Forgiveness: The Greatest Healer of All

Forgiveness is the pathway to happiness, and the quickest way to undo suffering and pain.

- Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.

Forgiveness is gaining in popularity, and a growing number of people point to forgiveness as a powerful and effective route to physical, as well as emotional and spiritual health. Research conducted at the University of Michigan found a relationship between sickness in older adults and the holding of grudges for years. Other research shows that forgiveness can ease tension, reduce blood pressure, and slow the heart rate. Everett Worthington, Ph.D., author of To Forgive Is Human and Five Steps to Forgiveness, has found higher concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol in the saliva of those who said they were unforgiving and unhappy in their marriages. Many people hesitate (or refuse!) to forgive, thinking the one who hurt them doesn't deserve it. But forgiveness is for you! Even if your persecutor doesn't deserve forgiveness (a debatable point), you clearly do! Chances are good that whoever did something to you has gone on with his or her own life, and may not even recall hurting you. It's you that is keeping it alive in your own mind. You're hurting yourself, over and over again.
 

One woman needed to forgive her unborn child for leaving her!

Anything at all is possible to forgive, as is amply demonstrated by stories of those who have forgiven rape, murder, or the Nazis. A partial list of candidates for forgiveness includes: parents, teachers, siblings, bosses, former lovers, your own body, loved ones who have died, God, and yourself!
From my perspective, it's vital that forgiveness be complete; that is, in both the conscious and subconscious minds. Many people come to me thinking that they have completely forgiven, having been in counselling or therapy, or perhaps followed a religious or spiritual path to forgiveness. Frequently I discover that their work is incomplete, as I find that their subconscious minds are holding on to resentment. For example, one of my clients had a miscarriage more than twenty years ago. Imagine her surprise and mine) when we discovered that her subconscious mind had been holding on to resentment for this baby who never came. She needed to forgive her unborn child for leaving her! Another woman had been molested by an uncle when she was a little girl. Now grown up with children of her own, this devout Christian had done her best to forgive her uncle, but still felt uneasy around him at their weekly family dinners. After using a PSYCH-K™ Balance to complete her forgiveness, she felt much better. Another woman, a talented artist and art teacher, had been criticized about her art some ten years ago. Holding on to the bitterness of that experience, she ignored art for nearly ten years. Now, after forgiving those who had so disrespected her — and regaining self-confidence in the process — she is rediscovering her art, drawing, painting, and beginning to teach classes again. I encourage you to make your own list, and begin letting go of your painful past!

After using a PSYCH-K Balance to complete her forgiveness, she felt much better.

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