Dr. Frederic Luskin’s forgiveness training methodology has been validated through six successful research studies conducted through the Stanford Forgiveness Projects. He is also the author of two books: Forgive for Good and Stress Free for Good (with co-author, Dr. Kenneth Pelletier). Recently, Dr. Luskin’s and other’s research has confirmed its virtues in the promotion of psychological, relationship and physical health. Forgiveness has been shown to reduce anger, hurt, depression and stress and lead to greater feelings of optimism, hope, compassion and self confidence. Dr. Luskin holds a Ph.D. in Counseling and Health Psychology from Stanford University. He is the Co-Director of the Stanford-Northern Ireland HOPE Project, an ongoing series of workshops and research projects that investigate the effectiveness of his forgiveness methods on the victims of political violence. He served as the Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, the largest research project to date on the training and measurement of a forgiveness intervention. He currently works as a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation and is also on the faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Luskin presents lectures, workshops, seminars and trainings throughout the United States on the importance, health benefits and training of forgiveness. The episode closes with the podsafe tune “Forgive Me” by Cofield Mundi from Cape Town, South Africa.
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One of the best shows and I have listened to most of them.
I was moved to learn more about these forgiveness steps
I think, this is a very important topic, at least for me, and I will certainly listen to this show again.
The main reason for this ist that my father died very suddenly when I was very young (“ironically” exactly on my sixth birthday…). Most of the few memories that I have of him are not very good. He was partly a very bitter and irritable man, And for that reason I was most of my adult life very bitter angry at him, too, for leaving me so soon and for being such a “bad” father.
It’s only a few months ago that I had a kind of breakthrough. I could see how hurt and how sad and lonely he must have been throughout his life and that he simply wasn’t able to be a better father. And that underneath all my own hurt and anger there was also very much love for him… and that he also loved me very much for sure… but couldn’t show it very well…
So that’s one little story how foregivness was a healing experience for me.
One of the best books about fogivness is for me “The Forgiving Self – The Road from Resentment to Connection” by Dr. Robert Karen. This is one of the few books by a psychology professor abut this topic, and it shows. It’s very thoroughly done and also with a deep and heartfelt sentiment, a perfect mixture.
Karen’s central thesis is that if the “mantle of love” is big enough almost every hurt, no matter how severe it may seem, can be forgiven, because the love “underneath” will come through sooner or later.
Karen also wrote a book about attachment, highly regarded by the critics, called “Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How They Shape Our Capacity to Love”.
I haven’t read this one yet, but it sounds very interesting. Karen gives an overview of the whole history and of the different schools of attachment theory, a very important and sometimes underestimated topic IMHO.
I would absolutely _love_ to hear an interview with Dr.Karen *nudge nudge Dr.Dave* 🙂
Reinhard from Austria