Defining Well-Being
The Holistic Well-Being Paradigm proposes that health is a state of total wellness balanced by four integrated and indivisible components: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of daily living. The paradigm asserts that each part of the whole person must be considered rather than just treating the symptoms (Seaward, 2015). Well-being is hard to define because it is both abstract and personal. Researchers view well-being as a multifaceted state composed of several interrelated aspects:
– the amount of positive versus negative emotional expression;
– depth of feeling satisfied with life;
– the degree of satisfaction in such life domains as physical health;
– quality of personal relationships, and job satisfaction (Grant, 2011; Lucas & Diener, 2008).
There are two components in well-being: hedonic and eudaimonic states (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryff, Singer, & Love, 2004; Winefield et al., 2012). Hedonic well-being encompasses feelings of pleasure, happiness, positive affect, and life satisfaction, whereas eudaimonic well-being includes life meaning and purpose, self-actualization, and autonomy (Deci & Ryan, 2008). The difference between the two is that one refers to a state of positive energy and the other to the personal meanings of life (Hernandez et al., 2018). The presence of positive mood is crucial to well-being (Grant, 2011; Keyes, Shmotkin, & Ryff, 2002). The experience of well-being includes positive subjective feelings about the body-self and the experience of living a meaningful life. There are positive feelings and emotions such as calmness, peacefulness, and satisfaction as well as more active feelings such as confidence, expansiveness, energy, and enthusiasm. Being well means having a viable life purpose, feeling emotionally vital, happy, and optimistic (Boehm & Kubzansky, 2012; Ryff, Singer, & Love, 2004).
Forgiveness and Unforgiveness
Athwaria & Srivasta (2016) wrongly state that the “Scientific study of forgiveness began in earnest only in the mid-1980s and has accelerated since that time. It started in the therapeutic community after the publication of a trade book, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve, by Lewis Smedes (1921-2002) (1984), to promote forgiveness in healing for problems in anger, lack of hope, depression, and trauma (p. 29). Smedes was an ethicist and a theologian who taught at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA for 25 years. His book is not scientific, but a Christian-based folk psychology. This does not invalidate it or its premises, but merely clarifies how the study of forgiveness began.
Forgiveness occurs when an offended party consciously chooses to abandon the negative emotions from the transgression. These include pain, resentment, negative judgment, anger, and resentment. These negative emotions and attitudes are dispelled by positive emotions, affirmative motivations, and prosocial behavior toward the offender. The opposite state of forgiveness is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a complex mix of negative emotions, negative thoughts, negative motivations, and avoidance behavior focused on the offender and the transgression. The negative emotions include not only anger, bitterness, and resentment, but also the fear of future harm (Athwaria & Srivastava, 2016).
The general scientific consensus is that that forgiveness does not mean pardoning, forgetting, condoning or excusing the offense. Forgiving also does not mean reconciliation, renewed trust, or dissolution of legal responsibility for the offense if it is that grievous. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean or require reconciliation, trust, or release from legal accountability. Forgiveness begins with a conscious decision to forgive another for an offense while bearing in mind the seriousness of the offense and its effects (Athwaria & Srivastava, 2016).
Forgiving the Self and Others
The current hypothesis is that emotions affect health by altering physiological processes and/or by influencing behavioral choices about health. Emotions elevate norepinephrine levels affecting the quantity of blood lipids, free fatty acids, blood pressure, heart rate, and the constriction of the peripheral blood vessels. Emotions influence the quality of cardiac health and the immune system. The combination of negative emotions along with chronic stress leads to coronary heart disease (Anderson, 2001; Suls, 2018). More recent studies into the effects of positive emotion consistently find reduced incidence of cardiac disease while relating depression to Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Stress is linked to heart disease, strokes, and degenerative diseases. These findings highlight the importance of being kind, loving, and socially connected with others as cornerstone for good physical health (Kok et al., 2013).
Living in a state of unforgiveness is a classic formula for the slow degradation of mental and physical health. Ultimately, resentment and anger are just incomplete situations burning away until they are resolved and released. They are definitely unwanted and unneeded stressors.
The practice of forgiveness—no matter how difficult it may be to initiate and maintain—appears to be a key to achieving holistic health and well-being.
Closing Thoughts
I believe that incomplete situations and unexpressed emotions remain in the bodymind as unfinished business. This state usually includes negative emotions, negative thoughts, vengeful fantasies, ruminative fixated thinking about the hurt and the offender, and all of these take its toll on the mind, body, and spirit. As the Buddha once said, or so I have read, “You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
The idea of forgiveness as a powerful agent erasing shame, fear, pain, and guilt seems to me a universal one.
Also, I’ve found within my own life, it is easier to forgive others than to forgive myself. Therefore, forgiveness to bring psychological and spiritual relief must be practiced as a kind of spiritual self-discipline. And, hopefully, the more one practices this craft, the better one becomes at it.
As Athwaria & Srivastava (2016) state, “Forgiveness, then, is a conscious choice to replace negativity with positivity, and it is inherently social since it occurs in relationship to other individuals, not to inanimate objects. It is replacing negative thinking, action, and feelings with more positive thinking, action, and feelings” (p. 30).
On the other hand, forgiveness may be hard to do, but the eventual somatopsychic damage unforgiveness brings is untenable.
Practice makes perfect, as they say.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
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References
Anderson, R. (2001). Clinician’s Guide to Holistic Medicine. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Athwaria, S. & Srivastava, A. (2016). Forgiveness: The way to holistic well-being. The International Journal of Indian Psychology 3(4), p. 29-37.
Boehm, J. & Kubzansky, L. (2012). The heart’s content: The association between positive psychological well-being and cardiovascular health. Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 655–691. doi:10.1037/a0027448.
Deci, E. & Ryan, R. (2008). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), p. 1–11.
Grant, S. (2011). Neuroticism: The personality risk factor for stress and impaired health and well-being. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Hernandez, R., Bassett, S., Boughton, S., Schuette, S., Shiu, E., & Moskowitz, J. (2018). Psychological well-being and physical health: Associations, mechanisms, and future. Emotion Review 10(1), p. 18-29.
Keyes, C., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. (2002). Optimizing well-being: the empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82, p. 1007-1022.
Kok, B., Coffey, K., Cohn, M., Catalino, L., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S., Brantley, M., & Fredrickson, B. (2013). How positive emotions build physical health: Perceived positive social connections account for the upward spiral between positive emotions and vagal tone. Psychological Science 24(7), p. 1123-1132.
Lucas, R. & Diener, E. (2008). Subjective well-being. In M. Lewis, J. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman-Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions, Third Edition, New York, NY: The Guilford Press, pp. 471-484.
Ryff, C., Singer, B., & Love, G. (2004). Positive health: Connecting well-being with biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), p. 1383–1394.
Suls, J. (2018). Toxic affect: Are anger, anxiety, and depression independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease? Emotion Review 10(1), p. 6-17.
Winefield, H., Gill, T., Taylor, A., & Pilkington, R. (2012). Psychological well-being and psychological distress: Is it necessary to measure both? Psychology of Well-Being 2, p. 1-14.