(photo: Čeština, Mikhail Gorbunov, 2012) There are two scientifically validated forgiveness processes, and empathy of the forgiver toward the person being forgiven is the key in both of them. One forgiveness process is the REACH Forgiveness Process developed by Everett Worthington, and the other is Guideposts for Forgiving developed by Robert Enright. In both processes, … Continue reading Your Empathy Makes Your Forgiveness
forgiveness process
Recognizing Hidden Anger is Step #1 in Forgiveness
(art: Hope, George Frederick Watts, 1886) Anger is a normal and temporarily helpful response to a hurtful event. As an emotion, anger can help us summon the energy to protect ourselves in a situation, or to hastily remove ourselves from a situation even if it means needing a burst of exertion to get past barriers. … Continue reading Recognizing Hidden Anger is Step #1 in Forgiveness
A New Paradigm of Love for Understanding Human Flourishing & Forgiveness
(photo: Tom Delaney. Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) The heat of the days is giving way to coolness, and the hours of sunlight have declined. All living things are now drawn into a time of taking their rest. Everywhere you can see the wisdom of Jesus' words in the Gospel of John (12:24): Amen, amen, I … Continue reading A New Paradigm of Love for Understanding Human Flourishing & Forgiveness
Justice Will Always Be Delivered
(art: La Justicia entre los arcángeles Miguel y Gabriel, Jacobello del Fiore, 1421 C.E.) Justice is an important matter for forgiveness. When we are experience a hurtful event and its accompanying moral distress or moral injury, from something deep and fundamental in our own being we know "that's not the way it is supposed to … Continue reading Justice Will Always Be Delivered
The Way to Forgiveness: Quiet and Meditation
(photo: Mississippi River shoreline, Julian Garcia-Delaney, Minnesota, 2025) Nature is a very accurate reflection of our mental state. Look once, and you don't see anything. Look again, and suddenly you see something there that you didn't see before. What changed? Today let's consider another one of the Admonitions of St. Francis of Assisi. As I … Continue reading The Way to Forgiveness: Quiet and Meditation
Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
(photo: Gnothi Sauton at Reichert-Haus in Ludwigshafen, Immanuel Giel, 2006) There is an old saying, and it's quite simple: "Know thyself." As short and simple as it is, in the (really) old days, it was understood to be such an important thing to do that it was carved into the rock at the Temple of … Continue reading Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
New Heart, Natural Heart
(photo by Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) One thing that you start seeing in the woods around the oak savanna this time of year is a noticeable addition of mushrooms. This trend starts in late summer and will have a crescendo in the fall. These mushrooms caught my eye as I was walking through … Continue reading New Heart, Natural Heart
Live and Forgive 