Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm not sure that I've forgiven someone I didn't want to forgive, since I don't think I would be able to forgive someone against my will. I don't think that's how it works. At least not for me.

I have forgiven people who arguably did not deserve my forgiveness/people who committed acts against me that many people might consider "unforgivable." It didn't happen overnight, but it was a vital part of the healing process for me.

I don't like walking around harbouring anger, malice, or resentment. I find such emotions to be extremely toxic and damaging. As long as I'm carrying around those negative feelings for someone, that person(s) will have some degree of power over me. In order to truly free myself from those people and the things they did to me, I had to forgive them.

And yes, I did feel much better after I was able to forgive. It felt like this horrible poison had finally been purged from my psyche.

Time is the main thing that I've found helps me forgive people who have wronged me. I also remind myself that it doesn't matter if the people who wronged me are worthy of my forgiveness. None of us are worthy of God's grace, but He gives it to us anyway. The only thing that can be born from hate is more hate. Love and forgiveness are the only ways to break a cycle of hate and malice. Once you embrace that, what someone does or does not deserve becomes irrelevant.