Forgiveness: Your Health Depends on It!

Failing to forgive, or unforgiveness, is the practice of engaging in ruminative thoughts of anger, vengeance, hate, bitterness and resentment that have unproductive outcomes for the ruminator, such as increased anxiety, depression, elevated blood pressure, heart disease, vascular resistance, decreased immune response, and worse outcomes in the human body, mental health and must be addressed and taken care of.

Unforgiveness is like poison causing even cancer and other lifethreatening diseases. (Cancer. 61% of cancer patients have forgiveness issues. This is quite alarming! Therefore forgiveness is highly recommended!

WHY YOU SHOULD FORGIVE SOMEONE?
 

Definitions

Immune response: How your immune system recognizes and defends itself against bacteria, viruses, toxins and other harmful substances. A response can include anything from coughing and sneezing to an increase in white blood cells, which attack foreign substances.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A disorder in which your “fight or flight,” or stress, response stays switched on, even when you have nothing to flee or battle. The disorder usually develops after an emotional or physical trauma, such as a mugging, physical abuse or a natural disaster. Symptoms include nightmares, insomnia, angry outbursts, emotional numbness, and physical and emotional tension.

How does unforgiveness affect your brain?
 
Unforgiveness makes us more susceptible to pain because it increases the sensitivity of the part of our brain that activates the emotion. So you are literally multiplying negativity and what hurts you when you don't forgive.
 
How does resentment, bitternes affect the body?
 
And when it comes to health, resentment can weaken your immune system while increasing stress and anxiety and the risk of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cancer, alcoholism, drug addiction, compulsive behavior, weight gain, mood swings, depression and burnout, and it's been linked to a shortened lifespan.
 
 
SPIRITUALITY: The Self-Destructive Sin of Unforgiveness 
 
We are all guilty of offending other people, and we have all been offended by other people; that’s the facts of living in a sinful world. But as Christians we are told to be forgiving people. It’s impossible to live a victorious (Christian) life with unforgiveness in our life. It isn’t the offense that destroys relationships, it is the inability to forgive that destroys relationships. Unforgiveness is poison to the soul. Unforgiveness is a sin that locks the unforgiving person in their own self-made prison. It is as bad as being enslaved to mind-altering drugs or alcoholism.  Unforgiveness is a sin that will destroy you like an incurable cancer. 

The Bible warns about bitterness: “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15). The word “bitterness” comes from the Greek word “pikria.” It’s used in Acts 8:23 of a condition of extreme wickedness, “gall of bitterness” or “bitter gall.” Ephesians 4:31 says its bitter hatred and in Hebrews 12:15 it’s a root of “bitterness,” producing “bitter” fruit. 

Jesus said, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25-26).  This is about our being blessed or disciplined by God (Hebrews 12:7-11). God will not hear our prayers when we have unforgiveness in our life (Isaiah 59:1-2). People often say: “I don’t get mad; I get even.” People mistakenly believe that their bitterness and refusal to forgive will make the other person suffer. However, it’s the unforgiving person that suffers!

“Unforgiveness” doesn’t yield the right of vengeance to the Lord; the bitter person wants to become their own god and becomes his/her own worst enemy—destroying their self. Unforgiveness and bitterness are often hidden sins. No one may notice your bitterness and unforgiveness at first, but the poison is doing its hidden work inside your heart. The Bible says, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord”.

The Good book says, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you….But above all put on the bond of Love. God is love, and since we are created in His image, it is vital to keep the lovewalk.

Only the power of the Holy Spirit can give us the grace to truly forgive.

Your only choice is whether you will live in the bitterness of unforgiveness or the freedom of forgiveness. That’s how Jesus forgave you—He took the consequences of your sin upon Himself. All true forgiveness is substitutional; because no one really forgives without bearing the penalty of the other person’s sin.” Forgiveness is extending mercy to those who have harmed us.

It’s the spiritually strong and spiritually brave person who knows how to forgive. We’re to make a constant effort to forgive so that we can build a forgiving mindset in our brain. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-23). Living a lifestyle of forgiveness is commanded for Christians and people from all backgrounds. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you”.

We will witness less crimes, less fights, less racism....we automatically add to a healthier society!

 

LOVE IS LIFE !

