Gratitude and Forgiveness

Two of our most requested topics are Gratitude and Forgiveness—especially during these trying times. Studies continue to show that both of these can play a role in supporting you to let go of the weight of anger and resentment.

Here’s what we’ve learned about the power of both Gratitude and Forgiveness.

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GRATITUDE

Practicing gratitude is a core strategy for choosing happiness. We’re not just talking about saying thank you for a gift or helping hand.

Gratitude is being present to the moments in your life: to the wonder and awe of a beautiful sunset, appreciation for others, the poignancy of the sparkle in a child’s eye, the puppy that ran up to you on the street, or the barista who made you laugh when you bought your coffee.

It’s an opportunity to be present in your moments—even in the face of challenges and sorrow.

FORGIVENESS

Often, as you practice gratitude, you become more open to the idea of forgiving those people who have hurt or wronged you (or even to forgive yourself). But before you do, it’s important to understand what forgiveness is and what it isn’t.

Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean forgetting, or reconciliation, or even reconnecting with the person you are forgiving.

In fact, forgiveness is actually not about the other person at all, but rather it’s about your heart.

When you haven’t forgiven someone, you feel anger, resentment, vengefulness, and hurt; and those feelings are not good for you—emotionally or physically.

Forgiveness is the practice of letting go of the pain, moving forward, learning from the experience, and being gentle with yourself about your injuries.

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While we know that there are instances where it may just be too difficult to let go, we’d encourage you think about where it might be possible, and then consider implementing some regular Gratitude and Forgiveness into your days.

Stay tuned for our next couple of posts where we’ll go into some suggestions for putting both Gratitude and Forgiveness into action.