Perhaps your shopping is finished, but you can still give the gift of forgiveness to someone who has denied you something you think you should have.

When betrayed by someone, anger and bitterness bleed into all of our relationships. We weaponize our anger by dredging up old hurts. Anger is only constructive when it solves a problem.

Emotions cannot be shut down selectively. By shutting down our anger, we shut down caring.

If you are the betrayer, to re-establish trust you must take several steps:

• Acknowledge your wrong-doing
• Ask for forgiveness
• Offer a sincere apology without excuses
• Ask what you can do to make up for your mistakes
• Rediscover compassion and respect for the person you’ve offended
• Accept that you cannot force someone to forgive you