An added benefit to forgiving a person for doing you wrong is that you can improve your health. Numerous studies have been done on the effects of being unforgiving and begin forgiving. It has been shown that holding onto grudges and bitterness results in long-term health problems; where as forgiving people can provide numerous benefits to your health. For example, forgiveness can lower your blood pressure and it can lower your heart rate.

While it is very easy for us to hold grudges towards people that have hurt us, we find it very hard to forgive these same people for hurting us. The main reason that we hold grudges against these people is because most often the people that hurt us are the ones that we are closest to, so we feel wronged by even the slightest things that they do. What happens then is that these guilty feelings turn into huge conflicts because we find it so hard to let go of the negative feelings. Even though the feelings start small, they seem to grow bigger and more powerful as time goes on.

However, when we hold onto these grudges and the bitter feelings it can ruin our lives in so many different aspects. If we choose not to forgive somebody it is going to be us who lives with the consequences, we are the ones who will be suffering. Often times when we do not forgive people for the wrongs that they have done, we bring that anger and bitterness into our new relationship, which means they usually end in a disaster. To help make your life better you need to learn to look at different signs in your life that are signaling you that it is time to consider forgiving that person and moving forward in your life.

Here are the signs you should look for to see if it is time that you consider forgiving the person that wronged you.

• You are constantly dwelling on the events that surround the offense, you find yourself constantly thinking of the past.


• People keep telling you that you are walking around with a chip on your shoulder or that all you do lately is wallow in self-pity.


• Your friends and family members are making up excuses as to why they are no longer coming around, they are avoiding you because they do not enjoy being around you anymore.


• You get overly upset and have angry outbursts at the smallest perceived slights, they don't have to be real, and they just feel that way to you.


• You often feel that people do not understand you; people are always misunderstanding what you are doing or saying.


• You are beginning to drink excessively; you start smoking or begin using drugs to help cope with the pain. You are using these vices as a way to run away.