Some time ago, m good friend and colleague, Dr. Sam Standard, lectured in both my
\nHealth Psychology course and Introduction to Clinical Psychology course
\nat UVM. We heard about his dissertation research conducted
\nwhile obtaining his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Stanford.
\nForgiveness has been an underappreciated yet critical variable in
\nhealth and self-perception. His research has shown the detrimental
\neffects of not forgiving, or of being in a state of unforgivingness.<\/p>\n
Forgiveness
\nis not excusing, condoning, or letting the offender or situation off
\nthe hook. As Huston Smith said “it is not letting the past dictate the
\npresent.” This reminds me of the story of 2 Vietnam War POWs (recounted
\nby Thich Nhat Hanh, I believe). At a reunion many years later, one
\nveteran who had worked through a forgiveness process asked his POW
\ncompanion, “have you forgiven our captors?” The other veteran said
\nsomething to the effect of “I’ll never forgive them.” To which the
\nforgiving veteran said, “then they still have you in prison.”<\/p>\n
This
\nimprisonment is more than psychological; it has measurable
\nphysiological effects. During one research protocol, subjects were
\nasked to think about an event for which they had not forgiven. They did
\nso for 5 minutes. For this mere 5 minutes worth of negative focus, they
\nexperienced an 8 to 12 hour climb in the stress hormone cortisol.
\nChronic cortisol activation leads to a host of health problems, as much
\nresearch has identified. These effects include increased blood
\npressure, cholesterol, atherosclerosis, blood clotting, heart attack,
\nsuppression of the immune system, insulin resistance, loss of bone
\nminerals, loss of muscle protein, and atrophy of brain cells. When we
\nare focused on the unforgiveness narrative our heart variability
\nresembles that of a person with advanced heart disease. However, a
\n5-minute heart-focused meditation (focusing a warm feeling in the
\nregion of the heart) creates a heart pattern that is markedly different
\n(smooth as opposed to jagged).<\/p>\n
The Stanford Forgiveness Project
\nhad subjects undergo a forgiveness intervention. The Stanford
\nForgiveness Project used a 3-step approach to creating and resolving
\ngrievances, which involved moving away from 1) taking events
\npersonally, 2) blaming others for our feeling overwhelmed (our rules
\nbeing broken), and 3) creating the grievance narrative or story. This
\ngroup-based mutltiweek intervention helps people to work through the
\nprocess of being unforgiving to forgiving, drawing on cognitive
\nbehavioral principles. The steps involved in transforming a grievance
\nincluded enhancing the ability to cope, which included working with
\nphysiological activation via relaxation, shifting rule-bound thoughts
\nto preferences, and rewriting or retelling the grievance narrative.
\nMeasurable changes in stress physiology and negative affect were found
\nfor these subjects. Another forgiveness processs model (Worthington)
\ninvolves recalling the original hurt, empathizing with the perspective
\nof the transgressor, giving the altruistic gift of forgiveness (even if
\nthey don’t deserve it), making a public commitment to forgiveness, and
\nthen working to hold on to forgiveness.<\/p>\n
While the forgiveness
\nresearch does not explicitly refer to Buddhist philosophy, there exists
\na natural fit between forgiveness and mindfulness. Mindfulness
\nmeditation is a tool for managing physiological reactivity and
\nautomatic forms of narrative thinking, which are the two main
\ncomponents of the forgiveness intervention. Mindfulness helps us to
\nbecome intimate with our thought patterns. This intimacy can help rules
\nsuch as”people need to do what I expect … or else!” yield to
\npreferences, such as “I would prefer if people did what I expected, but
\nI am not going to get bent out of shape about it if they don’t.” To
\nmove into forgiveness we must let go of our suffering-inducing
\nnarratives of how we were hurt or wronged. One forgiveness researcher
\n(Enright) defined forgiveness as “a willingness to abandon one’s right
\nto resentment, negative judgment, and indifferent behavior toward one
\nwho unjustly hurt us, while fostering undeserved qualities of
\ncompassion, generosity and even love toward him or her.” This sounds
\nlike lovingkindness meditation! Sam notes that “mindfulness is a
\nskillful means through which we can lay the foundation for cognitive
\nrestructuring. It provides the natural contrast medium so that we can
\nbetter see the stridency of our rules for others. Plus, mindfulness of
\nbody allows one to literally feel unfogiveness, and to open to positive
\nalternatives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some time ago, m good friend and colleague, Dr. Sam Standard, lectured in both my Health Psychology course and Introduction to Clinical Psychology course at UVM. We heard about his dissertation research conducted while obtaining his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Stanford. Forgiveness has been an underappreciated yet critical variable in health and self-perception. His…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindful-living","category-spider-mind-world-of-interconnections"],"yoast_head":"\n