Copyright 2001, Colin C. Tipping

Seattle Forgiveness Study
An interesting, but as yet unpublished, study on forgive-
ness and time was conducted at Seattle University. The
study involved a series of interviews with people who,
by their own assessment, had been victimized. The
researchers wanted to see how that perception
changed over time.
Preliminary findings showed that serenity, which was
described as “having no resentment left,” came NOT
through any act of forgiveness but as a sudden 
discov-
ery
that they had forgiven. All reported that the more
they tried to forgive, the harder it became and the more
resentment they felt. They stopped trying to forgive and
just let go.
After varying intervals of time came the sur-
prising realization that they no longer harbored resent-
ment and that they had, in fact, forgiven.
A later, and even more interesting, discovery revealed
that the realization that they had forgiven was preceded
by being forgiven themselves. (Who forgave them and
for what was irrelevant.) However, what this certainly
points to is that forgiveness is a shift in energy. Having
experienced being forgiven — a release of stuck en-
ergy — they were able to release their own stuck en-
ergy with someone else.
This study not only reinforces the insight that forgive-
ness cannot be willed but also shows that forgiveness
happens as an internal transformation through a com-
bination of surrendering one's attachment to resentment
and accepting forgiveness for oneself.
Additionally, this study’s results underscore the value
of Step Nine in the Twelve-Step process used success-
fully by millions of people in Alcoholics Anonymous and
other similar programs. Step Nine asks that we seek
to make amends with those we have harmed and that
we ask those people for forgiveness. When we find
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that we have in fact been forgiven, this frees our own
energy to forgive not only others but ourselves as well.