As hurts accumulate, trust diminishes, emotional distance increases, and enjoyment in life fades. But the good news is that even though the offense may not have been within our control, the path to healing is. We do not have to continue down the road of self-destruction. There is a way to recovery, health and healing. That way is through forgiveness.
Many people react to the word forgiveness because it conjures up negative thoughts.
But forgiveness within psychology is gaining more and more credibility. And forgiveness is something that is within our control. Within my own experience as a Counsellor, I have commonly come across four hurdles to forgiveness - why people may have difficulty forgiving. Some people feel they can not forgive because it might invalidate their pain or would feel like they have let the offender off the hook to forgive. We need to realize that we , not the offender , are the ones who are holding onto the hurt.