However, you can end up paying the highest price if you cling to that suffering. Accepting forgiveness allows you to accept peace and optimism as well. Think about the ways in which forgiveness might help you achieve mental, spiritual, and physical health. To each of us, forgiveness will mean something different. However, generally speaking, it entails making a conscious choice to let go of bitterness and rage.
You might never fully get over the behavior that offended or upset you. However, practicing forgiveness can help you feel less affected by that behavior. It can assist in releasing you from the person who injured you. Forgiveness can occasionally even elicit feelings of compassion, empathy, and understanding for the person who wronged you.
Forgiveness does not mean that you accept or disregard the harm that has been done to you. It also doesn’t always entail patching things up with the offending party. A certain calm that comes with forgiveness enables you to put your attention on yourself and move on with your life.
Also Read: The Psychology of Confessions
Making Forgiveness Part of Your Life
Swartz asserts that forgiveness is a decision. “You are choosing to be compassionate and empathetic toward the individual who has harmed you.” By doing the following, you may develop a more forgiving mindset and enhance your physical and mental well-being.
Think back and keep in mind
This covers the actual events as well as your reactions, feelings, and the long-term effects of your hurt and rage.
1. Give a heartfelt apology
It could be sufficient to forgive someone only because you believe there is no other option or because you believe your faith demands it in order to bring about some healing. However, a study discovered that even in cases when the other person never apologized, people were able to restart a regular relationship with those whose forgiveness stemmed in part from realizing that nobody is perfect. Those who just extended forgiveness in an attempt to keep the relationship intact ended up with a poorer one.
2. Show the other person your empathy.
For example, rage after too many glasses of wine may make more sense if your spouse was raised in an alcoholic household, according to Swartz.
3. Give up on your expectations.
It’s possible that an apology won’t make the other person apologize to you or affect your relationship with her. You won’t be let down if you have no expectations.
4. Make the decision to pardon.
After you’ve made that decision, act to confirm it. Write about your forgiveness in a notebook or even speak with another trusted person in your life if you don’t feel comfortable talking to the person who harmed you.
Also Read: What is positive psychology and how can it helpful for us?
What occurs if I am unable to pardon someone?
It’s not always easy to forgive, particularly if the one who wronged you won’t acknowledge their actions. In the event that you become stuck.
- Practice Empathy: Consider the problem from the perspective of the other person.
- Consider the situations that might have contributed to the other person’s actions. If the circumstances had been the same, maybe your response would have been the same.
- Consider the moments when you were pardoned by others.
- Try journaling, praying, or practicing guided meditation. Alternatively, speak with someone you’ve found to be sage and understanding, like a friend or loved one who is unbiased, a mental health professional, or a spiritual leader.
- Recognize that forgiving takes time. It may be necessary to repeatedly revisit and extend forgiveness for even minor wrongs.
Why is forgiveness important?
1. Promotes Healing
We can get past our previous hurts and heal emotionally by forgiving others. Anger, bitterness, and other bad emotions toward other people can cause tension, worry, or even physical health issues if we hang onto them. We can feel more at peace and let go of those bad feelings by forgiving.
2. Fosters Growth
We have to face our own feelings and morals when we decide to forgive. It can assist us in drawing lessons from the past. It can offer a chance for introspection and contemplation, which can result in increased self-awareness and personal growth. It’s frequently necessary for us to try to understand other people’s viewpoints and put ourselves in their position in order to forgive them. This may foster greater empathy and compassion in us for other people, which may improve our interpersonal connections and interactions.
Also Read: The Psychology of Mental Peace
3. Develops a Sense of Closure
Resentment and fury can start a vicious cycle of unfavorable feelings that can be challenging to escape. Experiencing grief or trauma might feel more resolved or healed when one is forgiven. It can assist us in letting go of the past and concentrating on the here and now, enabling us to live more completely in the here and now.
Health Benefits of Forgiveness
1. Reduced arterial pressure
Our blood pressure decreases and our heart rate balances out when we are no longer experiencing anxiety or anger related to unresolved grievances. This brings our heart and circulatory system into harmony and normalizes a number of bodily functions.
2. Decreased stress
Because we stop thinking the same things over and over again, both consciously and unconsciously, forgiveness reduces psychological stress. We learn how to let go of aggravation and tension by bringing our burdens to the Spirit for healing.
3. Less hostility
By definition, forgiving requires us to give up our animosity toward one another and ourselves. The more our cospiritualforgivenessmmitment to forgiveness, the less spontaneously hostile conduct we engage in, such as road rage and getting into fights without cause.
4. Better anger-management skill
When we have less and less baggage from the past to carry around, we are better able to control our anger. Rather than yelling at someone, we’ll be more capable of taking a few deep breaths, counting to ten, taking a break, or exercising.
Also Read: Self-love as a form of Self-discipline
5. Lower heart rate
Our emotions become more at ease when we forgive because we are releasing our pain and giving it to God. Our heart rate drops as a result of our hearts becoming more tranquil.
6. Reduced likelihood of substance or alcohol misuse
This one is significant. This is among the most compelling arguments for starting a forgiving practice right away. Abuse of substances is a cover for underlying suffering. Forgiveness enables us to let go of that suffering and instead see the blessings in our circumstances.
7. Less signs of depression
For many, this is an important concern, much like reducing substance misuse. Suicide can result from debilitating depression. However, forgiveness provides us with grace and healing, and it can replace depression with compassion and a sense of meaning in life.
8. Reduced signs of anxiousness
Most people have to forgive both themselves and other people. We frequently experience anxiety when we think we’ve done something incorrectly. We experience deep-seated worry due to our guilty conscience. Forgiveness frees us from inner suffering and enables us to truly embrace who we are.
9. A decrease in long-term discomfort
There are often psychological causes for physical pain. We heal ourselves psychologically and physically when we give forgiveness permission to make a deep adjustment in our lives. As a result, we can recover our health and reverse chronic pain.
10. Enhanced mental health
We improve our overall harmony by letting go of our grudges. Fears fade and vivid fantasies of a new life become the norm. We feel more at ease, joyful, and prepared to show kindness and love to everyone. Forgiveness strengthens the immune system and reduces cortisol. Once you’ve let go of forgiveness permanently, you’ll feel more at ease and in control of your health and won’t become sick as frequently.
Most of us want a wonderful life, full of fulfilling relationships, helping others, and having fun, but we never know how to make it happen.
Reference+
- https://georgesjournal.net/2019/08/21/the-benefits-of-forgiveness/
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/forgiveness/art-20047692
- https://www.wisdomtimes.com/blog/health-benefits-of-forgiveness/
- https://www-psychologytoday-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.psychologytoday.com/forgiveness
