Abstract
Meaning in life is the term used to describe how people make sense of their lives, how they commit to pursuing purpose in life, and how they come to see their lives as significant and worthwhile. Committing wrongs against other people or our own moral code, might—perhaps even ought to—challenges these components of a meaningful life. In fact, such wrongs may be considered to constitute a rupture in meaning, with a potential to spark intractable cycles of rumination. In this chapter, we propose that self-forgiveness and meaning work together to enable people to resolve their rumination, learn more about themselves, make reparations, and move toward healing their own hurt and that which they caused in others.
I have made many mistakes and no doubt will make more before I die. When I have seen pain, when I have found that my ineptness has caused displeasure, I have learned to accept my responsibility and to forgive myself first, then to apologize to anyone injured by my misreckoning. Since I cannot un-live history, and repentance is all I can offer God, I have hopes that my sincere apologies were accepted.–Maya Angelou, “Letter to my Daughter”
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Graham, K.L., Morse, J.L., O’Donnell, M.B., Steger, M.F. (2017). Repairing Meaning, Resolving Rumination, and Moving toward Self-Forgiveness. In: Woodyatt, L., Worthington, Jr., E., Wenzel, M., Griffin, B. (eds) Handbook of the Psychology of Self-Forgiveness. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60573-9_5
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