Definition Essay On Forgiveness

What is the significance of forgiveness and what does it stand for? The English Dictionary defines forgiveness as “to grant free pardon and give up all claim on account of an offense.” When and if you forgive someone there can be many positive outcomes. Forgiving is one of the greatest life lessons. Without it, growing and learning would not be possible. The cliché term “forgive and forget” is easier said than done. Most forgive but forget about the forgetting part. It can apply to most all forgiving situations. There are three forgiving situations that apply to this term. It benefits your life. It helps you mature and learn. Also, it helps with recent and future relationships.

The first part of forgiveness is forgiving yourself. If you don’t,
you will have all that hate and anger inside you. You also begin to doubt yourself and lose that confidence in yourself. Your life could be filled with more stress and loneliness than it should have. Internal conflict needs to be resolved no matter how much others may forgive you. It means nothing if you don’t forgive yourself. Because you will live with that resentment and cause more pain down the line. The longer you avoid forgiving yourself, the longer you allow yourself to harbor the feelings that you think you deserve to suffer for what you did. This will make you more explosive and more likely to hurt others around you.

Another big reason to forgive is so you can grow up and move on with that part of your life.
Forgiveness is something everyone has to do on their own at their own pace. Forgiveness doesn’t mean what happened was OK, and it doesn’t mean that person should still be welcome in your life. Forgiveness just means that you've made peace with the pain, and you are ready to let it go. You can also learn from that experience. You can use that experience in future problems. For example, I had a best friend who I told everything to. Like, who my crush was and the gossip I was hearing around the school. She eventually told pretty much everyone about my life and secrets. How do you forgive and forget about something that hurt you to the point where you never wanted to talk to them again? As teenagers, we are supposed to act mature and like adults. Even if forgiving and forgetting seems like the last thing we want to do, we need to because everyone makes mistakes. Your life will not only be happier it will be less stress free because you can go on with life like normal. Experts say that forgiving those who have wronged us helps lower blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate. One study found that forgiveness is associated with improved sleep quality, which has a strong effect on
health.

Lastly, another bigger reason is you don’t want to lose any relationships. Just because you forgive someone doesn’t necessarily mean you have to resume a relationship with that person. It just means that you are freeing yourself from the burden of bad feelings. It could also possibly affect future relationships. You don’t want that person you lost trust for to affect the next person that wants and needs your trust. And that deserves your trust as well. Like I said in my example, my friend lost all the trust I had in her but I forgave and forgot but we no longer have a friendship. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have trust issues, I did, but I didn’t take that out on the future friendships with people that wanted me.

Forgiveness is a simple word. But it is so hard to do when you’ve been hurt. The cliché term “forgive and forget” is a good life term to go by. It helps benefit your life. It helps you mature and learn. Also, it helps with recent and future relationships. It may not always be the easiest thing to do, but it would be most beneficial to your life.