This is a life-altering read for anyone that has lost a loved one to the insane grip of hate and ex-girlfriend revenge. Dare To Forgive explores the self-defeating stubbornness of humans when it comes to our insistence that we be right, instead of being happy. Dr. Hallowell offers simple but effective ways of taming our stubborn egos so we can get on with our lives, instead of wasting them on misguided feelings of betrayal.

As Dr. Hallowell points out, most of us were told as children that forgiveness was the right thing to do, but we did not see the real benefit of it and subsequently never learned how to really do it properly. We said sorry, but nothing happened beyond that. In fact we probably did not really mean it at all. Society assumes that we know how to forgive. Dr. Hallowell's experience has shown that this is not true. Often the process of forgiveness is something that we have never learned, however, he goes on to explain, like other skills in our lives, it can be learned. Dr. Hallowell says it is not an easy thing to do, but the benefits to our wellbeing are well worth the effort.

Dr. Hallowell reminds us of the emotional and physical disorders that arise out of distrust, hate and ex-girlfriend revenge and how forgiveness can "cure" us of them. In the process of forgiving, he explains how we set ourselves free from those negative emotions and ultimately help ourselves even more than the one we forgave.

This book helps to awaken a part of your personality which probably exists in some form but has never really been developed to the point that it could be of benefit to you. It explains the basics of forgiveness and all the emotional baggage that you can get rid of by learning how to forgive. Many of the self help books out today give us a lot of advice on how to better ourselves and find inner peace, but few of them tell us how to engage our fellow human to get here. Not only does the process give the one forgiven a gift but you are the one who receives the true gift, that of being freed from the bondage of all the negative emotions that weigh you down and prevent you from becoming your true self.

Dr. Hallowell has provided the owners manual for forgiveness so we can all start finding inner peace through outer peace! This should be a must read for all World Leaders, I think they could learn something too!

For more information and excerpts from Dr. Hallowell's book, please stop by Rick Basset's lens on Squidoo, Dare To Forgive by Dr. Edward Hallowell.

Rick Basset's sites are dedicated to peace and understanding of ourselves and our fellow humans. Please visit him at Change Your Mind - Change Everything!