According to Buddha; "Holding on to anger is like grasping hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the once who gets burned."

So with the above quote, one good thing you can do for yourself is to learn to forgive all those who have offended you intentionally or unintentionally, do this for your own good and for your general well being. Forgiveness might not be an easy thing to do, but it's obviously a beautiful thing when done.

Wikipedia defines Forgiveness as "the intentional and voluntary process by which a person undergoes a change in feeling and attitude regarding an offence, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness and grudges with an increased ability to wish the offender well."

It is a shift in thinking towards an offender such that your desire to revenge decreases and your desire to do him/her good increases. Practicing Forgiveness requires opening one's heart just as letting go requires opening one's hand.

For it is even written in the bible in the book of Mattew 6: 14-15 that "for if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, God in heaven will not forgive you."

So, in our discussion today, we shall be looking at few things we stand to gain when we forgive those who may have offended us.


REDUCTION OF STRESS.
When we forgive, we cut down the amount of Cortisol in our body. According to Wikipedia,"Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced in humans by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex within the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration."
It has been proved that those who exhibit more forgiving conscience has low physiological stress responses unlike those who don't. Forgiveness is associated with better psychological and physical well-being and in particular, cardiovascular functioning.


DIRECT BENEFITS
Forgiveness liberates the victims heart and mind more from negativism and makes him/her moves on with life with ease. When we forgive, we are released from traps of revenge and into a life of unmatched joy. comfort and positive life style.
First, our negative thinking dissapears, even when we meet our offenders on the way to work, we feel as ease. Then, we feel more comfortable around them, we tend to accept them back easier without feeling bad, no more resentments for them.

LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE
When we forgive, we let go of that anger and resentments that we've been harboring. Hence, Blood Pressure is reduced to a certain degree.

CLOSER RELATIONSHIP
Our relationship with those we have forgiven tends to get closer except we did not forgive them completely or we forgave them but did not forget what they did.

LONGER LIFE SPAN
Yes, Longer Life Span. I know that you may not believe this but Forgiveness frees our hearts of revenge, negative thoughts, and promotes good relationship with people, creates positive connections, promotes easy life style and many other things. There is every tendency for a person with a Forgiving heart to live long because he does not bear grudges nor revenge in his heart.


I'm very sure that not many people don't really know this until now. So, I urge us to learn to have a very Forgiving heart because as we have read, it promotes a better life for us.

source - VisualMindz