What is forgiveness?

Ever wondered why it is so difficult to forgive someone.No matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are okay with something, that you have forgiven someone, you alwasy have a slight feeling of anger towards that person.I found this rather interesting defination of forgiveness in a book I was reading.hopefully you guys like it!
Anger is a fact of life.It is an emotion that should not be stifled.If you have been wronged, you should feel wronged and you should say so.It's important that you correct someone who needs correcting.But then it's important to do one thing: To let anger go.
All the world's great religions inspire their followers not to hold grudges, not to take revenge, not to mistreat someone who has mistreated you. Let God get even with the jerks in your life who have hurt you. The worst thign for you to do is to seek vengeance yourself, to spend so much time occupying your brain with thoughts about your enemies.
The best thing for you to do is to forgive. When you forgive a person. you thrive in spite fo him or her. You blossom. You realise that as good as it feels to hold a grudge and to be righteously angry, overcoming a grudge can be a much, much better feeling. As the old saying goes "living well is the best revenge"
Does this mean that you should go to the person who has hurt you and say, "I forgive you"? Absolutely not. Forgiveness is all about you and not the person who has hurt. It doesn't matter if the person knows you have forgiven him or her. it doesn't matter if they even acknowledge that they have hurt you.You are the only person who has to know about this forgiveness because it takes place within you and for you.
if you forgive a person who has hurt you,you are saying essentially to that person "I will no longer suffer 24/7 because you are a jerk. I'm not gonna get filled up with hate when I pass you by in the hall. I'm not going to shut down emotionally anymore".
You can sit up in your room all night angry, bitter and shut down and I guarentee you that you won't change one thing in your life. The world just keeps spinning around. Your friends keep on going on dates, everybody keeps going to the football games or parties, everybody continues to have a good time whether you shut down or not. So understand that you are helping youself, and you are not getting sympathy through your suffering. The person who hurt you is probably home sleeping like a baby and you are up tormented over what he or she did to you. Thats why we should take a second look at forgiveness. Once again, forgiveness is all about you and not the person you are forgiving. it is abotu saying "You have hurt me enough.I will not take over for you and make sure that I stay miserable by staying angry and pissed off.I am choosing to give me the gift of love"
Signing out