“A person who leads a life of charity and faith practices repentance daily; the person reflects on the evils within, acknowledges them, guards against them, and prays to the Lord for help. On our own, we constantly fall, but by the Lord we are constantly raised up and led to goodness.” Secrets of Heaven 8391 – Emanuel Swedenborg

“Without forgiveness, life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.” – Roberto Assagioli

“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” – Louise Smith

“Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil.” – Pope John Paul II

Actual repentance is examining oneself, recognizing and acknowledging one’s sins, praying to the Lord, and beginning a new life. – True Christian Religion 528 Emanuel Swedenborg

It is all well and good to think that we need to forgive others. The question remains: How do you do that?
    Forgiveness means “letting go”. The opposite is “holding on”. Letting go begins with observing that we are holding on. It is like a counselor dealing with a client who thinks that they do not have a problem with resentment. The counselor then suggests that the client notice that they are clenching their fists. After they have noticed this, they might be open to the invitation to relax their fists, to let go.
A – In our own forgiveness process, we might begin by making a note of people we are not forgiving. Then we can notice how we are holding on to this unforgivingness.
B – We might need to look at the thoughts that repeat endlessly in our mind that keep us in unforgivingness. We might notice how our mind dwells on the sins of this other person.
C – Our next task is to let go of those thoughts – to either stop them, or rebut them.
D – We might also need to look at the emotional pay off for not forgiving, and be willing to give that up.