College can bring stress and hardships to many in their lives.  Sometimes a break from the hassle of everyday can help to ease the mind.

The Wilkes greenway will have a new exclusive spot for forgiveness, a garden with a bench for students, faculty and staff to sit and reflect on the day or what is bothering them located between Kirby and Chase halls.

Professor of psychology Robert Bohlander’s positive psychology class is planning the construction for this place of solitude by creating a garden with places to sit.

They will be working throughout the semester on the garden with the goal of finishing by the end of April or beginning of May.

The Garden of Forgiveness will be built for those who want to think about the hurts and troubles in their life and let go of them.  It will be a little secluded from the rest of the greenway for relaxation.

Bohlander was inspired to construct this garden from three specific ideas he has that he believes are central to the process of forgiving.

“Engaging in forgiveness can raise one’s level of psychological well-being and good health,” Bohlander said. “Being a clinical psychiatrist, I see patients stuck in anger and depression for years because they can’t forgive people in the past who have hurt them and it holds them back from leading a better life.”

A quote Bohlander lives by is, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to find out the prisoner is you.”

“It is an uplifting, freeing kind of experience,” Bohlander said.

Bohlander may be looking for volunteers in the near future to help out with the construction of the garden of forgiveness.

Each volunteer will be assigned a certain job helping out with the construction of the garden.

Anyone who wants to volunteer for the program can contact Bohlander at (570) 408-4561 or [email protected].