted unfairly and have inflicted emotional hurt. It does not minimize the devastation of that hurt. It does not require reconciliation with the one who inflicted the hurt. Rather, it describes a process, followed with success by people around the world, to confront the pain, rise above it to forgive, and in so doing, to loosen the grip of depression, anger, and resentment that has soured life. In this book, noted forgiveness expert Robert D. Enright invites readers to learn the benefits of forgiveness and to embark on a path of forgiveness, leaving behind a legacy of love. Guided by thought-provoking questions, journaling exercises, and Enright's kind encouragement, readers can chart their own journey through a new life of forgiveness.

Author Biography

Robert D. Enright, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has been a leader in the scientific study of forgiveness and its effects since 1985. Time magazine referred to him as "the forgiveness trailblazer." He is the author of more than 100 publications, including five books. In 2022, he received the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology for his innovative work in forgiveness. 

He and his colleagues have developed and tested a pathway to forgiveness that has helped incest survivors, and people in drug rehabilitation, in hospice, in shelters for abused women, and in cardiac units of hospitals, among others. His recent work has been in schools within conflict regions, such as Belfast, Northern Ireland, assisting teachers to deliver forgiveness programs to students.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
The Basics	p. 1
A Theory of Forgiveness in Brief	p. 3
If You Are Traumatized	p. 23
Overview of the Forgiveness Process	p. 39
How Telling and Listening to Stories Can Help	p. 41
Forgiveness Is a Process	p. 51
The Work Phase of Forgiveness	p. 67
The Discovery Phase of Forgiveness	p. 81
What Does It Mean to Forgive?	p. 95
Getting Organized	p. 123
The Forgiveness Plan	p. 125
Measuring Your Forgiveness	p. 149
Forgiving Those who Have Hurt You	p. 163
Your Forgiveness Pathway	p. 165
How Did You Do in Forgiving?	p. 199
Forgiving Your Parents	p. 207
Forgiveness Between Partners and Within Your Current Family	p. 239
Completing the Triangle of Forgiveness	p. 257
School Days, Work Days, and Other Days	p. 273
Surveying the Landscape From the Mountain Peak	p. 285
Giving the Gift of Forgiveness to Others	p. 291
Questions as You Give Forgiveness to Others	p. 293
Giving Forgiveness Away to Our Children and in Our Communities	p. 311
Your Forgiveness Legacy	p. 331
Process of How People Forgive Someone Who Was Unjust	p. 337
Forgiveness Landscape Rating Scale	p. 339
Personal Forgiveness Scale	p. 341
The Forgiveness Guidepost Form	p. 345
Notes	p. 349
Index	p. 361
About the Author	p. 371
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