We all have been hurt or have got upset by the actions, behaviour, or words of another person.

We all have our ups, happy moments and downs, bitter moments in our life.

Some may have gone through hurtful feelings with their parents, a parent may have continuously complained about them growing up.

Or some may have been hurt at work by a colleague. A colleague may have interrupted and taken over the project.

Some may have encountered a disturbing experience, such as being physically or emotionally ill-treated by someone close to them.

When people are hurt, they feel wounded and dejected. These wounds can make a person feel angry, harsh and even revengeful.

Hurt can make our inner world disturbed. It makes it hard for us to concentrate on anything other than our turmoil and hurt.

This in turn makes us mentally, physically and emotionally unstable and our relationships suffer further.

Forgiveness is the best remedy for this hurt and pain.

Forgiveness makes you embrace hope, peace, gratitude and joy.

Forgiveness helps you to connect with your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

What is the meaning of forgiveness?

Forgiveness means to “let go” of bitterness and feelings of hurt and revenge.

The reason behind you being hurt or you being upset might always be there with you. But forgiveness can reduce the pain and hurt which you are going through.

Forgiveness sets you free from the thoughts or incidences that have harmed you. It gives you a broader perspective of life.

Forgiveness will help you develop feelings of empathy, understanding and compassion towards the person who hurt you.

Forgiveness does not involve forgetting or overlooking the harm done to you or making up with the person who triggered the hurt. Instead, forgiveness leads you to positivity.

A positive attitude, kindness, peace and harmony helps you move on with your life.

It is difficult to forgive a person who has hurt you immensely. Hence, forgiveness needs to be practised.

Forgiveness does not come effortlessly, but many of us can attain this moral value. We can practice forgiveness by putting in more effort towards controlling our thoughts and feelings.

Practising forgiveness means spending more time on yourself to develop a more peaceful future.

Practising forgiveness can help you increase your self-confidence and can give you a sense of inner strength and peace. It helps you get rid of the negative feelings and helps you develop a positive attitude towards life.

5 Benefits of forgiving

Forgiveness leads to a healthy mind, body and soul. It reduces depression levels, anxiety levels and cures unhealthy anger issues.

Holding on to painful memories and resentment leads to mental and emotional health problems. On the other hand, forgiving and letting go of grudges, bitterness and pain leads to various health benefits.

Some of the benefits are:

1) Stress Reduction

We tend to think about the hurtful and harmful incidences continuously in our minds.

This increases the stress levels in the body. This gives rise to bitterness and sad feelings which affects mental well-being. 

Forgiveness helps us to stop overthinking and rethinking about bitter situations and helps us visualize the broader perspective of life.

2) Reduces depression

Depression leads to poor mental health and can lead to suicidal thoughts. Forgiveness leads to a positive mind-set and heals the mind. Forgiveness replaces depression with the feeling of compassion, love and self–care.

3) Better anger-management skills

Anger may make a person say or do wrong things as the person is not in control of his/her senses. Forgiveness helps reduce the anger levels towards the person who has done wrong and caused pain. Practising forgiveness helps us develop self-control. To manage or control our anger, we can take some deep breaths, or start counting up to ten, or drink a glass of water, or we can do some exercise.

4) Healthier relationships

When forgiveness becomes a regular part of our life journey practice it will make all our relationships healthier. Relationships with your parents, lovers, co-workers, bosses, neighbours, friends and others begin to flourish. There is less tragedy to deal with if you practice forgiveness.

That is a huge advantage!

5) Better psychological health

By freeing ourselves from the pain and sadness, our life becomes more pleasant, increasing our happiness quotient.

Forgiveness makes us feel calmer and fills our hearts with love and empathy, which are the most essential qualities required in today’s world.

A life full of happiness and quality relationships is everyone’s dream, which can be achieved by practising ” forgiveness”.

Here is an activity you can do whenever you feel hurt or upset.

Activity on forgiveness

Step 1 –

Write about the incident that has hurt/ upset you.

•      Describe the incident.

•      Who hurt you?

•      How did you feel?

Step 2 –

Close your eyes and imagine that your hurtful feelings are being released into the environment.

Step 3 –

And imagine that your heart is getting filled with feelings of love and compassion.

Practice makes a man perfect and

practising forgiveness is the key to happiness.

Do share your experiences related to the forgiveness activity in the comments section below.

Thank you!