Forgiveness: Its harder than it looks

i know no-one ever describes forgiveness as easy but its something iv found myself stumbling over more and more recently. I set out at the begining of term in an unconditional love frame of mind. No matter who people where, what they dressed like or what they looked like i was going to love them for who they were not how they were treated in society.
It sounds bad i spose but i have found this relatively easy, what i have found tremendously difficult is forgiving people who have hurt me, deep inside. I used to get bullied at school and i built up a sort of defense mechanism to it. I would block out the harsh words and the taunting but the other day my sheild was down and i was really hurt by what someone said about me. I tried to forgive them on the spot but it was like hitting my head against a wall. i tryed to forget the pain they had caused me but it was really overwhleming and i couldn't block it out, the hurt inside me was blocking the way for forgiveness and it really fustrated me. This was beyond me, i didn't have the strnegth to go back and love this person as if they had never said anything, i couldn't. So i prayed a little and prayed a little more and over the past few days i have forgiven that person and it does feel great but i didn't do it by myslef. God changed my heart and my mind to forgive and it wasn't instantaneous, but it did happen and am now free from the anger and pain that those words caused me. i am free to love that person again, with Jesus' unconditional love and it feels so much better than before!!