Forgiveness as a Virtue and a Gift

" It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you."  — Tyler Perry

They say forgive and forget. But is it that easy? To forgive someone means letting go of their actions and still dwelling in the impact. Forgiving someone takes acceptance, empathy and courage towards the one who possessed the power to hurt you at one time.

But why is it so important to forgive someone who has hurt us in the most unkind way? The answer lies in the hidden treasure of our mental health-our own emotional psychological and physical betterment.

In a study by Toussaint, he found that when forgiveness rose, levels of stress went down. Reduced stress, in turn, led to a decrease in mental health symptoms (Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2016).

Continuing to feel worthless, helpless and hurt as a result of someone's behavior/action(s) is akin, to allowing a tenant to reside in your house, despite them damaging your property over and over again. So ask yourself, why would you let them stay when they do more harm than good? When you can ban them from your property and find respectable ones!

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