All stress, regardless of the source, will undermine our well-being if left unchecked. Accumulated stress can eventually lead to conditions like anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, stroke, MS / chronic fatigue, and depression, to name just a few. Therefore, any steps that we can take to reduce our stress will be beneficial.

What many people do not realize is that much of their stress comes from conflicts within their minds. Think of your mind as an iceberg. The part that is on the water is your conscious mind. This is where you maintain your ideals and principles, where you make your daily decisions and maintain your religious and political beliefs. This is the part of your mind that you are aware of. The largest portion below the surface is the hidden world of your subconscious mind. The subconscious is the land of dreams. It has its own agenda that often conflicts directly with what you consciously want. Each and every conflict results in stress, and every source of stress saps your strength.

The poison of unforgiveness

A major source of such conflict is unforgiveness. We often say that we have forgiven someone, but only your conscious mind believes that. Most of the time, your subconscious mind refuses to forgive and has even vowed to hate the perpetrator forever.

So what effect does this have? It is very simple. Every time your conscious mind and your subconscious mind disagree on an issue, there is a conflict. Think of it as buggy computer software. It is impossible for the conflict to be resolved, because a part of you will never be happy with the outcome.

For example, you might consciously think, “I forgive my sister for breaking my wrist.” Meanwhile, her subconscious has filed: “I promise to hate my sister forever for destroying my doll.” It is impossible to solve both programs at the same time. Either you forgive someone or you don’t. You can’t do both. Therefore, the mental program runs in a continuous and endless cycle, consuming a great deal of energy and producing mental and emotional stress. In the case of this example, the conflict may have lasted thirty, forty, or fifty years! Even if you are not thinking about the incident, on a deeper level, your mind is still struggling with the conflict. Imagine how many conflicts like this you have in your brain right now. These internal conflicts produce stress, and a lot!

Forgiveness exercise

When you want to forgive someone, do the following exercise. The wording is designed to act in a specific way, so be sure to follow the steps carefully.

1. Close your eyes, remember the person and the incident you want to forgive.
2. Now, focus on the energy of your heart. As you breathe, feel the energy grow stronger and mentally allow it to expand out of your body, connecting with the energy of the Universe.
3. Ask the Universe to show you the highest perspective of the incident. Wait and let the answer come from the Universe; this will feel like warm energy moving through your heart and body.
4. Now, ask the Universe to explain to your cells that they have learned everything they needed from that unforgiveness. Wait and let the answer come from the Universe again.
5. Then ask the Universe to teach your cells how it feels to be able to forgive this person. Again visualize or feel the energy responding to your request.
6. Now ask the Universe to show you how much forgiveness will benefit you and your life. Let the healing flow through you.
7. Finally, ask the Universe to teach you what it feels like to have completely forgiven them. Once again, allow the energy of the Universe to flow through your body, healing whatever is necessary. Make sure all energy has stopped moving before opening your eyes.

This sequence of healing energies and insights will smooth out the old blocked unforgiveness and allow it to dissipate. Once unforgiveness is gone, the mental conflict will dissolve and that stress will be permanently released.

Anything you can do to get rid of accumulated stress will be good for you. I recommend that you look back through your life and make some arrangements. Whenever you think of an incident that upset you or made you angry in your past, focus on it for a few seconds and see if you feel the old emotion resurface. If you do, then you need to forgive. Just do the forgiveness exercise to change the negative energy.

It is also very helpful if you take holly and willow Bach flower remedies. These clear deep-seated anger and bitterness that you’ve probably been storing for years, and clean unforgiveness from your cellular memory.

It really is true that forgiveness is a blessing for both parties. Not only does it show love by releasing the perceived ills of the past, but it also increases the well-being of the person who forgives. Even if it seems difficult to do, it is worth the effort.