self-worth, and endure a traumatic phase due to that person's actions. Going through a negative experience in your life can cause long term trauma. It can stay in your memory just like a good one. A bad experience will be there too. Holding on to negative emotion is the driving fuel of why people may struggle to heal from their problems in their mind. Having thoughts of revenge may not help a person to heal from the past experience that led them to harbor those negative emotions. They may benefit from letting go and accepting what has happened. Letting go does not erase what the person did, but forgiveness can lead to inner-peace from the lack of negative emotion within. Despite the other person not apologizing sincerely, forgiving them may be the solution to problems and result in loving one's self. Character retributivism Forgiveness could be offered only at significant temporal remove from the wrongdoing. The enforcement of justice, at least with regard to punishing or rewarding, falls outside the purview of personal forgiveness. Forgiveness operates at a different level than justice. Jean Hampton Jean Hampton sees the decision to forgive the unrepentant wrongdoer as expressing a commitment "to see a wrongdoer in a new, more favorable light" as one who is not completely rotten or morally dead. See also A Course in Miracles Anantarika-karma Clementia, Roman goddess of forgiveness (and Eleos, her Greek counterpart) Compassion Contrition Ethics in religion Ho'oponopono Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops Pardon Regret Relational transgressions Remorse Repentance Resentment Truth and Reconciliation Commission Unconditional love References Citations Bibliography Randall J. Cecrle, Balancing the Scales of Justices with Forgiveness and Repentance, 2007, Susan Forward, Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life, 1990 Charles Griswold, Forgiveness: a Philosophical Exploration, Cambridge University Press, 2007, . David Konstan, Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010). J. Kramer, and D. Alstad, The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, 1993, K. Lampert, Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. Palgrave-Macmillan 2005, Eric Lomax, The Railway Man: A POW's Searing Account of War, Brutality, and Forgiveness Fred Luskin, Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness (Harper, 2002) G. Marcus, The Power of Forgiveness, 2011, Sapients.Net J. Murphy, and J. Hampton, Forgiveness and Mercy (Cambridge University Press, 1988). K. Norlock, Forgiveness from a