Forgiveness

You’re a highschool student walking in the cafeteria with your brand new outfit and stylish new-fangled shoes. So far things couldn’t get better for you. Good grades. Great friends. Fantastic parents. Then out of nowhere, as if somebody had woke up with the fixation of ruining your day, they bump into you and spill that week old sloppy joe that nobody wants all over your decorative attire. Let’s face it, in life, more than likely, you will run across someone that will upset you. how do you take it? Sometimes in a bad way and sometimes in a healthy way, but let’s be honest. Most of us will take it in an unhealthy, self-destructive way by angrily ruminating the thought and triggering a chain of negative effects . When confronted with anger, …show more content…
Forgiveness in everyday life is crucial because lack of forgiveness can cause serious health problems that build up over time and because a lack of of forgiveness can affect your relationships in a negative way.

Surprisingly enough, according to Enright, “[s]tatistical analyses showed that those in the forgiveness group reduced more than those in the control group in depression, anxiety, anger, and vulnerability to drug use and increased more in forgiveness and self-esteem .”(“Enright” pg.13). How can that information help someone? Simple. Alcohol and other substances abusers have higher levels of anger and violence among others in the population. If the drug or substance abuser went to forgiveness therapy for a while, then they can find themselves less likely to go back to the substance they were abusing. During a case study conducted by Wei-Fen Lin, there was a patient named Carol, a drug abuser. She left her small town for the …show more content…
In one case study conducted by Gayle L. Reed and Robert D. Enright, a woman named Marianne came to forgiveness therapy to receive help about her past relationship with an abusive spouse. Marianne described her past experiences of criticizing, jealous control, and threats of harm and she “demonstrated the negative outcomes of spousal emotional abuse, highly unstable emotions, and a low self-esteem”(Gayle L. Reed pg.924). This low esteem was one of the contributors for why she stayed for 5 years with an abusive spouse. Marianne actively participated in forgiveness therapy and she progressed as she looked at past blame, self blame, and her abuse. She went from hate to compassion for her abusive ex-spouse. By the end of the forgiveness therapy, she went from “moderate depression to no depression” and from low self-esteem to high self-esteem(Gayle L. Reed pg.925). To prove that she really moved on from the pain, Marianne got remarried, found a career, and brought a new life into the world. Many other women are afflicted with an abusive spouse or romantic partner and if they are anything like Marianne, they can truly benefit from forgiveness