Author Shares TRIUMPH OF THE HEART in New Release

DENVER, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-iReach/ Participating in upcoming Forgiveness Days, whether International Forgiveness Day (Aug 2) or during Yom Kippur in September, doesn't mean you have to forgive and forget, says author Megan Feldman Bettencourt. In her debut book "Triumph of the Heart: Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World," Bettencourt profiles people who have forgiven a range of offenses without excusing perpetrators, and explores the how-to of forgiveness through their stories and her own personal path to forgiveness. "Triumph of the Heart" hits bookstores August 11 and is available now for pre-order or digital download on Amazon.com. For more information about the author and the book, visit www.MeganFeldman.com.

"Forgiving doesn't mean you can't be angry or seek justice," says Megan Feldman Bettencourt, an award-winning journalist and TEDx speaker, "Forgiveness is 'giving up resentment,' which is a starting point for so many evocative possibilities for all of us personally and collectively.

In "Triumph of the Heart," Bettencourt draws on scientific research showing health benefits of forgiveness, from relieving depression to decreasing high blood pressure. Through stories of people and communities who have sought and granted forgiveness after everything from parental abuse and infidelity to shootings and even genocide, she shows readers how they, too, can obtain and give forgiveness.

Bettencourt's tips include:

• Apologize: Studies show that it is easier to forgive someone who has apologized for a wrong including yourself. Yet several of the most powerful stories in the book involve a perpetrator showing remorse after a victim forgave, not before.
• Forgive Yourself: Karen, an alcoholic, needed to forgive herself, as well as "make amends" to her family, in order to make a full recovery.
• Meditate: Azim Khamisa, who forgave his son's killer, credits daily meditation with his ability to forgive sooner rather than years later.
• Have Empathy: When a young man asked his father why he wasn't around during his childhood, his father said, "I didn't want you to be like me." That reply helped him to understand and relinquish his bitterness.
• Grieve: Those in the book who were able to forgive major offenses, from rape to loss of a loved one, allowed themselves to feel the pain, hurt and sadness before forcing themselves to "move on."
• Help Others: Scarlet Lewis, whose son was a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, is developing a school curriculum on compassion and forgiveness. Darrell Scott founded Rachel's Challenge after his daughter was killed in the Columbine High School shootings. Azim started http://www.tkf.org/ to stop youth violence. "Forgiveness is about the future, not the past, and often that means helping others," says Bettencourt.

Megan Feldman Bettencourt is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in magazines such as Glamour, Details, and Southwest: The Magazine, and in newspapers including Newsday and the Dallas Observer. She began her career as a Central America-based freelancer and holds a Master's Degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. She lives in Denver with her husband and son.

Forgiveness Dates

• June 26 (any year) - Forgiveness Day
• July 7 (any year) - Global Forgiveness Day
• August 2 (First Sunday) - International Forgiveness Day
• Sept 22-23 - Yom Kippur

Praise for "Triumph of the Heart"

"I believe that it is vital for us allboth as individuals and as a societyto think deeply about the question of forgiveness and its power to transform. I delight in the amount of research that Megan Feldman Bettencourt has done here, and I welcome her book as an important contribution to our ongoing cultural conversation about this important topic. I hope it will lead many to reconsider their anger, their bitterness, and their resentments."Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

"Triumph of the Heart skillfully explores forgiveness through many lenses. It is a compelling personal story interwoven withother narratives of forgiveness engagingly embedded in the research and science."Fred Luskin, PhD, director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects and author of Forgive for Good

"Bravo to Megan Feldman Bettencourt for making forgiveness more accessible, and thus the healing of the world more near."
Marianne Williamson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Return to Love

"Presenting scientific research alongside her own personal experiences, as well as fascinating insights into the stories and practices of others, Megan Feldman Bettencourt expertly demonstrates why forgiveness is so essential in our world today."
Marina Cantacuzino, founder of The Forgiveness Project

Media Contact: Jane Watkins, WatkinsPR, 3052358575, jane@watkinspr.com

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SOURCE Megan Feldman Bettencourt

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