Forgiveness is a reconciliation of complex states that arise in the emotional brain. Anger, retaliatory impulses, hatred, blame, resentments and victim mentality states arise in reaction to events that we are often powerless to prevent. These states may be recognized and released to bring us closer to a steadiness of compassion and grace. We will explore the nature of these states, how they arise and how we might expand our options for how we respond to them.