Yonas Adaye (Ph.D.)Dagnaw Kebede2025-04-012025-04-012019-06https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/5252The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of forgiveness of eight individuals by using Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenological design which provides systematic steps that lead to an essential description of the experience. Techniques such as media and social network were used to identify participants who experienced forgiveness and purposive sampling along with criterion and snowballing strategies were employed for recruitment. This study aimed at exploring and understanding the essences of the experience of forgiveness through the accounts of participants (Moustakas, 1994). A semi-structured interview was conducted with one female and seven male offended individuals who experienced forgiveness. From the individuals accounts eight themes: Representation of the harm/hurt, paths to decide and grant forgiveness, refraining from thoughts and activities against granting forgiveness, forgiveness entailing reconciliation, love and established positive relationship, forgiveness as letting go off negative feelings and/or developing positive ones, individual capability differences in forgiveness, circumstances facilitating victims’ capability to forgive and forgiveness is beneficial developed. By reflecting on the textural descriptions the structural descriptions of the experience of the phenomenon were constructed. The textural descriptions and structural descriptions integrated into a composite textural structural description of the experience of the phenomenon. Finally, this study resulted in five essences. And my study revealed that forgiving others is the offended individual’s letting go of resentments with/ without directly communicating the transgressor(s) and this letting go of has ended the potential revenge and its destructive, cyclical effects. And this result has an implication to build peace in the community.en-USThesis