Giving and Forgiving

Researchers are learning many more of our physical ills are psychosomatically induced than first thought. In other words, much of the physical pain and discomfort we feel in our bodies is originating from emotional or mental causes, not from a physical condition.

The connection between the mind and body is a powerful one. But we are now learning just how strong our mental state of being impacts our physical form. As thoughts move between our consciousness and our subconsciousness, the harmful feelings we repress are affecting our everyday lives in very real and physical manifestations.

Retaining feelings of betrayal, disloyalty, disappointment, and other hurtful frames of mind leave us vulnerable. Over the course a few months, many individuals can encounter dozens of negative interactions with others. Over the course of an entire year, the total amount can reach well into the hundreds.

Many negative experiences are simply shrugged off as most situations don’t warrant our attention. We can dismiss these circumstances with simple justifications such as refrains as “it’s not that big of a deal” or “it is what it is.” But what happens when we can’t shake bad situations from our consciousness?

Left unaddressed, negativity will build within us and manifest itself into physical ails. This is when giving and forgiving should enter our lives.

The acts of giving and forgiving are practices we humans often have a difficult time exercising. However, both are very often the exact remedies necessary to provide relief to our negative feelings and the resulting physical conditions.

We often confuse forgiving someone as an action of giving something to someone else. That by forgiving someone, we in some ways are offering them sympathy, compassion, or a pardon for what they have done to us.

This is hardly the case.

Forgiving someone is a very personal, introspective process. In fact, we can forgive someone without them knowing we have. At some point in our lives, each of us has done just that – forgave someone who may no longer even be in our lives. This proves forgiving is not an outward display of feelings, but rather a self-fulling method that allows us to move on.

You see, forgiveness gives us the ability to release negative tension brought upon by others. And in doing so we can become healthier both mentally and physically. So next time you have experiences in your life that may be dragging you down, consider giving yourself the gift of forgiving others.