How Can I Forgive You?: The Courage to Forgive, the Freedom Not To

By Paul N. Benware

Book Overview

"If you are struggling with issues of betrayal--or the challenge of whether and how to forgive--here is the most helpful and surprising book you will ever find on the subject."--Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger

Everyone is struggling to forgive someone: an unfaithful partner, an alcoholic parent, an ungrateful child, a terrorist. This award-winning book provides a radical way for hurt parties to heal themselves--without forgiving, as well as a way for offenders to earn genuine forgiveness.

Until now, we've been taught that forgiveness is good for us and that good people forgive. Dr. Janis Abrahms Spring, a gifted clinical psychologist and award-winning author of After the Affair, proposes a radical, life-affirming alternative that lets us overcome the corrosive effects of hate and get on with our lives--without forgiving. She also offers a powerful and unconventional model for earning genuine forgiveness--one that asks as much of the offender as it does of the hurt party.

Beautifully written and filled with insight, practical advice, and poignant case studies, this bold and healing book offers step-by-step, concrete instructions that help us make peace with others and ourselves, while answering such crucial questions as these:

How do I forgive someone who is unremorseful or dead?When is forgiveness cheap?Can I heal myself - without forgiving?How can the offender earn forgiveness?What makes for a good apology?How do we forgive ourselves for hurting another human being?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060009314
• ISBN13: 9780060009311
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

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THE BREAKOUT PRINCIPLE teaches you a simple yet powerful concept (called the "Breakout Principle") to help improve your life on a long-term basis. The book is clearly written, making it easy for the reader to grasp the principle and learn to put together his or her own personal breakout strategy. I like how anyone - individuals or groups - can apply this concept to his or her life. The authors give great examples of how...