Hoping you all had a GREAT week and hopefully you had a chance to perform some selfless acts. If you have, how did it feel? I hope that you continue to practice this in your everyday life.
Something to think about:
Have you ever hurt someone? Did you want that person to forgive you? If that person could not forgive you, how were you left feeling? How important was it for you to be forgiven?
As we continue with our journey to positivity and happiness, there are many stops along the way to get to that goal. The first stop I will be discussing is FORGIVENESS.........not so easy to do, and I feel that we probably have all hurt and have been hurt at some point in our lives. SO why is it so difficult for us to let go and forgive??
What happens when someone hurts us? We may feel angry, revengeful, resentful, bitter, disappointed, and a loss of trust.
What do we do when we feel this way? (When we don't forgive) we may hold onto it, let it fester inside of us, affect us emotionally and physically, try to find revenge and hurt the other person worse.
Why is it that some people can forgive and some can't? Some people may have grown up in families that taught how to forgive and some may never have learned how to. Some people may have too much pride and feel like they are giving in if they forgive, or feel like they are letting the other person get away with something, and some people may be afraid to forgive because they are scared to trust again and get hurt....again.
So when we don't forgive, we hold onto those negative emotions, especially....anger. Anger is what I like to call the shield. We use it to hide behind, to protect us. But underneath that anger is PAIN and HURT. I think it is important to learn how to let that hurt go so you can heal yourself and bring yourself into a better place.
Forgiving someone does not necessarily mean that you forget the action. But forgiving is a way to learn how to let go of those negative emotions, and move on, because holding onto those negative emotions will truly bring you down. It will not only effect your mood and your life, but your relationships and will make you sick.....not only mentally, but physically sick! There are so many benefits to forgiveness, some are;
- Improved physical health and improved mental health
- Lower risk of depression and anxiety
- Improved relationships
- Increases our levels of happiness and positivity
- Increased ability to cope
- Lower probability of Alcohol and Drug use
How do we let go?
Remember the questions in the beginning of this post......well, how can we ask to be forgiven, if we don't forgive?? If we want to be forgiven for things, we should then learn how to also forgive.
Ok so how do we do that? Not an easy task and again takes time and practice. One thing you can try on your own is writing a letter to that person, the more detail you put into that letter the better. Don't mail the letter and don't give it to that person. Write it, let all your emotions out, read it to yourself, see how you feel and what you may have learned about yourself, and let it go, burn it or shred it. Studies have shown that when you write about a hurtful or traumatic event, the better the recovery from it.
Remember the benefits of letting go and forgiving, remember that you want to be forgiven too, ASK YOURSELF: Is it helpful to hold onto this pain? Is it making my life easier? How is it affecting my mood? How is it affecting future relationships? Is it helping me, or hindering me? If it is difficult for you to do this on your own, therapy is a good way to explore and understand why you are feeling this way and how to let it go.
My Thought:
It may be easier to be angry than to forgive.......
but the benefits of forgiveness are much Greater!
