This is a book about forgiving others, seeking forgiveness from others, and forgiving yourself.

Some parts are affirming and uplifting. Other parts are painful and you'll want to skip through them.

This isn't a book to be read through all in one day. It's a book to sit with, to journal through, to struggle with and cry though. The Fourfold Path of Forgiveness, explored in this book, can be healing, but only if you walk the path. Thankfully, you'll discover you've most likely walked it before, several times, without really being aware. If we can walk that path of forgiveness with smaller things, we can walk through it with larger issues as well.

This isn't a book about forgiving and forgetting. It's not about forgetting or letting anyone off the hook for harm done to us or by us. It's about naming that hurt, telling our stories, granting forgiveness, and renewing or releasing the relationship.

"Forgiveness is not some airy-fairy thing. It has to do with the real world. Healing and reconciliation are not magic spells. They do not erase the reality of an injury. To forgive is not to pretend that what happened did not happen."

"Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped. Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailor. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. We become our own liberators. We don’t forgive to help the other person. We don’t forgive for others. We forgive for ourselves. Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest."

This is a great book to read with a partner or a group. It's also a great book for the upcoming season of Lent.