Lesson 6: Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Mindfulness
Lesson 6: Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Mindfulness
Goals
- Learn the power of forgiveness.
- Learn to be grateful in all things.
- Learn the value of mindfulness.
This lesson will focus on the power of forgiveness, gratitude and being mindful. All of these qualities will help you be able to withstand many storms that come your way with grace.
Forgiveness
The following video is very touching and it is the most uplifting, and possibly the most Christlike example, I have ever seen! This father went through one of the hardest trials that I could ever
imagine.
imagine.
Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light
As the father forgave the boy, he began to be filled with gratitude. He was able to see him as Christ sees him.
Forgiveness happens in ourselves. No matter how bad someone hurts you, we are commanded to forgive all men.
“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin."
“I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.“And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.” (D&C 64:8–11.)
There will be times in our lives that family members and friends hurt us. As we learn to forgive, we will see added strength and a more Christlike perspective develop within us.
A five week study was done examining how forgiveness, stress, and mental and physical health symptoms change and relate to one another over five weeks. The participants included 332 young, middle-aged, and older adults, ages 16–79 years old. Each week the participants reported on their levels of state forgiveness, perceived stress, and mental and physical health symptoms. The results showed that, increases in forgiveness is associated with less stress and, in turn, better mental health. This suggests that strategies for cultivating forgiveness may have beneficial effects on stress and health (Toussaint, Et. Al. 2016).
As we forgive others we need to also remember to forgive ourselves.
Another study showed that, “Hurtful experiences lead to negative emotions such as anger, revenge, shame, and guilt, and people need to overcome these experiences effectively in order to protect their mental health. Unforgiveness proves to be one of the most important sources of stress in an individual's life, and forgiveness, on the other hand, is acknowledged as an effective coping mechanism that can be utilized in coping with this stressful mood.” This study focused on the predictive role of interpersonal cognitive distortions, empathy, and rumination on levels of self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others. Results showed that forgiveness of others as well as self forgiveness are significant to overall mental health (Ascioglu Onal, & Yalcin, 2017).
Gratitude
Chih Lin conducted a study regarding the impact of gratitude on resource development and emotional well being. “The results indicated that higher levels of gratitude significantly predicted increases in social support, adaptive coping abilities, and beneficial psychological outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction), as well as decreases in avoidant coping style and detrimental physical outcomes (e.g., negative emotions). Further, it was found that gratitude could induce other positive emotions which partially mediated the effects of gratitude on emotional well-being. These findings provide empirical support for the idea that gratitude is, in essence, a positive emotion beneficial for positive functioning, as well as broadening and building other positive emotions, which, in turn, result in an increase in emotional well-being” (Chih-Che, L. 2015).
Please watch this short video titled, The Amazing Effects of Gratitude.
.
Do you count your blessings and say thank you everyday?
Please get your journals out and write three things that you are grateful for that happened today.
Grateful people are happier and healthier. Here is another short video about the benefits of gratitude.
What are you going to do in order to exercise your gratitude more often?
Mindfulness
In the online Merriam Webster Dictionary, mindfulness is defined as “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment to moment basis.” Basically, it’s being aware of the present and how we respond to it. Many people think of being mindful as using meditation, which is certainly one way to do it, but what about those who have a hard time with it or think that meditation isn’t for them? I believe that the following picture is a good example of mindfulness.
I think the beauty of being mindful involves being able to see the beauty and simple things of life. As parents, it’s easy to get bogged down with every little thing that needs to get done. It honestly feels too stressful to deal with sometimes, but we need to be able to take a step back and focus on what matters most.
Cachia, Anderson, and Moore looked at 10 studies that had been done concerning mindfulness and stress when children in a family had autism. They found that the parents of these children who took part in mindfulness exercises, mainly meditation, had lower levels of stress at the time of testing and at a month follow-up. Some of these studies hinted that the benefits of mindfulness could be long term, but future testing would have to be done to confirm that (2015).
In 2017, Pierdomenico, Kadziolka, and Miller found that those who rated low on the mindfulness scale and used ineffective coping techniques were more likely to take longer to recover from stress, as well as have poorer health over time.
Morone, Moore, and Greco found that although people who used mindfulness meditation had health problems like everyone else, their problems were less severe than those who didn’t participate in mindfulness meditation (2017). This goes to show that even the most prepared person still has to deal with trials, but they are ultimately better off than those who aren’t prepared.
Conclusion
At the close of this course we wanted to thank you for participating! We hope that you learned some new skills, and were able to find peace in your trials. In closing, please watch this final video, a Mormon Message, that really emphasizes the influence you have on those around you.
*Now we ask that you get your personal journal out and write down at least one positive thing that is connected to a trial that you experienced today. We hope that by doing this everyday, you were able to find more joy in your trials and you were able to see the small blessings that occur even in the midst of adversity. We encourage you to continue making this a daily goal, so that you always find something good in your day.
*Please take a minute and complete this end of lesson survey by clicking on the link
Now please take a moment and complete this short end of course survey. We hope that you enjoyed these lessons and would love to hear your feedback.
References
Ascioglu Onal, A., & Yalcin, I. (2017). Forgiveness of Others and Self-Forgiveness: The Predictive Role of Cognitive Distortions, Empathy, and Rumination. Eurasian Journal Of Educational Research, (68), 97-120.
Cachia, R., Anderson., A., & Moore, D. (2015). Mindfulness, stress, and well-being in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review. Journal of Child and Family Studies 25(1), 1-14.
CHIH-CHE, L. (2015). IMPACT OF GRATITUDE ON RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43(3), 493-504.
Morone, N. E., Moore, C. G., & Greco, C., M. (2017). Characteristics of adults who used mindfulness meditation: United States, 2012. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 23(7), 545-550.
Pierdomenico, E., Kadziolka, M. K., & Miller, C. J. (2017). Mindfulness correlates with stress and coping in university students. Canadian Journal of Higher Education 47(2), 121-134.
Toussaint, L., Shields, G., Slavich, G., Toussaint, L. L., Shields, G. S., & Slavich, G. M. (2016). Forgiveness, Stress, and Health: a 5-Week Dynamic Parallel Process Study. Annals Of Behavioral Medicine, 50(5), 727-735. doi:10.1007/s12160-016-9796-6
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