Anger vs. Brain: Heal with Forgiveness | Aswin Sarang

2 Sept 2023 · 1 min

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1:13

Aswin Sarang explains how chronic anger floods your brain with cortisol, damaging the hippocampus and impairing decision-making. Forgiveness triggers oxytocin instead, which calms you down and lets your brain heal. The choice between anger and forgiveness is a choice between two different chemistries.

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Do you have someone in your life that you're angry with or holding a grudge towards? Holding on to a grudge or being angry can actually have an effect on your brain. Allow me to explain how. Having high levels of anger can actually increase cortisol in your body, which is a stress hormone. This can actually affect your brain's decision-making area, and over time, if this stress increases, It can actually affect your brain's memory area, which is the hippocampus. We all use anger as a defense mechanism to actually protect ourselves from the people that could harm us. This isn't a solution. It's only causing more harm. Here is something that you can do. Practicing forgiveness. Forgiveness increases oxytocin levels in your body, which can make you feel calm and also heal your brain. So next time, if you have to make a choice between being angry and choosing forgiveness, always choose forgiveness. Use this video as a sign to forgive somebody who hurt you in the past.