Speaker and author Byron Katie regularly encourages us to look inside and ask ourselves the hard questions in order to grow as people. She refers to it as “The Work,” a process that helps us to confront stressful thoughts and feelings and eliminate them from our lives. With anger, in particular, whether it’s directed at ourselves or someone else, we’re held captive by those negative emotions. Until we forgive whatever caused the hurt, we’ll never be free from that negativity. So forgiveness actually becomes a form of self-care, allowing us to move forward unencumbered, to enjoy the freedom and lightness that comes from letting go.