Is there someone or something in your life that needs to be forgive? Forgiveness can take a while, and is often a process rather than an event.

Here are ten steps to forgiveness:

1: Document what you believe has happened and what you need to forgive

2: Acknowledge the way the incident made you feel

3: Recognize who is being hurt by your unforgiveness

4: Acknowledge the part, if any, you played in the incident

5: Acknowledge both positive and negative parts of the relationship

6: Write a letter to the person who has wronged you…this helps to get your feelings organized and processed, but in most cases it is helpful to burn the letter rather than giving it to the person to whom you wrote it. See step 7.

7: Create a ceremony to rid yourself of the letter, symbolizing the end of your hurt

8: Understand that forgiveness is a process and some of the feelings may manifest themselves again. This is not unusual, but creating a method of reducing your anger and anxiety

9: Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. You can still forgive the person without excusing the hurtful act

10: Remember forgiveness is more about you moving on in freedom, not about the other person!

These ten steps to forgiveness isn’t exhaustive, nor do they have to be done in any specific order or only one time. Remember, forgiveness can be a challenging journey, but it is one worth taking.

Adopted from YouthLight, Inc.

Written by: GROW Staff