7 Reasons Why To Forgive Someone

So, someone has done you wrong and you just don’t know how to handle it. Should you forgive them and act as if nothing has ever happened? Or should you shun them and cast them away from your life with no hope of ever returning?

When someone has hurt you, you might have a wide range of responses. You might be furious right away, extremely sad, or just so *over it* you don’t even want to deal with them at all. These are all logical reactions to someone doing you wrong, but they don’t exactly answer the question if you should forgive and forget.

Forgiveness is something that can take a lifetime for a person to accomplish. It doesn’t come naturally to most of us. But if these describe your wrongdoing person and what they did, forgiveness should definitely be on the table.

# They apologize right away

People who deserve forgiveness know their fault and acknowledge it right away. If they did something wrong and recognized it and showed you as much, then they should be forgiven-assuming their wrongdoing wasn’t super bad. “Sorry” just can’t undo some things.

# You found out from them

Not only is it important they apologize right away, but if they did something without your knowledge and are the first to tell you about it-instead of some coworker or Facebook friend-you know they are really sorry.

They realized their mistake a little too late, but they still realized it and wanted to make it right as soon as possible. So if this is the case, I say forgive them!

# It was a minor mistake

Little things are much easier to forgive than major ones. If they’ve done something petty or just small enough that, yeah, it hurt, but in the big scheme of things, it’s not a big deal, then forgiving them might even be the easiest option.

By not letting the little things go, you turn them into huge issues causing a lot more harm than they originally were. So forgive the small stuff.

# They’ve never done anything like it before

If this is a first offense for them and you know they’re sorry, just let it go. Make sure to communicate how much it hurt you, but forgive them. Everyone deserves a second chance.

# You feel like you can still trust them

This is a point easily forgotten. If someone has lied or hurt you in any way, but, overall, you still feel like you can trust them 100%, you should forgive them. Your gut instinct is usually right and maybe this person just slipped up.

# You genuinely feel they’re sorry

Just saying the words, “I’m sorry,” doesn’t do anything if you don’t feel like they mean it. If you really believe they put forth the effort to apologize and make sure you know how sorry they are, then that’s worth forgiveness.

# What they did doesn’t change your perception of them

It’s hard to forgive someone for something they did especially when it completely changes the way you view them as a person. Sometimes people do stuff so wrong and horrible in your mind you can’t even imagine remaining in a good place with them.

But if what they did doesn’t change your view and opinion of them as a person, it’s safe to forgive them. As long as their actions still follow the rest of these guidelines, that is.