Week 4- Science of Happiness Synthesis
Forgiveness and reconciliation are evolutionary tools humans have built over time to increase the likelihood of reproduction. By repairing and maintaining positive relationships, humans have been successful in passing down productive social developments (like crafting apologies and empathy) alone with their genes. Not only does cooperation and forgiveness increase the likelihood of gene survival, but it also brings many positive physical and psychological benefits including greater life expectancy and reduced fight or flight responses (like high blood pressure and heart rate). The Insula and Temporal Parietal junctions are two areas of the brain that allow us to connect to other individuals and reconcile in times of conflict. Brain activity in these regions pushes us in pairing with instinctual tendencies to repair relationships and foster pro-social activity.
Conflict with others is often a primary blockade for an individual seeking happiness. Strategies like apology crafting, empathy, and forgiveness are primary tools in healing broken or failing relationships. Understanding our inherent tendencies to forgive and the neuroscience behind such tendencies is necessary as the conflict is common among humans. Humans are naturally wired to forgive as reconciliation brings positive benefits to one’s mental and physical state. Examining a path to happiness without examining human-to-human interaction, including conflict and resolution, would be an incomplete examination as we know the importance of socialization among humans.
What practices did it focus on to help make us more forgiving?
ReplyDeleteThey discussed internal evaluation, so like journaling and grasping a general idea of where you're at mentally. By doing this, one is able to have a more clear mind when dealing with conflict and is more likely to find forgiveness in times of heightened stress or anger. They also talked about not ignoring anger or vengeance as it can often make it harder to forgive someone, so engage in the natural human emotional processes and it will make it easier to forgive.
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