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Forgiveness: Your Health Depends on It

Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realize—it may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.

“There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.

health

Can You Learn to Be More Forgiving?

Forgiveness is not just about saying the words. “It is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not,”  As you release the anger, resentment and hostility, you begin to feel empathy, compassion and sometimes even affection for the person who wronged you.

Studies have found that some people are just naturally more forgiving. Consequently, they tend to be more satisfied with their lives and to have less depression, anxiety, stress, anger and hostility. People who hang on to grudges, however, are more likely to experience severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other health conditions. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t train themselves to act in healthier ways. In fact, 62 percent of American adults say they need more forgiveness in their personal lives, according to a survey by the nonprofit Fetzer Institute.

This is quite alarming and is actually as much present in Europe.

Making Forgiveness Part of Your Life is keeping yourself healthy!

Forgiveness is not even a choice. It is a requirement for a godly and healthy life. LOVE is LIFE!  “You are choosing to offer compassion and empathy to the person who wronged you.” The following steps can help you develop a more forgiving attitude—and benefit from better emotional and physical health. 

Forgive deeply.

Simply forgiving someone because you think you have no other alternative or because you think your religion requires it may be enough to bring some healing. But one study found that people whose forgiveness came in part from understanding that no one is perfect were able to resume a normal relationship with the other person, even if that person never apologized. Those who only forgave in an effort to salvage the relationship wound up with a worse relationship.

Let go of expectations.

An apology may not change your relationship with the other person or elicit an apology from her. If you don’t expect either, you won’t be disappointed.

Decide to forgive.

Once you make that choice, seal it with an action. If you don’t feel you can talk to the person who wronged you, write about your forgiveness in a journal or even talk about it to someone else in your life whom you trust. 

Forgive yourself.

The act of forgiving includes forgiving yourself. For instance, if your spouse had an affair, recognize that the affair is not a reflection of your worth.

Forgive quickly.

 Just as unforgiveness and bitterness can negatively impact health, research shows forgiving someone can be just as powerful.  

 

The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol.

 

3 Big Ways Forgiveness Is Good for Your Health

1. Forgiveness Helps You Manage Stress

Not being able to forgive fosters feelings of anger, hostility, and stress, which are well documented to impact mental and physical health, past research shows. 

2. Forgiveness Activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System, Which Is Good News for Your Heart

According to Worthington, forgiveness affects the parasympathetic nervous system, too, which slows breathing and heart rate and increases digestion. It’s also known as “rest and digest” response (controlling ordinary bodily functions) — or the opposite of the stress fight-or-flight response (which prepares the body for more strenuous physical activity).

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together, so that your body can regulate things like blood pressure and heart rate, and function the way it should both in stressful situations and nonstressful moments. But when a person is under chronic stress — which can occur when someone is holding onto anger — the body may stay in the fight-or-flight response for too long.

“The parasympathetic nervous system is the calming part of the nervous system, so it turns off the hyperarousal of the specific areas,” says Worthington. Anything a person can do to calm themselves when carrying around a lot of stress activates the parasympathetic nervous system in this way (including practicing forgiveness), and can be helpful to the mind and body because it brings the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems more in balance.

There’s research to suggest indeed these effects may be significant in terms of affecting health outcomes, like cardiovascular function.

3. Forgiveness Helps Your Ruminate Less (Which Helps Lower Risk of Psychological Disorders)

According to Worthington, the act of not forgiving someone or refusing to forgive someone is almost always characterized by rumination, or playing something over and over in the mind. 

“We all ruminate, but the way that we ruminate is kind of individual. Some people do it angrily, some people ruminate hopelessly or feel depressed. Others do it anxiously,” Worthington says. And if rumination becomes habitual, it can lead to psychological disorders.

“Rumination is the universal bad boy of mental health,” Worthington adds (see link below)

love 2 

 

Since LOVE is LIFE, keep your lovewalk high! It's the only way to stay healthy. Health is wealth and you will thank yourself. 

SHINE ON in love!

 

Other References: Health

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it

https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/unforgiveness-and-your-health

https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/big-ways-forgiveness-is-good-for-your-health/

 

Other references - Biblical

https://agairupdate.com/2021/02/23/the-self-destructive-sin-of-unforgiveness/