Ready To Let Go Of Anger & Resentment? Meditation Can Help

We humans have a tendency to relish in the pleasure that comes with blaming others. It’s an old habit for most of us, so please be gentle with yourself if that’s where you are right now. But let’s be careful about getting trapped in a cycle victimhood. While there is a place for anger and rage, those emotions are only useful if they inspire you to take positive action. Otherwise, we are simply drinking poison and expecting someone else to fall ill.

In a recent study, psychologists observed 71 people. For the first 15 seconds everyone in the study was shown triggering images meant to evoke feelings of resentment, followed by five seconds of images meant to soothe the mind. Those focusing on resentment had a collective increase in heart rate and blood pressure up to 250 percent after just four seconds. Four seconds later, as they redirected their thoughts toward empathy and forgiveness their heart rate and blood pressure dropped by 200 percent. Those who consistently focused on empathy and forgiveness had heart rate and blood pressure levels 150 percent lower than those focusing on resentment and hate.

OK, so what does forgiveness have to do with meditation? Two words: gray matter. Two years ago, researchers examined2 a particular part of the brain and discovered that the more gray matter the person had, the more likely they were to forgive those who have made a serious mistake. Scientists detected significantly larger gray matter volumes in meditators in the right hippocampus. Both orbitofrontal and hippocampal regions have been implicated in emotional regulation and response control. More gray matter in the brain accounts for meditators' ability to cultivate positive emotions, emotional stability, and engage in mindful behavior.

I love giving people tools to optimize their emotional intelligence and made it my life goal to bring powerful healing practices to as many humans as possible and eradicate unnecessary suffering. Holding grudges (even small, secret grudges) is not an effective strategy for that. To start, download this incredibly powerful 15-minute visualization on the power of forgiveness. It will give you a clear idea about who you want to forgive, what you want to forgive them for, and how to "cut the cord" so you can take your energy back from the event or person and use it to fuel your own happiness and personal goals.