Go ahead and take the quiz below to see if you can ever forgive your ex.
Choosing to forgive and forget when someone has caused you so much pain is never easy. However, it might help you to understand how the process of forgiveness may also affect you.
The Stages Of Forgiveness
Awareness. You notice that you’re still angry, hurt or bitter about something, and this lets you know that you need to forgive. This awareness is crucial; without it, negative feelings will continue to undermine you at a subconscious level.
Experience. Forgiveness isn’t about suppressing or ignoring painful feelings. In fact, you need to go through a period of fully feeling those emotions. Engage with their full impact, whether by making a journal or talking, and let yourself express your rage and pain.
Acceptance. You don’t need to make excuses for the person who hurt you or to endorse the choices they made. In fact, you may not even want to let them back into your life. However, you do have to accept that you’ve had this unpleasant experience and that it cannot be changed.
Willingness to Forgive. Often, it’s only after we experience the full range of our emotions and consign them to the past that we become willing to forgive. At this stage, you’ll really see that there’s no benefit to staying in a place of suffering, and you’ll stop clinging to the old pain that’s holding you back.
Releasing. The final stage of forgiveness is letting go of your grudge and releasing your emotions from your body. Once you do that, you can actively move on with your life positively and productively. You will feel a profound and lasting sense of peace and closure.
Credit goes to the great folks of thelawofofattraction.com for their excellent insights on the stages forgiveness.
This quiz was adapted from Psychologies.