National Forgiveness & Happiness Day😊

The National Forgiveness & Happiness Day is an occasion that celebrates forgiveness and encourages people to let bygones be bygones. This is because being unforgiving will only be harmful to you in the long run and will have no impact on the one who hurt you. To encourage the practice of ‘letting go,’ this religious-based holiday was created and sponsored by Robert Moyers and the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance. The goal of the holiday was “to do the will of God each day and to love one another as God loves us.” In fact, the organizers of the day also came up with a “Prayer of Forgiveness,” which asks God to forgive others. It also pleads with God to provide us with the power to forgive others and help one forgive oneself. Not the religious kind? Well, this day is still important for you since the theory of forgiveness and the impact it has on one’s life has been supported by numerous theorists and researchers. For instance, in 1998, two researchers revealed that forgiveness is different from pardoning, excusing forgetting, and denial. Instead, it’s an act that allows you to reconcile with yourself and restore a fractured relationship. This does not mean that you forget the wrong that has been done to you, but instead, you focus on accepting that it happened and then choose to move on. Another study revealed that forgiveness increases positive emotions and reduces negative ones such as blame and anger. Furthermore, in 2020, Shauna Shapiro wrote in her book: “Forgiveness is perhaps the most challenging of all the resources available to us — and the most transformational.”