Apologizing and forgiveness. I'm sure everyone here has had to deal with these two issues their entire lives. I'm sure we all have our own thoughts on apologizing and forgiveness depending on things that have happened to us and the way we were raised.

Do you find it easy or difficult to apologize for when you've done something wrong and/or hurt someone? Have you ever apologized but not really meant it? If so, why would you do that? And if someone apologizes to you, do you believe the apology? If not, what kind of things could lead you to not believe in the apology to be genuine? Have you ever later found out you were wrong? If so, how did you handle that? Does the intensity of your feelings have a bearing on whether you accept that apology, does it matter what caused the anger/hurt feelings to begin with on whether you accept an apology? Does accepting an apology always mean you forgive the person? If not, why not?

How about forgiveness. How easy is it for you to forgive someone that has hurt/angered you? Or do you hold a grudge against people and if so, for how long? Are there things that you would consider unforgivable? If so, why? If you choose to not forgive someone for whatever they did that caused you to feel anger/hurt, how do you act in the future towards them and why? how long? Is it forever? Have you ever gone back at some later date and forgiven someone that you couldn't before? If so, what lead to that change of heart? Was it time, if so, how much time, if not, what was the reason(s)?

What does forgiveness actually mean to you? Can you forgive but not forget, is that still forgiveness? Do they have to go hand in hand? If you think you forgive somebody but yet can't forget what was done to you, is it true forgiveness? Does forgiving someone mean that you've condoned what was done to you?

What if the situation is from your past. Does that make a difference?

Please give your replies in terms of you being an adult and not when you were a child. However, the situation you are referring to in your replies could have happened when you were a child (your past) but I'm looking for how you feel about apologizing and forgiving from the adult perspective.

Thanks!