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The Book Club :
Looking for book on forgiveness

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 Sandela (original poster new member #26737) posted at 12:02 AM on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Can anyone recommend a good book on forgiveness that WS and I can read outloud together? He will be working on self-forgiveness while I will be working on forgiving his betrayal.

Sexual love is socially responsible; nurturing the fabric of the larger community to which the lovers belong. --James Nelson

posts: 26   ·   registered: Dec. 15th, 2009   ·   location: Northeast
id 4316224
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looking forward ( member #25238) posted at 12:41 AM on Thursday, December 31st, 2009

How Can I Forgive You? The Courage To Forgive, The Freedom Not To

by Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D.

She is also the author of After The Affair.

excerpt:

The author divides her book into four parts:

Part One ~ Cheap Forgiveness

An Inauthentic Act of Peacekeeping That resolves Nothing

Part Two ~ Refusing To Forgive

A Rigid Response That Keeps You Entombed In Hate

Part Three ~ Acceptance

A Healing Gift to Yourself That Asks Nothing of the Offender

Part Four ~ Genuine Forgiveness

A Healing Transaction, an Intimate Dance

Spring divides the concept of forgiveness into two adaptive options ~ Acceptance and Genuine Forgiveness.

Acceptance is a healing journey you make by yourself, for yourself…Genuine Forgiveness is a healing journey you make with the offender, as you honor his reparative efforts to make amends.

Forgiveness: How To Make Peace With Your Past And Get On With Your Life by R. Sidney B. Simon & Suzanne Simon

excerpt:

What Forgiveness Is Not

Forgiveness is not forgetting.

Forgiveness is not condoning.

Forgiveness is not absolution.

Forgiveness is not a form of self-sacrifice.

Forgiveness is not a clear-cut, one-time decision.

Forgiveness is a way of reaching out from a bad past and heading out to a more positive future. ~ Marie Balter

What Forgiveness Is

Forgiveness is a by-product of an ongoing healing process.

Forgiveness is an internal process.

Forgiveness is a sign of positive self-esteem.

Forgiveness is letting go of the intense emotions attached to incidents from our past.

Forgiveness is recognizing that we no longer need our grudges and resentments, our hatred and self-pity.

Forgiveness is no longer wanting to punish the people who hurt us.

Forgiveness is accepting that nothing we do to punish them will heal us.

Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds.

Forgiveness is moving on.

BH and I have compiled a library of approx. 30 books, but these two have been the most shared and discussed.

Good Luck

[This message edited by looking forward at 6:43 PM, December 30th (Wednesday)]

Together more than 57 years, Married 52 years. Sober since 2009. "You've always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself." (The Wizard of Oz)

posts: 3619   ·   registered: Aug. 20th, 2009   ·   location: Where a river runs through it
id 4318488
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fairyfriend ( member #11208) posted at 1:30 AM on Thursday, December 31st, 2009

How Can I Forgive You? The Courage To Forgive, The Freedom Not To

by Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D.

I found this book to be absolutely invaluable!

DDay 1--Feb 99
Crappy IC, false R--spring 1999
A ended around April, 2003
DDay 2--September 26, 2004
DDay 3--September 26, 2005 when I found out the REST of the truth
8/8/09--Doing very well due to hard work on my and H's part

posts: 1607   ·   registered: Jul. 5th, 2006   ·   location: far north Chicago suburbs
id 4318574
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KInUSA ( member #19503) posted at 3:57 AM on Thursday, December 31st, 2009

I was just thinking about this tonight and put the book by Spring in my amazon cart to buy... thanks for the post and thanks for the recommendation.

DDay 4 November 2009
DDay #2 14 December 2010

posts: 499   ·   registered: May. 13th, 2008   ·   location: far far from home
id 4318852
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tooanalytical ( member #22306) posted at 11:58 PM on Thursday, January 7th, 2010

I found Healing is a Choice by Aterburn very helpful.

Me BH 44
FWW 44
Married 21 years
D-Day Apr 29, 2008
Children: 19,17,14
EA/PA - 1 year
Status: R

posts: 378   ·   registered: Jan. 5th, 2009
id 4335253
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momnurse4u ( member #27010) posted at 3:04 AM on Friday, January 8th, 2010

The Five Languages of Apology by Gary Chapman

It will be geared more toward the WS but it was good for both me the BS and my WH. We both each learned alot!!!!

Good luck!

