Research has shown that forgiveness is a healthy response to interpersonal wounding. It leads to improvement in physical, relationship and emotional well-being. This talk will explore the work of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects which has created a secular method for teaching and learning the spiritual quality of forgiveness. We will look at the desperate need for forgiveness in a world with so much anger in both the personal and communal spheres. The talk will examine what forgiveness is and is not and the implications of forgiveness in creating physical and mental well-being. Forgiveness will be placed with compassion and gratitude as the healthy responses to life which is filled with many difficult experiences and losses and unwanted changes. Gratitude for seeing the good clearly and compassion for recognizing that we never suffer alone. Forgiveness will be defined as the experience of being at peace with one’s life which is in alignment with most religious traditions which place peace as central to their teachings. Self forgiveness will be touched upon as a complement to interpersonal forgiveness.
Nothing is the same and that’s okay. The past 18+ months have forever changed the world. We are entering the fallout from this time, a period of global PTSD which will impact every being on the planet. We have acknowledged the first anniversary of a racial reckoning in the US that started in 1863...