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Available for over a year

News that the NHS is to expand use of private sector facilities to tackle record waiting lists is perhaps another reminder that with an increasingly aging population many of us are starting to re-evaluate our lifestyles and diets in order to stay healthy for as long as we possibly can. Whilst these things are certainly important for our health, often overlooked is the impact that our attitudes have on our well-being. It is a well-known fact that stress is at the root of many physical as well as mental health problems. One of the most common recurring stressors we put ourselves under is the burden of resentment. Anger and hurt are natural consequences of being mistreated, experiencing loss or having unmet expectations. But no matter how justified our pain might feel, holding onto anger and hurt ultimately works against us. Scientific knowledge and the spiritual understanding in this field are growing increasingly close. In my practice as a consultant psychiatrist and priest, I’ve found people can get stuck with recovering from a health issue because a past hurt continues to haunt them and drive their choices. Forgiveness is avoided because it is often misunderstood as meaning that it makes the wrong doing ok, or even that justice will only be served as long as resentment is held onto. Neither are true. What is more important to understand is the toxic influence of resentment on the body – where our mind lives is how the body responds. Tackling this with forgiveness is so important that in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes it as essential for spiritual growth. The regular practice of forgiveness aligns our humanity with our divinity so that forgiveness no longer needs to be practiced but is automatically accessed from our essential self. Conversely, resentment makes us live in an out of date painful reality that makes it harder to access deeper aspects of spiritual practices because we are so distracted by our pain. Service, prayer and meditation are more likely to become part of simply improving our human existence rather than nourishing our soul. Cultivating an attitude of forgiveness isn’t easy but can become part of our nature. Often the hardest part is facing our pain before we let it go. I’ve found that making forgiveness a daily practice allows me to manage and grow from the inevitable distresses of life. It nourishes my body, my mind and my soul and I’m less likely to get stuck in the past. So I ask every morning, who can I forgive today?