{"id":75447,"date":"2022-08-12T11:23:59","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T15:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=75447"},"modified":"2022-08-16T16:12:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T20:12:08","slug":"let-go-of-your-anger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/let-go-of-your-anger\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Letting Go of Your Anger Protects You From Illness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the benefits of letting go<\/a> of your anger? How can letting go of anger<\/a> protect your body from illness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her book, How Emotions Are Made<\/em>, neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett studied how humans create and experience emotions. Based on Barrett’s findings, letting go of your anger might be the healthiest thing you can do\u2014physically and mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn why Barrett says letting go of your anger protects you from illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Letting Go of Your Anger As an Antidote to Illness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to techniques such as increasing your emotional granularity<\/a>, letting go of your anger and resentment has been shown to improve your physical and mental health. Indeed, various religious and philosophical traditions have long preached the benefits of practicing forgiveness<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what exactly is forgiveness, and, given how hard it can be to achieve, does it really have any tangible value? Research conducted by the Stanford Forgiveness Projects<\/a> demonstrates that, after being taught a specific method for forgiveness, 27% of subjects experienced fewer physical complaints, such as pain, gastrointestinal upset, and dizziness. 70% reported a decrease in their feelings of hurt, and 13% experienced reduced anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Forgiveness to Let Go of Your Anger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Frederic Luskin<\/a>, the Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects, forgiveness and letting go of your anger doesn\u2019t have to mean reconciling with the person who hurt you or condoning their actions<\/strong>. Forgiveness is for you, not for the person who hurt you. As the saying goes, \u201cHolding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgiveness isn\u2019t letting someone get away with hurting you; it\u2019s attempting to achieve some peace around what happened, in part by employing calming practices to soothe your body\u2019s stress response<\/a> and let go of your anger.<\/strong> This dovetails with Barrett\u2019s research that an overactive stress response leads to inflammation, which in turn can cause illness and disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are the benefits of letting go of your anger? How can letting go of anger protect your body from illness? In her book, How Emotions Are Made, neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett studied how humans create and experience emotions. Based on Barrett’s findings, letting go of your anger might be the healthiest thing you can do\u2014physically and mentally. Read on to learn why Barrett says letting go of your anger protects you from illness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":75609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9,43],"tags":[714],"class_list":["post-75447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-how-emotions-are-made","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Letting Go of Your Anger Protects You From Illness - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why should you let go of your anger? What are the health benefits? 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