Sandi Dolbee
Sandi Dolbee has been the religion and ethics editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1992. Her science-related stories have explored the intersection of spirituality and health, the ethical and social implications of the human genome project and embryonic stem cell research, as well as the brave new worlds of singularity, transplantation, and aid-in-dying. Twice in the last three years she won first place in the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year contest. She also is a past president of the Religion Newswriters Association, which represents journalists who cover religion for the secular media in the United States and Canada.
| Article |
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Teachers Show Paths to Releasing the PainIn an upstairs classroom at Stanford University, 35 men and women from the surrounding community silently focus on their breathing, learning the rudimentary steps of meditation as part of an evening continuing-education class on forgiveness. Fred Luskin, co-founder of the Stanford Forgiveness Project in Palo Alto, has abandoned the research laboratory for another calling. Instead of studying the effects of forgiveness, Luskin now devotes much of his time to teaching people how to forgive. He works in classrooms and businesses, nationally and internationally. It is a new frontier for a new science: how to actually teach forgiveness. Don’t look for a national curriculum anytime soon. Even in the growing library of self-help books, there is a wide array of approaches. Most settle on a process generally ranging from acknowledging the hurt, trying to understand it, perhaps feeling some compassion and then letting go and moving on. Some experts suggest journaling throughout the process; many suggest a group setting or one-to-one coaching to work through it. The contemporary version of forgiveness may be difficult to embrace, because the concept is still evolving. |