Global Forgiveness Day

Tomorrow is Global Forgiveness Day.  Forgiveness Day was set for July 7 in Victoria, British Columbia in 1994. 

True forgiveness is not an easy task.  If the offense causes great hurt it may take you time to be able to forgive.  Pardoning someone is not always what you want to do in a given moment.  You could have anger and resentment towards the perceived or actual offender.

Studies done in the United States have shown that if you forgive someone you lessen your chance of suffering from certain illnesses.  On the other hand, if you have a hard time forgiving it can leave you holding a lot of anger and resentment.  This can cause you stress and lead to symptoms of anxiety, high blood pressure and depression.

This seems to make sense because a reaction to an emotional hurt can be anger.  Anger can leave you feeling very unsettled and unfulfilled.  Anger can make you very tired too.

There are hurts and offenses that are very hard to forgive.  You may need to meditate or pray.  Writing or journaling or talking with someone about it may help too. A key point to remember is that letting go of pain or resentment can be very uplifting.  You can focus on other, happier parts of your life.

Private Home Health Care knows that the word forgiveness holds a lot of weight and can be very challenging.  We wish you well on your forgiveness journey.  We want to leave you with a quote from Alexander Pope, a 18th century poet who wrote the poem, “An Essay on Criticism.” 

The phrase he coined for us to remember is, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”