Forgiving is hard – even when you truly want to. The process is riddled with bitterness, loss, and risk, but also promises potential healing and new beginnings. Opposing forces compete in this painting: luminosity and shadow, serenity and grief, flourishing and withering, redemption and regression. A soaring white dove is shadowed by its darker inverse, mourning doves. Ping Guo Hua (apple blossoms) are symbols of peace and healing, used in traditional Chinese medicine to restore balance in the body. Across the canvas, they atrophy, sink, and dissipate into wisps of shadow, or float in full bloom, emitting rays of light like little suns. The journey of forgiveness is fraught, protracted, and far from linear. But trying to forgive is often the first step toward dispelling ghosts of the past and healing from personal and collective trauma.