Is forgiveness the healthiest path forward? Most often the answer is a resounding Yes! True forgiveness forces us to dig down into our emotions to figure out the source of the brain pattern, the underlying emotion attached to the situation requiring the forgiveness.

In Morter HealthSystem and B.E.S.T. teachings, we understand the importance of identifying the emotional pattern and then updating the pattern to a new and more health-enhancing way of thinking and living. These patterns are called Subconscious Emotional Memory Override (S.E.M.O.), and our work specifically uncovers these stored patterns from deep within our sub-conscious mind and subsequently updates the pattern. B.E.S.T. offers the opportunity to help identify the underlying emotion tied to the pattern. This work leads us to determining whether the act of forgiveness might play an important role in optimum brain recovery.

From Psychology Today when referring to forgiveness, psychologist Robert Enright says, “The first step is to uncover your anger by exploring how you’ve avoided or addressed the emotion.” The next step, “Make the decision to forgive.”

Forgiveness is a simple process, yet not that easy to put into action. If it were easy, we would not be having this discussion at all. The chances are pretty good that the underlying cause of the stressful situation is based on an emotion. Anger is one of the most health-destroying emotions we experience. It’s an emotion I refer to as “sticky.” Like a drug affects our brain, anger does the same. It is insidious in nature, often disguising itself as aggression, annoyance, or a tantrum. Anger will certainly rear its ugly head in some fashion. The opposite of anger is happiness. We explore the relationship of anger and happiness in more detail in our Certification trainings for those wishing to dig in deeper. Bottom line: to counter the effects of anger on our health and to move toward happiness, we must forgive.

We teach the 5-Steps of Forgiveness as a simple, yet effective, approach to moving past issues, so as not to hold on to stressful situations until sickness develops. The pattern of anger and stress may have deep-seated and long-standing history in each personal situation. As B.E.S.T. practitioners, our mission is to help guide the patient/client to the realization the issues are affecting their health, and most importantly, update the pattern to a new picture – a picture which appears just as soon as the forgiveness steps are implemented.

Compassion and understanding different points of view, not judging situations, and having an open mind to the viewpoints of others might help open the door to a better understanding our own mind and the personal patterns we are experiencing. Identifying the underlying emotion attached to the situation and subsequently applying the Forgiveness Steps, just might hold the key to better health, more happiness, and ultimate success.