Written by: Kamini Wood, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
An extensive body of research has proved that our minds and bodies are intertwined. Stress, anxiety, and depression can cause serious health issues, while a positive mindset can boost our energy and physical well-being.
Similarly, resentment may harm both your mental and physical welfare. Explaining the link between our mind and body, one study indicates how the act of forgiveness can literally lighten a burden off your shoulders.
Furthermore, research shows that forgiving someone who has done you wrong can help lessen anxiety and stress, lower the risk of depression, boost your immune system, and lower blood pressure. In addition, the act of forgiveness can help let go of negative emotions and improve your relationships.
What Are The Benefits Of Forgiveness?
The importance of forgiveness lies in the benefits you will experience after you choose to forgive deliberately. Forgiveness is a moral quality focused on goodness that occurs when we are unfairly treated by others. Consciously choosing to forgive, you are selecting not to hold the grudge but to offer the goodness towards the person who acted unjustly instead.
What are the benefits of forgiveness? Here are some reasons why you should consider forgiving someone who unfairly treated you.
1. Forgiving can Boost Your Emotional Health
When you decide to forgive and forget, you are actually not doing something good for others – you are doing it for yourself. Choosing not to forgive but to dwell on the pain others caused you keeps you trapped in bitterness, anger, and indignation.
On the other hand, pardoning someone who has done you wrong can reduce unhealthy feelings of anger, bitterness, and resentment.
2. Forgiveness Helps Rekindle Closeness
The act of forgiveness can help you repair relationships and restore closeness, extending the hand of friendship and offering goodness. Also, forgiveness can strengthen your relationships and help develop a deeper bond with your partner, family members, and friends.
3. Forgiveness Improves Confidence
The act of forgiveness can boost your self-esteem and confidence as it can help you become a better person.
4. Forgiveness Promotes a Philosophy of Peace
Letting go of grudges can motivate you and people around you to live up to a philosophy of life founded on forgiveness and inspire you to contribute to a better world.
5. Forgiveness Improves Your Mental and Physical Health
Forgiving can help free you from the control of the person who hurt you. Letting go of bitterness improves mental health and helps you experience less anxiety and stress. Furthermore, forgiveness improves heart health and boosts the immune system. It can even lead to feelings of understanding, compassion, and empathy for the person who harmed you.
What are The Effects of Being Unforgiving?
If you choose to hold a grudge, you might become anxious or depressed. Moreover, bitterness can weaken your relationships and cause you to feel that your life lacks purpose. In addition, if you are unforgiving, you might bring bitterness and resentment into every new experience or relationship.
Forgiveness doesn’t mean that person who harmed you should still be welcome in your life or that what happened was alright. Forgiveness means that you have made peace with the pain another person caused and that you are ready to let it go and move on.
Kamini Wood, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kamini Wood is the founder and CEO of Live Joy Your Way and the AuthenticMe® RiseUp program. An international best-selling author Kamini is driven to support people of all ages to heal their relationship with themselves and to stop outsourcing their self-worth. As a result, her clients become their own confident, resilient self-leader with healthier relationships. Kamini is a certified life coach, board-certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, holds specialty certifications in Calling in the One®, Conscious Uncoupling®, NewMoney Story®, and teen life coaching. Also trained in conscious parenting, Kamini aims to meet her clients where they are, supporting and guiding them on their journey to where they want to be, both personally and professionally. Her mission: create space for each person to see the unique gifts they bring to this world.
