Your Brain and Forgiveness

Ellen Weber has a good post looking at forgiveness through the lens of brain activities. I clipped just one question. Go to the link for more.

Why do brains hold grudges that slow mental synapses?

When hurt by people you trust and love, your brain slips into confusion and sadness tends to follow. If you replay the situation, or dwell on hurtful  events, negative feelings begin to crowd out possibilities and you may drown in a sense of injustice.  The brain’s basal ganglia  stores your reactions to severe disappointments.  And if negative or bitter – these reactions limit your chances for finding well-being in a similar situation.

Over time, feelings of anger, sadness or resentment can rob your contentment, because these can form the engine that drives behavior.  If you repeatedly find yourself drowning in a sense of injustice or bitter disappointment – you may create a pattern of bitterness. That toxin will follow you into new relationships, and the cost tends to be far higher than the pain of disappointment. Your actions become tainted by the sense of loss – so that you lose sight of your ability to enjoy the present.

Depression and anxiety spring from an inability to forgive. You begin to sense your life lacks meaning to others you love most, and you seem to be at odds with all that you hold dear. Unless checked – you begin to lose ongoing connections with those you care about most.