ME-BW (37)
HIM-WH (38)(DieselGearHead)
M 8 YEARS together for 10
D-DAY 8/2/09
3 great girls-18, 5, 3
Thought R began 1/2010 but have since realized that not to be the case...I am still broken!

posts: 91   ·   registered: Dec. 31st, 2009
id 4335643
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runoverbytruck ( member #11752) posted at 3:53 PM on Friday, January 8th, 2010

How Can I Forgive You? The Courage To Forgive, The Freedom Not To

by Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D.

Good one. This one gives you permission to just accept it and not necessarily forgive it...helps you move forward even if you can't forgive.

Also Forgive for Good by Fred Luskin is a good read.

LTA BS

If you think the grass is greener on the other side, it's because it's fertilized with bullshit.

The best protection a woman can have is courage.~Elizabeth Cady Stanton

posts: 6814   ·   registered: Aug. 19th, 2006
id 4336484
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TearInYourHand ( member #14193) posted at 1:26 AM on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

I also second the vote for How Can I Forgive You. It was the first (and only) book that xWBF and I read together. Good book.

35 - FBSO
“Integrity has no need of rules.”

posts: 957   ·   registered: Apr. 8th, 2007   ·   location: Maryland.
id 4345780
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 Sandela (original poster new member #26737) posted at 1:40 AM on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Thanks for these suggestions. I'll read some of the online reviews, too. I'd especially like one that WH & I can read together that also addresses self-forgiveness, as he needs to release some of his self loathing & self hatred, as well as resentment towards a FOO member who did much early damage.

Sexual love is socially responsible; nurturing the fabric of the larger community to which the lovers belong. --James Nelson

posts: 26   ·   registered: Dec. 15th, 2009   ·   location: Northeast
id 4345801
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cdnmommy ( member #30182) posted at 10:41 PM on Monday, February 7th, 2011

Bumping, because chances are if I am looking for books on forgiveness, someone else is too, and this is buried way, way back. :)

Me: BW
DDay: Oct 2010 + 6 weeks false R
2.5 (+?) year A with married coworker/my "friend"
2 great kids
Reconciling and healing

posts: 1795   ·   registered: Nov. 22nd, 2010
id 5065259
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repeatBS326 ( member #22068) posted at 1:41 PM on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

I'm still not @the point of forgiveness for someone who's not remorseful for 2 of the 3 As w/OW, but here are some books I've listened to as audiobooks that help get me closer.

Gary Chapman's Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way

and

Gary Chapman/Jennifer Thomas' The Five Languages of Apology

if you're religious, you might ask your pastor for some Bible passages that might help (or books on the subject). One thing that convinced me to R#3 was the story of the prodigal son, how even though he royally messed up, his father took him back with open arms (showed me that family is still family, no matter how screwed up they are - and fWH is my family and has been for over 20 years).

Have you watched the LMN original movie Amish Grace...it's a story of forgiveness, even though the subject matter is different than infidelity.

And please consider watching Fireproof (starring Kirk Cameron) together...we watched this sometime after D-day#3 & it had me weeping. Or maybe getting the LoveDare book that was written & goes along w/the movie.

[This message edited by repeatBS326 at 7:41 AM, February 8th (Tuesday)]

Me/BS:39(former cybersex addict 1992); fWH:41; DS:15; DS:11; OW:34; OC:10
Together: 22yrs; Married: 18yrs
D-day#1: Jan99, then FALSE R (subsequent conception of DS#2)
D-day#2: Told about OW/WH pregnancy July2000
D-day#3 (same mOW): 19sep2008

posts: 1721   ·   registered: Dec. 16th, 2008   ·   location: Attemping R #3
id 5066282
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 Sandela (original poster new member #26737) posted at 2:35 AM on Monday, February 14th, 2011

Thanks for those additional resources, BS. We did watch Fireproof and also did the Love Dare book together on a weekly rather than daily basis. They were both very healing activities. I haven't seen Amish Grace, but last year I read the book it was based on. I'd picked it up to get my mind off my own troubles and when I discovered it was about forgiveness, it seemed like divine intervention was at hand. Another movie that was helpful was Sex, Lies & Obsession about porn addiction.

After two years or hard work on both our parts, I've come a long way towards forgiving my partner but I still feel the pain of his betrayal.

Sexual love is socially responsible; nurturing the fabric of the larger community to which the lovers belong. --James Nelson

posts: 26   ·   registered: Dec. 15th, 2009   ·   location: Northeast
id 5077309
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