I’ve always believed that forgiveness can set us free. At Rewire Me we’re all big on forgiveness, so we were thrilled to discover our kind of holiday!

Desmond Tutu—winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, advocate for reconciliation and forgiveness, and author of The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World (HarperOne)—has partnered with The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance to celebrate Forgiveness Day on August 3. The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance is a non-profit organization whose mission is to evoke the healing spirit of forgiveness worldwide through classes and events.

As Tara Brach, clinical psychologist, Buddhist teacher, and author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha and True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam) reminds us: “Forgive…forgiven. Forgive…forgiven” can become a mantra—one that anyone can draw nourishment from. You can read more here: The Best Things I Learned at the FACES Conference.

Like me, Dr. Margaret Nagib, a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Timberline Knolls Clinical Development Institute near Chicago, also believes that the power of forgiveness can set us free. She says that we need to really take our time and process hurt first and recommends a 4-step process to reach a point of forgiveness: How to Forgive and Why.

And if you’d like to read a remarkable book that embodies the power of forgiveness, I recommend you take a look at Marina Keegan’s The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories, which Scribner recently published. You can read an excerpt here: Marina Keegan, Her Parents, and The Opposite of Loneliness.

 

Rose Caiola
Inspired. Rewired.

Click here to see more of Rose’s tips for healthy and happy relationships