Iyanla Vanzant's Until Today! (N2, N1)
Iyanla Vanzant, the writer and teacher known from Oprah's stage, wrote Until Today! as daily devotions for spiritual growth and peace of mind. She reframes forgiveness as a shift in seeing, on its quotes page: "Forgiveness means accepting what is or what has been and becoming willing to see it differently." The two burdens her devotions keep working on are, in the Big Five, two facets.
Releasing the resentment is Anger
The first is Anger (N2), under Neuroticism, how strongly and how long a wrong keeps its hold on you. Vanzant's forgiveness is not approval of what happened but a willingness to stop being ruled by it. A high scorer replays the offense and keeps the heat alive. A lower scorer lets it cool. Her daily practice is aimed at loosening resentment's grip one morning at a time.
Finding peace of mind is Anxiety
The second is Anxiety (N1), under Neuroticism, the restless tension that comes from holding on too tightly. Vanzant is direct about the cost, on the same page: "It takes a lot more courage to let something go than it does to hang on to it, trying to make it better." A high scorer grips and worries. A lower scorer releases and settles. The peace of mind in her subtitle is what letting go leaves behind.
Read your N2 and N1 to know how Until Today! lands. If your anger runs high, Vanzant offers forgiveness as a way to stop being ruled by the past. If your anxiety runs high, she frames letting go as the braver, calmer choice. Her devotions treat resentment and worry as the same knot, pulled from two ends. Vanzant loosens both.
Read the book: Until Today!: Daily Devotions for Spiritual Growth and Peace of Mind by Iyanla Vanzant.
See Where You Fall
Where do you actually fall? The 30-facet OCEAN personality test takes about 15 minutes and scores all five domains and the facets underneath them. Take the test
Research Citations
Vanzant, I. (2000). Until today!: Daily devotions for spiritual growth and peace of mind. Fireside.
Worthington, E. L., & Scherer, M. (2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience. Psychology & Health, 19(3), 385-405.
Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.