Why life is happier when it is full of forgiveness?
- Hajera Rahman
- Nov 30, 2020
- 3 min read
Welcome back :)
As you know, UOU is based around all aspects of life.
And this week's concept is about forgiveness.
What does forgiveness mean?
This is when you make a decision to let go of feelings of resentment or negative feelings towards a person when they have completed a perceived indecent or offensive act towards you.
Remember the word 'perceived' is key here.
What are the benefits of being a forgiving person? (to name a few)
Great mental health (improved self esteem)
Healthy body free of diseases and disabilities. (yes stronger immune system, improved heart health, lower blood pressure, less stress)
Healthier relationships.
Fewer symptoms of depressions
Seriously, this is true!!!
Go and read about forgiveness this week. Random google, a random article, a random book, a podcast, a video anything. Educate yourself on the importance of this.
The person does not always need to know you have offended them or even seek for forgiveness from you. Forgive others for yourself. Forgive them without an ego. You make mistakes. You have caused offence to someone. You have caused hurt to someone.
It's impossible not to amongst this complex world we live in.
Listen, forgive the person who may have been rude to you in the supermarket, forgive the person who stayed in the 'closed lane' till last minute to then jump in front of you in a long queue on the roads, forgive the person who may have caused you pain and suffering.
You must forgive without thinking you are mighty and a 'bigger' person. You must forgive with humility. This is true forgiveness.
As humans we do not always know if we have offended someone or have the awareness we have hurt someone through words, lack of words, actions or even lack of actions.
Perceptions hold room for misunderstandings which can lead to holding grudges and have a bitter mindset. Which activates anger, stress hormones release. And our bodies/mind soon start to feel the diseases associated with anger
Perception of the offensive act - bitter mindset - anger - stress hormones - Diseases of the body and mind
Break this cycle.
Perception of the offensive act - forgiveness mindset - calm - relaxation response - Reduces the diseases of the body and mind
I want to share some life examples of forgiveness and how this benefitted them
(in case the links become invalid- I have suggested google search terms)
Google 'Terry Caffey'
'He saw himself becoming an angry bitter person and ‘that’s not who I am’, he explains. Caffey decided that to stop becoming a person consumed with anger he must move on: ‘It's time to forgive. It's time to enjoy life again. Life does go on.'
Google 'Dr Mohammad Taufiq Al-Sattar'
'Speaking about the aftermath of incident Dr al-Sattar said: ”It was a very difficult time in the first part, last year, but I am settled now. It all comes to the religion. When you do the good work in this life you are going to be rewarded in the life there after. I see my family around me all the time, when we pray”.
I learnt so much from these life stories and there will be hundreds of individuals all over the world like them.
These two individuals taught me a lot about forgiveness and why we should all strive to be forgiving not for the sake of the words but within our actions.
Forgiveness is a very important trait to learn and seek to forgive and ask for forgiveness
Gather your thoughts, think about how forgiving you are and what to do next to increase your forgiving nature.
Start this week increasing your forgiving nature.
Lots of love
xoxo
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