Forgiveness
What is forgiveness?
Forgiveness is “a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.” (Lawler-Row, Scott, Raines, Edlis-Matityahou, & Moore, 2007)
The act of forgiveness may seem to be of very little importance and have little to no impact on an individual's wellbeing. When in contrast, the act of forgiveness has an immense impact on one's organism (body, mind , emotional system, and brain).
What the act of unforgiveness can do to your brain/body
A recent study has shown that forgiveness activates a part in the brain called the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex- a fancy brain region. The low activation of this region has been linked to depressive tendencies. These findings suggests that forgiveness promotes the lack of depressive tendencies (Li & Lu, 2017).
The act of unforgiveness can actually do more harm to your body then you may think. When anger and resentment are held on to it can cause prolonged stress. This stress can amplify the amygdalae (brain structure responsible for the perception of emotions) sensitivity, which can make one more sensitive to anger, fear, sadness, and aggression. This prolonged stress can cause an increased amount of cortisol (the stress hormone), which can damage certain brain regions such as the hippocampus which is our memory center. Holding on to resentment, anger and pain can cause us to be more sensitive and damage our brain (Ricciardi et al., 2013).
In addition, unforgiveness can also impact our physical body.
These negative emotions can also be held in your physical body. Many people experience fascias and muscle tension issues due to holding certain events in their body, these events are held in a muscle tissue called fascia. Fascia is the dense connective tissue that envelops muscles grossly and surrounds every bundle of muscle fiber and each individual muscle cell. This connective tissue is linked with the muscle, and is continuous with the tendon” (G. L. Liptan, 2010). A few studies have shown, through the practice of yoga and myofascial tissue massages and such that traumatic events , betrayal , rejection, and several negative emotions are “stored” in our fascia. The tension caused by the traumatic event stays in this tissue even when the event has passed. The prolonged contraction of this layer of tissue which encases the muscle in itself can possibly be the cause of increased muscle pain and sensitivity (G. Liptan, Mist, Wright, Arzt, & Jones, 2013). This can explain how the body can hold on to anger, resentment, fear, and negative emotions caused by underlying unforgiveness.
When thinking of chronic anger it actually triggers something called the “fight or flight” mode. The fight or flight system increases heart rate, blood pressure, and the immune system response. These changes increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes (O’Connor, Thayer, & Vedhara, 2021).
Forgiveness is not only emotionally liberating but can somehow rewire your brain.
Though the mechanisms which explain these findings are still unclear. Research has shown that people had the ability to jump higher after doing forgiveness exercises. The same study found that when asked to run very high hills- people found the hills less challenging after the exercise was completed. This suggests that forgiveness can help you see your abilities in a different light. A study done by John Hopkins medicine states that forgiveness can lower risk of heart attack, improves cholesterol levels, improves sleep, reduces physical pain , improves anxiety, depression, and stress ( Swartz, 2018).
If you find the act of forgiveness something that is not easy, you are not alone.
It is not simply just repeating the words “I forgive someone for doing this wrong”. Forgiveness work requires sitting with some uncomfortable, unpleasant feelings. It requires empathy and understanding how someone else may have been feeling when certain acts had happened. Forgiveness includes self-forgiveness for situations and things one may not have been able to control at one time. Forgiveness work requires releasing and letting go. It is a journey which requires courage. Yet, the benefits reaped from this journey are glorious. It can release physical tensions and soreness, rewire your brain, liberate one from restricting thought patterns and increase ones overall health. Forgiveness is a pathway to psychological and physiological well-being.
References
Lawler-Row, K. A., Scott, C. A., Raines, R. L., Edlis-Matityahou, M., & Moore, E. W. (2007). The Varieties of Forgiveness Experience: Working toward a Comprehensive Definition of Forgiveness. Journal of Religion and Health, 46(2), 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-006-9077-y,
Li, H., & Lu, J. (2017). The Neural Association between Tendency to Forgive and Spontaneous Brain Activity in Healthy Young Adults. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00561
Liptan, G. L. (2010). Fascia: A missing link in our understanding of the pathology of fibromyalgia. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 14(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2009.08.003
Liptan, G., Mist, S., Wright, C., Arzt, A., & Jones, K. D. (2013). A pilot study of myofascial release therapy compared to Swedish massage in Fibromyalgia. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 17(3), 365–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2012.11.010
O’Connor, D. B., Thayer, J. F., & Vedhara, K. (2021). Stress and Health: A Review of Psychobiological Processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 72(1), annurev-psych-062520-122331. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-062520-122331
Ricciardi, E., Rota, G., Sani, L., Gentili, C., Gaglianese, A., Guazzelli, M., & Pietrini, P. (2013). How the brain heals emotional wounds: the functional neuroanatomy of forgiveness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00839, Swartz, Karen. "Forgiveness: Your health depends on it." Johns Hopkins Medicine (2018).