Forgiveness: Health Story

Aired on Lifetime Television
Sunday, January 7 and February 18, 2007
Show 401

"She was always so happy," says Jody Ferlaak about her four-year-old daughter who was killed when a car drove into the restaurant where the Ferlaak family was eating. Physical and emotional healing took a long time for this family, but Jody and her husband Chip have other children and they needed to go on. "Forgiveness has a powerful positive effect on our well being. Being unforgiving is a form of stress," says Dr. Fred Luskin, PhD, author of the book, "Forgive For Good." The Stanford Forgiveness Project, in which Dr. Luskin participated, found that being unforgiving raised blood pressure, wore down the immune system and deregulated the nervous system. "Replace negative thoughts with positive ones," says Dr. Luskin. "You have responsibility for the life you live after tragedy. Living life well is the freedom forgiveness can give you," he says. "Forgiving has healed us," says Jody.