Recently, a young woman shared a story about her friend. She was visibly distraught and very concerned about his wellbeing. He was just 46 years old and was in hospital with kidney failure. His condition was now life-threatening. How did this happen? And how did it happen so quickly? Decisions needed to be made about dialysis and future treatments. What was going to happen next? I inquired about his emotional state of mind. In particular I asked if he had been angry about something…if he had been pissed off. Her response confirmed my intuitive understanding of how this may have developed. She told me that yes, he was angry. He didn’t get along with his family. He felt judged and abandoned. He was quick to judge others and felt a need to make right any wrongs he felt were being inflicted on himself or his friends. Basically, life was pissing him off. The kidney is the organ of the physical body responsible for filtering the blood to sift out toxic waste products and extra water before it is eliminated through the urinary tract. If the toxins and extra fluids build up to such a degree that the organ is unable to process them, the organ will fail. It is vital that we process our emotions and then let them go.
The mind-body connection is a powerful component of health and well-being. We have come to understand that our thoughts and emotions play a very large part in this. The science of behavioral epigenetics studies the effect of both positive and negative emotional states. These studies show the influence of the emotions on the physical body and their impact on a cellular level. From this research, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there is an emotional component in 85% of all illnesses. In other words, in 85% of all cases, there is no organic/physical cause for the illness. The illness is caused by negative, toxic thoughts and emotions.
Often the emotional component is based on forgiveness or the lack of it. When you forgive someone, you benefit; your physical body benefits. Forgiveness happens naturally when you let go of resentment and anger. When you relinquish the desire to punish someone or plot an act of revenge, forgiveness happens. The natural state of forgiveness is basically an absence of the need for revenge or the desire to hurt someone. Maybe you can’t even imagine forgiving someone but can you imagine forgiving just a little bit? How about just 1% forgiveness? It’s a start. You can still hold on the other 99% resentment if you want. You’re making the choice.
You might tell yourself, “Even though I’m very angry and upset about what SoandSo did, I choose to let go of just 1% of my resentment. And I give myself permission to hold on to everything else.” If you do this, you will probably find that you are able to let go of that 1% because you were allowed to retain the rest. Righteous indignation has a certain appeal. And if you let go of that 1%, you are in a better place than when you started. You’ve begun the process. You can let go of another 1% tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. Letting go of anger and resentment guarantees forgiveness. You owe it to yourself and to your body to begin the process. Ralph Waldo Emerson tells us, “For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.” And apparently, you may give up a whole lot more than that. A lack of peace of mind and a lack of forgiveness can be deadly.