Have you?
Have you ever forgiven?
Have you ever been forgiven?
Did it feel different?
Did you feel Different?
Better
Relieved
Happier
H E A L T H I E R
There’s a new study out in Journal of Health Psychology that shows being
f o r g i v i n g
M E R C I F U L
to others
and even to yourself
can protect you against damaging stress
can make you
H E A L T H I E R
What’s the criteria?
Researchers took a close look at the effects of a lifetime of stress on a person’s mental health,
and just how more forgiving people fared compared to people who
weren’t so forgiving.
So they asked 148 young adults to fill our questionnaires
that assessed their levels of lifetime stress,
their tendency to forgive and their mental and physical health.
S U R P R I S E
People with greater exposure to stress over their lifetimes had
w o r s e m e n t a l a n d p h y s i c a l h e a l t h
b u t
the researchers also found out that if people were highly forgiving of themselves and others
THAT characteristic alone virtually eliminated the connection between
stress and mental illness.
Loren Toussaint, the author and Associate Professor of Psychology at Luther College in Iowa went on to say,
“It’s almost entirely erased–it’s statistically zero. . .If you don’t have forgiving tendencies, you feel the raw effects of stress in an unmitigated way. . .
YOU DON’T HAVE ANY BUFFER AGAINST THAT STRESS.”
So does it pay?
Does it make
C E N T S ?
The best
C H A N G E
will never jingle in your pocket
but it’ll never stop j a n g l i n g
in your heart
Come on. . .
The Research
R E A L S C I E N C E
points to the
facts
people
C A R I N G C A T A L Y S T S
who are more
forgiving
m e r c i f u l
adopt better coping skills
to deal with stress
or their reaction to major stressors may be dulled
Either way. . .
merciful people are
happier
h e a l h i e r
BETTER
