Holding on to a grudge or any negative feelings towards someone can cause you a great deal of stress which can be bad for your physical health as well as mental health. I myself have been carrying so much stress inside me for such a long time and on top of bipolar disorder and PTSD it has seriously added to my problems. Carrying burdens and chips on my shoulders has been a very tough task and I really needed a break from all of it.
One night in the early months of 2012 I happened to stumble upon PBS and this particular night they were running shows about mental health which included bipolar disorder. The next show that came on was called "Forgiveness: This Emotional Life" and as I watched it I had a really strange feeling like I was meant to be watching it, especially at that moment. For the first few minutes I was yelling at the TV arguing my case like "it's easier said than done jerks!!" but the more I watched the more I started to pay attention.
There were several people giving their testimonials about what they went through and a lot of them were very similar to me. I started to further examine the very concept of forgiveness and asked myself if I could actually do it. Could I actually find what it takes deep down to forgive those I had been carrying negative feelings towards and if I could then would it really help me feel better? At first I thought "NO".
It takes a huge heart and a lot of soul searching and deep thought to consider the healing powers of forgiveness. After a while I was able to finally let go of the pain and stress and anger and drop the anger and move forward in life. Little by little I started to tear down the walls I had built over the years and am still doing so.
It has been a very rough life! These past few years alone have taken a lot out of me and I have felt like I was ready to throw in the towel but once I started to put my mind and heart to forgiving I started to feel less stress and the weight on my shoulder seemed to lift big time.
I also was able to look closer at the people I've idolized in my life like The Beatles, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix etc. and I thought "well how can I be all for songs like "give peace a chance" "let it be" "imagine" and stuff like that yet not live my life the way those songs suggest. So yes I found that it was time for me to give peace a chance and let things be. So if you can just imagine yourself letting go of whatever anger or negative emotion you are feeling towards somebody then you might also be relieved of some stress.
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