Robert Enright

Two paradoxes of forgiveness

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“When people forgive they can paradoxically experience amazing healing that surprised me at the beginning of my studies.”

— Robert Enright
Speaker
Robert Enright
Country
USA
Published
October 2020
Director's Note
This time with Robert Enright was so rich and inspiring. He knows so much about forgiveness! I asked him as much questions as I could during that time. I can't wait to share with you the 14 videos that I made out of this interview on the subject of forgiveness. Let's start with this first one 😃
Full Transcript
There are two paradoxes in forgiveness. A paradox is an apparent contradiction that's not a contradiction. First, you give goodness to the person who hurt you which is not expected. And then as you give to them it looks like you're doing all the giving and they're doing all the getting and you're wasting away. But the second paradox is you become stronger and you become emotionally healed. In our research over the past couple of decades, clearly shows that when people take the time to forgive and it takes time and it is a struggle, they can experience the kind of healing that surprised me at the beginning of this research 30 years ago and why I think forgiveness is such an amazing relationship adaptation, and it's an amazing psychotherapy and it should be an amazing part of education for us all: "How to forgive?"

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