Harboring negative feelings puts your mind and body at risk, and great philosophers like Nietzsche are proof of that. His constant nihilism led to his complete mental breakdown because he was chronically stressed out.
How holding on to negative feelings affects your body?
Negative feelings like anger, jealousy, resentment, and anxiety are not only detrimental to our mental health but also to our physical health. We usually hold on to these feelings because when something unfortunate happens, we don’t want to forgive ourselves or other people easily. It might seem okay to let these feelings brew inside, but it can actually kill us.
In an article named “Early Childhood Stress Can Have a Lingering Effect on Your Health,” Dr. Joseph Mercola says that in people who faced physical abuse or spent time in an orphanage during their youth, the immune functions were impaired, and even though they were no longer under any immediate stress, their bodies reacted as if they were.
He says that “physiologically, they were still responding to stress.” This is often referred to as being wired for stress and this wiring can actually be the cause of death. He further explains that trauma has more impact on children than on adults and can have lasting effects. When we hold on to negative feelings, our body treats that as chronic stress and that can cause both physical and mental health problems.
Negative effects of chronic stress
Chronic stress, also called chronic resentment, can literally kill a person. WebMD lists the symptoms as:
1. Aches, pain, and tension in muscles
4. Chest pain and an elevated heartbeat
6. Frequent infections
8. Lowered libido
9. Low energy
10. Upset stomach
Chronic resentment can lead to the lowered production of neurons in the brain and can cause the person to become emotional and forgetful.
How learning to forgive can help?
Constantly holding on to negative feelings put your body through constant background stress which takes a toll on the mind and body after a while. Learning to forgive can help you let the pain go and move on by making peace with yourself. The process of forgiveness mainly involves four steps.
Find a place where you can focus, and follow these:
1. Remember the incident and accept that it happened, accept your feelings about it and your reaction to it as well.
2. Recognise the lessons that you learned from it. Recall what effects the incident had on you and acknowledge the growth that it allowed you to have.
3. Make a conscious decision to forgive, whether it be forgiving yourself or the other people involved. Try to remember that in the end, everybody is flawed. This can help you to forget some
of the negative feelings that you may be harboring.
4. For the final step, say “I forgive you” to yourself, or to the people involved. If you feel like it, explain clearly why you are forgiving them. This will help you to put your own mental well-being first.