Cognitive dissonance and forgiveness
Like so many posts have already discussed, forgiveness is extremely hard. I've recently been meditating on the concept of forgiveness without atonement or absolution. Basically, one can forgive without absolving the perpetrator. They are still guilty and may even deserve whatever karma the universe decides to dish out. The point is apparently to release their control over you and to let go of resentment.
But how does this not cause cognitive dissonance? How can you live through the impact of abuse (for example) and simply forgive? The impact is still there. It's just not clicking in my brain properly and I desperately want to be free of resentment but ignoring the very real and lasting impact seems utterly insane. Like two competing ideas entirely.
Follow up, how do you protect yourself from further harm if you're known to forgive? Especially if you're known to forgive people who overstep boundaries or are forgiving to those who are consistently inconsiderate.