Forgiveness - Healer of the Body, Mind and Spirit

Isn't is so exciting to welcome the Spring! We celebrated the beginning of the Spring on the 20th of March, the next day we celebrated Easter and the day after Easter we received the very first real snow of this winter. It just snowed and snowed and snowed. The traffic was a complete mess. Smaller streets were so full of snow that it was hard to get through. When at night I went for a walk with my little dog, the snow was already up to my knees. It was actually quite a joy to see the sparkly, soft white blanket covering the empty streets. No one was clearing it off at night, so, I had quite an exercise wading through knee-high snow. Well, sure, sidewalks had been cleaned a few hours earlier, so, I had to actually step aside to get into the deep stuff... and I loved it :-)

Now, mere ten days later, almost all the snow has melted and it has become really warm. The sun has been shining daily, warming our hearts and filling us with renewed energy. Spring is the time of the sprouts of new life coming up everywhere. A thorough Spring clean is on the minds of ladies... also, new colors in fashion are drawing us, filling us with the desire to discard old and embrace the new.

I do wish to talk about a thorough Spring clean today... though, not a house clean... nor do I wish to talk about the new fashion colors... but instead, an inner cleanse. And no, I am not talking about the change of diet, either. I am talking about the Spring clean of our souls and hearts. I am talking about forgiveness.

I remember a dream I had 14 years ago where I saw a vision of a carrot being brushed by a brush... but not from the outside, but on the inside. I still vividly recall the brush energetically, yet gently, cleansing the carrot on the inside. I did immediately understand the meaning of the dream. It was the time for a thorough Spring clean - on the inside.

The Bible talks a lot about forgiveness, but it does not fully explain how forgiveness influences our body, mind, and spirit... although Proverbs 14:30 does teach us, "A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones." Still, scientists have picked up the matter and have researched the power of forgiveness quite thoroughly. In this Health First I wish to share with You the results of scientific research.

The Gospel of Matthew, sixth chapter, verses 14 and 15 let us know, "For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses."

Luke 6:27-28 goes even further, saying, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."

It seems almost impossible to act according to this exhortation... until we understand what it does to our body, mind and spirit. All positive emotions, attitudes and decisions - towards ourselves and towards others - move our body, mind and spirit towards healing, releasing health promoting hormones in our bodies and literally mending us. This indeed does make forgiveness an exercise of self-love. We forgive for it brings healing to us.

Nearly every religion believes in the power of forgiveness to heal the soul — now medical and psychological researchers have confirmed it also heals the body.

Unforgiveness, which often occurs as a result of having been hurt, humiliated, angered, or having suffered fear or loss, feelings of guilt, or envy, can have profound affects on the way your body functions. Like proper nutrition and exercise, researchers say, forgiveness appears to be a behavior that a patient can learn, exercise and repeat as needed to prevent disease and preserve

health.

Physically the body responds to unforgiveness as it does to stress: muscles tighten, causing imbalances or pain in the neck, back and limbs. Blood flow to the joint surfaces is decreased, making it more difficult for the blood to remove wastes from the tissues and reducing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Normal processes of repair and recovery from injury or arthritis are impaired. Clenching of the jaws contributes to problems with teeth and jaw joints. Headaches are probable. Chronic pain may be worsened, blood flow to the heart is constricted, digestion is impaired, breathing is restricted. The immune system functions less well, increasing vulnerability to infections and perhaps malignancy. Injuries and accidents through inattention are more likely.

"Harboring a grudge affects us spiritually and physically," says Dr.Joseph A. Favazza, the dean of general education and a religious studies professor at Stonehill College in Easton, South Africa.

But the damage goes far beyond the emotional — holding onto that grudge affects your heart function, your waistline, your ability to fight off colds.

How?

A clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Everett L. Worthington Jr., who is widely considered one of the foremost experts on forgiveness in the world, took up the study of forgiveness eight years before his mother was murdered in 1996, and his brother subsequently committed suicide. Dr. Worthington has since published more than 20 books and more than 200 articles on its physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects.

Although a suspect was arrested and police said he initially confessed to the crime, irregularities in the handling of evidence resulted in the suspect being released. Nevertheless, Worthington says, he had run the full course of shock, anger and grief and was ready to forgive in less than a month after his mother's death.

Dr. Worthington says, "Harboring a grudge is a personal stressor. Any chronic stressor takes a physical toll. It will affect your immune function and cardio function, your heart rate, your blood pressure; it will increase the stress hormone that causes the body to store fat."

"When your brain is stimulated because of stress, it causes your body to release the stress hormone cortisol, which combines with fat and gets stored at your waistline where the body can get it (easily.) Chronically elevated cortisol is the universal bad boy of modern-day living. It affects your cardiovascular health, your digestion, your sexual behavior. It harms the reproductive system, your brain, your emotions.

"And every time you think of that person (who wronged you), it sends cortisol into your body."

Mr. James, a motivational speaker and the president of Celebratelove.com, discusses forgiveness in his latest book, "How to Really Love the One You're With", says, "Forgiveness is not for the other person — it's for you," he said. "If you don't forgive, it's like your foot is nailed to the floor. You have to let go."

Mr. James recalled a personal example:

"I was in a seminar once and one of my best friends stood up and shared some painful things about his father ... The instructor said, 'During this break, you need to go call your father and say, 'I love you, Dad.'

