A. J. Clark, "Forgiveness: a neurological model," Med Hypotheses. 2005;65(4):649-54. 2. L. Y. Thompson, et al.,
It doesn't make a lot of sense: someone has hurt you, and if you let go of your anger and forgive them, it helps you?
The answer is simply and unequivocally, yes.
Forgiveness is part of the ethical ideals of the Judeo-Christian and most religious traditions. The Lord's Prayer requests the petitioner to ask for forgiveness "as we forgive others." The great Mahatma Gandhi, who practiced Hinduism, warned, "If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless."
Forgiveness is more than an ideal of organized religion. Psychologists and neurologists have investigated this topic and documented that the act of forgiveness is healthful for the forgiver.
** On PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi ), there are nearly 100 scientific studies showing the healing power of forgiveness.
From the earliest 1969 study titled "Morality, guilt, and forgiveness in psychotherapy" to the June 2006 study called "Effects of a group forgiveness intervention on forgiveness, perceived stress, and trait-anger," researchers have found that forgiveness has important health benefits for the forgiver.
We need to be very clear about what forgiveness is not. It is not condoning the behavior that hurt you. It is not saying to the offender that what they did was okay after all. In many cases, the forgiver needn't confront the offender in order to forgive. Forgiveness, according to Pastor Randall Worley, is not an emotion; it's a decision. It is letting go of hurt and moving on.
The answer is simply and unequivocally, yes.
Forgiveness is part of the ethical ideals of the Judeo-Christian and most religious traditions. The Lord's Prayer requests the petitioner to ask for forgiveness "as we forgive others." The great Mahatma Gandhi, who practiced Hinduism, warned, "If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless."
Forgiveness is more than an ideal of organized religion. Psychologists and neurologists have investigated this topic and documented that the act of forgiveness is healthful for the forgiver.
** On PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi ), there are nearly 100 scientific studies showing the healing power of forgiveness.
From the earliest 1969 study titled "Morality, guilt, and forgiveness in psychotherapy" to the June 2006 study called "Effects of a group forgiveness intervention on forgiveness, perceived stress, and trait-anger," researchers have found that forgiveness has important health benefits for the forgiver.
We need to be very clear about what forgiveness is not. It is not condoning the behavior that hurt you. It is not saying to the offender that what they did was okay after all. In many cases, the forgiver needn't confront the offender in order to forgive. Forgiveness, according to Pastor Randall Worley, is not an emotion; it's a decision. It is letting go of hurt and moving on.
What Happens When We Forgive?
A. J. Clark of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona described the biological and neurological components of forgiveness: + Memories of the hurtful act arouse fear stemming from the amygdala (the memory center for fear and trauma). + This fear drives a pattern of anger and fight-or-flight readiness (cortisol release). + Under appropriate circumstances, the frontal cortex interrupts the pattern and quells the fear response in the amygdala. + The resultant relaxation of muscular tension signals the cortex that forgiveness has occurred. + The memory pathway from the rhinal cortex and hippocampus to the amygdala is inhibited. + A tangible act confirms that the memories no longer stimulate the amygdala and the pattern of anger and stress does not recur. Psychologists have developed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) so they can track the positive effects of forgiving. People who forgive experienced the four components of psychological well-being. People who didn't forgive experienced lack of trust, feelings of vengeance, and hostility. Yet another study showed that people with high levels of forgiveness and frequency of prayer had lower cortisol responses. Cortisol is the stress hormone that can wreak havoc in the body when found in excess. | Another testimony about FORGIVENESS from BBC - CLICK
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