Happiness Break: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness
The Science of Happiness
PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Explore a gentle practice for releasing resentment and finding freedom through forgiveness.
How To Do This Practice:
- Prepare Your Space and Body: Find a quiet, safe place to sit and take slow, grounding breaths. Notice any tension in your body and gently release it with each exhale.
- Identify Who You’re Ready to Forgive: Bring to mind two or three people who have hurt you, and start with the one whose actions feel least painful. Reflect on how this hurt still affects your emotions and body.
- Acknowledge the Hurt: Recognize what happened and how it impacted your life, trust, or well-being. Allow yourself to feel the pain without judgment.
- Seek to Understand (Without Excusing): Consider what struggles or past hurts might have influenced the other person’s behavior. This step is about seeing their humanity, not condoning their actions.
- Make the Choice to Forgive: When you feel ready, make an inner decision to release resentment and let go of the burden it carries. Offer kindness, respect, or simply your intention to move forward.
- Reflect and Offer Yourself Compassion: Notice any small sense of softening or relief, and honor where you are in the process. End by thanking yourself for taking a step toward healing.
Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.
Today’s Happiness Break Guide:
DACHER KELTNER is the host of The Science of Happiness podcast and is a co-instructor of the Greater Good Science Center’s popular online course of the same name. He’s also a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Related Happiness Break episodes:
A Science-Backed Path to Self-Forgiveness: https://tinyurl.com/yh2a5urt
A Note to Self on Forgiveness: https://tinyurl.com/y53tkn87
Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7
Related Science of Happiness episodes:
Nine Steps to Forgiveness: https://tinyurl.com/vb7kk5ky
The Science of Letting Go: https://tinyurl.com/566t8udf
The Contagious Power of Compassion: https://tinyurl.com/3x7w2s5s
This episode was supported by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation as part of a Greater Good Science Center project on "Putting the Science of Forgiveness into Practice."
We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/trnz9x8n
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is part of putting the science of forgiveness into practice, a project by the Greater Good Science Center that's supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Dacker Keltner. Welcome to Happiness Break, where we share practices to help support you in your life, whether it's a gratitude exercise or a reflection on our inner connection with nature. |
| 0:25.6 | We've all experienced hurt and betrayal, and we know how the pain can linger. |
| 0:31.6 | We also know that forgiveness can help us let go of the pain that keeps coming back when we remember those moments. |
| 0:39.3 | Forgiving activates parts of the brain that help us be more resilient, feel closer to others, |
| 0:46.3 | and move through pain with more energy, openness, and connection. |
| 0:52.3 | Getting there is rarely quick or easy, |
| 0:55.0 | but we do know there are steps to help make the process of forgiveness more approachable. |
| 1:01.0 | The steps we're exploring today were developed by Dr. Robert Enright, |
| 1:05.0 | a leading researcher on forgiveness. |
| 1:08.0 | Before we begin, remember this journey looks different for everyone. |
| 1:13.3 | If you're working through trauma, it's probably best to do this with the support of a trained |
| 1:17.2 | clinician. |
| 1:18.5 | And remember, forgiveness, according to research, doesn't mean excusing what someone did, |
| 1:24.1 | forgetting about it, or ignoring injustice. Forgiveness also isn't the same as reconciliation. |
| 1:31.3 | Reconciliation means rebuilding mutual trust, |
| 1:35.3 | and you might choose not to do that with the person you're forgiving. |
| 1:43.3 | When you're ready, find a comfortable and safe space to sit. |
| 1:49.8 | Notice your body and any tension you may be holding there. |
| 1:55.8 | Without trying to change anything, gently breathe into the spaces. |
| 2:03.6 | Now let's take a few breaths together. |
| 2:05.6 | We'll take a gentle breath in through our nose, and even more gentle exhalations twice as long |
... |
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