"When he came back in, I hardly recognized him. His face was shining."

"Once we forgive, we're no longer held prisoner to the grudge."

"Eruptions of anger at others have been shown, clearly, to increase the risk of heart arrhythmias, heart attacks and high blood pressure", says Dr. Douglas Russell, a Veterans Affairs cardiologist who, in a 2003 study, found that the coronary function of patients who had suffered a heart attack improved after a 10-hour course in forgiveness. But when anger is turned inward and directed at oneself, lack of forgiveness appears likely to have an ongoing, toxic health effect that might be even more corrosive to physical and mental health than anger directed outward.

"Sometimes people hurt us, and we move on, and it might fade," says Toussaint, the psychologist of Luther University in Decorah, Iowa. As he has refined that work with better definitions of forgiveness, however, Toussaint says he has been surprised to learn that those who hold onto self-blame might suffer more. "Forgiveness of self holds the more powerful punch," Toussaint says. "The effects are dramatic."

In work not yet published, Toussaint found that men who do not forgive themselves readily are seven times more likely to meet the full diagnostic criteria for clinical depression than men who do. Highly self-forgiving women are three times less likely to have the symptoms of clinical depression — a risk factor for a host of ills — than their sisters who are prone to regret and self-blame. Those more forgiving of themselves also sleep more and are in better overall health, he has found. He also has found that women (who typically outlive men) are more forgiving than men.

Kathleen Row, the chair of the psychology department at East Carolina University, who has studied correlations between a person’s health and the ability to forgive for over 25 years, says, that in her research she has found a marked difference in the blood pressure and heart rate recovery levels of those who can more easily forgive compared to those who cannot. “You literally carry it around with you,” says Row, comparing unforgiveness to a heavy sack we have to constantly carry around.

Yet another researcher, Dr. Frederic Luskin at Stanford concludes his studies, saying, "The thing about long-term or unresolved anger is we've seen it resets the internal thermostat. When you get used to a low level of anger all the time, you don't recognize what's normal. It creates a kind of adrenaline rush that people get used to. It burns out the body and makes it difficult to think clearly -- making the situation worse." He adds that when the body releases certain enzymes during anger and stress, cholesterol and blood pressure levels go up -- not a good long-term position to put the body in.

"Life throws you curves, and most of us don't start off emotionally prepared to deal with them," Dr. Luskin says. "That arrogance keeps us from being healthy. Basically, at some point you have to realize that, even if your mother was distant to you when you were a child, you can't live in the present and say, 'I can never be OK, because my mother was distant when I was a child.' It's unfortunate that it happened, but at some point you have to move forward and let it go."

Jeffrey R., a Maryland man whose father sexually molested him and three siblings as children, acknowledges that self-blame and denial after the abuse has exacted a terrible cost on his family. Two older brothers — both of whom have refused to discuss their father's actions — have had seven heart attacks between them before the age of 60. One is a drug addict for whom a longtime stomach ailment now threatens to become deadly. Another lives alone, "eats unhealthy, lives unhealthy," says Jeffrey, a member of Survivors After Incest who spoke on condition that his full name not be revealed.

"When you have this background, you become very skilled at pretending things are OK, just ignoring it," Jeffrey says. Meanwhile, the guilt, shame and anger, he says, "are just consuming."

After nine suicide attempts and decades of contending with temper and suspicion toward others, Jeffrey says he's not ready to forgive the father who did it, the mother who looked the other way or the aunts and uncles who, after the abuse came to light, refused to discuss it. His sister, who was raped by her father at 5, has embraced forgiveness, says Jeffrey, telling her brother God will judge their father. Jeffrey insists he's let go of the anger and bitterness caused by his abuse, and it "has saved my life."

But forgiveness on the same level as his sister's? "I'm not really there yet," he says.

The material has been obtained from following research articles:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080127/LIFE/801270314/-1/LIFE01

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jan/12/forgiveness-for-the-body-and-mind/

http://www.ecu.edu/news/poe/1006/forgiveness.cfm

http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/1999/1999_06_09.forgive.html

http://www.iloveulove.com/forgiveness/forgivhealth.htm

Going back to my dream, 14 years ago, I too have a personal testimony of the healing power of forgiveness.

By that time I had managed to collect a good group of people who I needed to forgive to. So, I wrote down the name of each person and also the matters I needed to forgive them for. Day after day I took special time to read through my list and make a choice to forgive each person. It took me about 30 days of daily reciting when I suddenly felt free... completely free from burdens I did not even know I was carrying around. I had never experienced such freedom before.

This freedom influenced by body too. I suddenly lost quite a bit of weight. It just dropped off. I did not change my diet nor did I exercise more, I just exercised forgiveness. It was then, when I realized that we do physically carry with us the weight of unforgiveness, bitterness, hurt, strife...

So, let us start this Spring with a thorough Spring clean of our hearts, examining the feelings we hold towards ourselves and others. It is often something people do not wish to do - look inside. It is far too painful. But, if we wish to live a healthy life - body, mind and spirit - we need to be brave enough to look inside and cast out all the burdens that make our lives less happy and joyful. So, let us be brave enough to embrace forgiveness toward ourselves and others. It is the exercise of self-love.

I wish You many blessings and great health in Your body, mind and spirit,

Eve

Body-Mind-Spirit Health, Fitness & Beauty in Biblical Way

http://www.TheSpringOfLife.net