Winner of the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal for Impact in Psychology
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.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781433810916
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Publication Date: 01-15-2012
Pages: 371
Product Dimensions: 5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.40(d)
Series: APA Lifetools
About the Author
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.
What People are Saying
What People are Saying About This
Thomas Moore
The Forgiving Life is a book to be experienced, not just read. It encourages you to explore the prerequisites of forgiveness, its content and environment, and its demands and rewards. At the end of the book you will have arrived at a new place, a place of greater freedom and vitality. The book is a workshop, a retreat and hours of therapy all rolled into one. (Thomas Moore, PhD, Author, Care of the Soul)
Martin Doblmeier
Robert D. Enright has been a pioneer in the field of forgiveness for a generation. Now he leads us into new territory, offering forgiveness not just as a response to a single act but a whole new way of living. Through stories, conversations, theories, and exercises, he boldly charts a new path that dares to offer nothing less than a new way of life. Daring, courageous, and insightful, this book is for all of us who have been hurt at some time and realize we need to move beyond it. Enright sets the challenge before us, and the reward is nothing less than life renewed. (Martin Doblmeier, PhD, Filmmaker, The Power of Forgiveness)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. The Basics
A Theory of Forgiveness in Brief
If You Are Traumatized
II. Overview of the Forgiveness Process
How Telling and Listening to Stories Can Help
Forgiveness Is a Process
The Work Phase of Forgiveness
The Discovery Phase of Forgiveness
What Does It Mean to Forgive?
III. Getting Organized
The Forgiveness Plan
Measuring Your Forgiveness
IV. Forgiving Those Who Have Hurt You
Your Forgiveness Pathway
How Did You Do in Forgiving?
Forgiving Your Parents
Forgiveness Between Partners and Within Your Current Family
Completing the Triangle of Forgiveness
School Days, Work Days, and Other Days
Surveying the Landscape From the Mountain Peak
V. Giving the Gift of Forgiveness to Others
Questions as You Give Forgiveness to Others
Giving Forgiveness Away to Our Children and in Our Communities
Your Forgiveness Legacy
Appendix A: Process of How People Forgive Someone Who Was Unjust