I've actually been mulling this over myself. It's weird, I can't seem to narrow any experience down to something black and white. A dictionary definition puts it down to pardoning an offence, and even to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.) I like that second one. I like the idea that if I need to forgive another person for something they've done to me, forgiveness itself is the act of me taking away my claim to holding that offence to them. Taking away my (perceived) right to hold them un-forgiveness -- and basically releasing them from that, so that in the end you're back to being equal. I hope that makes sense. I suppose forgiving yourself is practically the same thing, releasing yourself from the thing you hold yourself in un-forgiveness of. Thanks for bringing this up, OP :)