60 Positive Affirmations for Forgiveness of Self and Others

Forgiveness may be one of most difficult things that we may ever choose to do. It’s so easy to latch onto anger and resentment toward a person or to hold a grudge for the rest of your life.

But we can expand our embrace of forgiveness, even self-forgiveness, with affirmations. Affirmations for forgiveness can help you focus on the forgiveness itself—the release of toxic anger and resentment—and help you find the words to forgive in a healthy way.

Woman practicing transformational forgiveness with affirmations and meditation

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What is Forgiveness?

Let’s have a chat about forgiveness. Because while we like to think it’s a simple concept, it is, in fact, one of the most complex concepts of our time here on earth.

Forgiveness is an intentional or conscious act to release anger, resentment, and bitterness toward someone that may have wronged you, even yourself.

Forgiveness does not necessarily mean that you reconcile with that person and allow them back into your life. You can forgive someone from a distance; forgiveness doesn’t even need to be expressed out loud.

Forgiveness is also not something that only happens once a person has apologized. Many of us wait to allow ourselves forgiveness until we hear an apology. But chances are, that person who has wronged you may have no idea, or may be holding onto fear or judgment.

Yet, holding a grudge, holding back forgiveness is something that only hurts you.

RELATED POST: How to Apologize to Your Ex

Biblical Forgiveness

Just a warning here, because the misconceptions above may come from religion, which I’ve seen many sites define forgiveness as “pardoning an offender.” I don’t believe that religion is being intentionally damaging, of course, but we do need to make sure we expand our definition of “forgiveness” so that we can incorporate more mentally healthy concepts.

Practicing Forgiveness

Many people may find that they would like to forgive someone, but that they still find themselves angry from time to time.

Remember, you can’t control your emotions… you can only move with them and not let them rule your life.

Personally, I have found that there certain are those individuals who I’ve made conscious efforts to forgive, only to find myself getting angry or being triggered by something (that may not even be something this person did, just something that reminded me of that person).

If you find yourself being triggered by situations after attempting to forgive someone or yourself, just know that this is normal. While forgiveness is an intentional act, it’s also something that can take time to fully get all those negative emotions out and reach a place of peace on the other side.

Using Affirmations

As always, affirmations aren’t some magic solution that will wipe away all remnants of your anger. Affirmations are a tool that help you to focus on your goal—the release of anger—and to stop focusing on the emotions you feel toward this person (or yourself).

When you find yourself starting to get triggered or feeling overwhelmed with frustration or anger, this is the perfect time to do some breathing and recite your affirmations to yourself.

It’s also important that after a while, it’s important to let go of the affirmations themselves. After you’ve been practicing forgiveness for some time, it should become natural. So don’t hold onto those affirmations too tightly or rely on them!