Forgiveness Series
How to Forgive: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Letting Go and Healing Your Hurt
What Forgiveness Is (and Isn’t) – Most people avoid forgiveness because they misunderstand what it is. Forgiveness is NOT forgetting what happened. It’s not saying it was OK. It’s not excusing bad behavior, tolerating injustice, or leaving yourself open to more hurt. It doesn’t require reconciling with someone who harmed you.
Real forgiveness is something you do entirely for yourself.
It’s the experience of releasing the stress, anger, and resentment that you are carrying – privately, on your own terms – so that you can breathe easily, sleep well, and move through your life with peace and clarity, no matter what other people are doing or not doing.
Most people don’t know this. They hold onto pain because they think forgiving means approving. It doesn’t. It means freeing yourself.
And here’s what surprises almost everyone who tries it: the average time it takes to genuinely get over something that’s been bothering you is 45 minutes – when you know exactly what to do.
Mary Hayes Grieco has spent 35 years teaching people how to forgive. The method she developed is rooted in holistic psychology and universal spiritual principles, and it works whether you’re religious, spiritual, or neither. It works for forgiving other people, forgiving yourself, and forgiving painful life situations.
Welcome to the Rise and Thrive Forgiveness Series.
This is a complete, step-by-step forgiveness course in podcast form – 10 episodes that walk you through the full process from beginning to end. Start with Episode 1 and move through the series in order. By the time you reach Episode 10, you’ll have a healing tool you can use for the rest of your life.
This series is free, evergreen, and available wherever you listen to podcasts. Start whenever you’re ready.
Episode 1: Why Forgiveness Is Hard- And How to Get Ready to Actually Do It
Mary busts the most common myths and resistances that keep people from forgiving. A warm, reassuring first listen before you begin the steps.
Episode 2: How to Forgive: An Overview of the 8-Step Method
The full picture before you begin. Mary walks you through what the 8-step forgiveness process involves and what you can expect.
Episode 3: How to Prepare for a Forgiveness Practice (So It Actually Works)
How to set the right internal conditions before you begin – so the process produces real, lasting results.
Episode 4 – Step 1, Will: How to Commit to Letting Go (Even When You Don’t Want To)
The first step isn’t feeling ready – it’s making a choice. Mary shows you how to find willingness even when part of you wants to hold on.
Episode 5 – Step 2, Emotions: How to Release Anger and Painful Feelings Safely
Unexpressed emotion blocks healing. Mary teaches you a safe, private method for fully releasing anger and other feelings so real healing can begin.
Episode 6 – Step 3, Mind: How to Stop Ruminating and Release the Story You Keep Telling
The mind loves to replay painful events. Mary helps you identify and loosen the mental patterns keeping you stuck.
Episode 7 – Step 4, Boundaries: How to Set Real Boundaries After Being Hurt
Forgiveness doesn’t mean being a doormat. Mary explains why real boundaries only become possible after you’ve done the emotional work.
Episode 8 – Step 5, Spirit: How to Open Your Heart Again After Being Hurt
The step where healing becomes palpable. Mary guides you into opening back up – to life, possibility, and your own inner source of renewal.
Episode 9 – Steps 6-8: The Final Steps to Complete Forgiveness and Inner Peace
Where the transformation completes. Accessing healing energy, releasing fully, and anchoring the wisdom you’ve gained so you can move forward lighter and free.
Episode 10 – Recap: What Changes After You Forgive, and What to Do Next
A warm, grounding close. Mary reflects on the arc of the journey and how to carry this practice with you for the rest of your life.
Facts and Myths about Forgiveness
Forgiveness is not what you thought it was – it’s so much better than that. It’s NOT: forgetting, excusing, saying it’s OK, giving up, being a doormat, staying open to further abuse, tolerating injustice, or reconciling and working things out.
Forgiveness is the refreshing experience of letting go of unrealistic expectations that are causing you to suffer; it’s a private act that clears stress from your body and mind, turns your bad story into wisdom, and sets you free to move forward in a new and better way. Most people don’t understand what forgiveness really is, and so they hold on to resentment, and resentment hurts you.
Forgiveness is something that you do for yourself, so you can breathe easy and sleep well at night, no matter what other people are doing or not doing. Real forgiveness is a profound and refreshing healing experience: an influx of fresh spiritual energy that dissolves your stress, re-sets your attitude, and brings you forward.
How do you forgive? There is a simple, step-by-step method that reliably brings swift and permanent relief to a painful emotional issue, no matter how long you have held it. There is a way to forgive others, and a way to forgive yourself, which is of vital importance. There’s even a way to forgive life situations or God. Our approach is based in holistic psychology and universal spiritual principles, and it can be used by people who practice a traditional religious faith, as well as by people who are spiritual but not affiliated with a church.
We created these podcast episodes to help you learn how to forgive and live free of stress for the rest of your life. It’s not hard to forgive – maybe you just don’t know how.
Get Started Now! Whoever you are, this information is offered to you sincerely, because you are a good person, and you deserve to be at peace so you can enjoy life. Love, Mary & Erin
Here’s the Forgiveness Podcast Series:
Befriending the F-word: Getting Ready to Tackle Some Forgiveness
Overview of the 8 Steps to Freedom
Steps 6 thru 8 – Healing Energy
Recap – Pre and Post Forgiveness