Campaign conversations are making a difference! In campaign conversations exploring what forgiveness is and ways to practice it, participants in six communities around the country reported key changes in both their understanding of forgiveness, perspectives on it, and their likelihood to grant it to themselves and others. Participants also reported positive changes in specific thoughts, behaviors, and relationships.

Research results indicate a greater understanding of the nature and process of forgiveness was gained through the conversations. “I have learned to be more open with myself, my heart, and to live each day with more compassion and understanding,” noted a campaign conversation participant. From the first conversation to the fourth, participants had a greater understanding that forgiveness is something you do for yourself and that forgiveness did not mean forgetting, both of which can be psychological roadblocks to forgiving.

More than half the respondents felt more forgiving towards themselves, their families and their communities after the conversations. Three out of four participants felt more likely to forgive someone close to them and nearly three quarters also were more likely to forgive themselves. “I am not so quick to get angry with my grandmother, and I realize that she really loves me and wants the best for me,” said another participant.

When asked whether they felt certain acts, such as physical abuse, violent or war crimes, extramarital affairs, verbal or emotional abuse and racist or sexist remarks were possible to forgive, participants who said “yes” increased by 14-17 percentage points from the first conversation to the last. In fact, participants felt all actions listed, including being fired, gossip, and being lied to forgive, were more possible to forgive after participating in the conversations.

Forgiveness also became a topic and practice participants wanted to share with others. After participating in the conversations, nearly 70% were more likely to talk with others about forgiveness, notice it in the news, or ask to be forgiven.

If you want to start a series of conversations in your community, business, or organization, download materials on our Web site.

Submitted by: Roselle Kovitz

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Campaign Activities (both local and national), Forgiveness, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.