TRANSFORMATION My Intent to Forgive By Deven Pravin Shah
Deven is an engineer and a marketer. Deven lives with his family in Orange, California. Deven is grateful for the mindfulness meditations and his ability to reflect. It has opened his awareness to navigate the terrain of thinking patterns and emotions. He loves writing, coaching youth in communication and leadership, cooking, hiking, skiing, and creativity in developing & presenting ideas.( https://blog.devenshah.net ) Medical research and studies show how forgiveness can transform neural circuits in the brain for positive change. When I read books from Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Jon Kabat-zin, and Dr. Joan Borysenko, the insights on mind-body healing and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) drew me in. They explain how mindful awareness, compassion, and forgiveness can help me tap into my natural built-in healing powers. The mindfulness meditations show the potential of forgiveness to connect with my inner joy. Religious teachings guide us to forgive. Science and spirituality appear to converge on the ideas of forgiveness. In this article, I am sharing my learnings and thoughts about forgiveness.
While entering the temple at Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram in Agas, I read the following words:
“Forgiveness is a Grand Entryway to Liberation”. It resonates with me even more now.
Forgiveness is an act of filling yourself with love and radiating that love outside to impart in others. – Dr. Wayne Dyer
Why Forgive? I used to think I hurt no one, so why the concern about forgiving? I'd rather live a carefree life instead of carrying the heaviness of the idea. I learned that the weather of thoughts and emotions passing through me could possess me. My actions and behavior can impact others without me realizing it. Hurt from others could be churning in the subconscious, and I may not even be aware. The weather has been accumulated from my current and past lives. I could be hurting other living beings (plants, animals, microbes, or any other organism) simply from my way of life, i.e. living without awareness.
Forgiveness and Health What happens because of potential negativity or anger in my subconscious? A constant stream of thoughts emerges and flows through our minds like a waterfall. On average, there are 60,000 thoughts per day, and 95% of them are the same as yesterday. The thinking patterns can feed on themselves, causing us to harbor and even build negativity and anger. Rumination can activate the stress response in the brain - cortisol level increases, and fight-or-flight response can increase blood pressure. It can impact sleep quality. It is easy to overcome at a young age. I may not even realize it's there. It still drains the energy I could use to grow, develop, and connect with others. As we age, it can catch up to us with health issues. What might appear as a severe or acute symptom might be a culmination or build-up of psychosomatic effects over the years. In extreme cases, repetitive thoughts getting too invasive can cause anger disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.
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