We can’t choose who brings us into this world; unfortunately, some have toxic parents. They may not mean to make their children’s lives miserable, but they can unknowingly cause lasting psychological and emotional trauma.
Most parents want the best for their kids and try their hardest to provide them with a stable life. However, if you’re a parent, you know the journey of raising children isn’t a walk in the park. It requires many sacrifices to give a child what they need to succeed. Sometimes, the pressures of life can become too overwhelming, and you find yourself taking out stress on your children.
Children can resent their parents if problems don’t get worked out. No one’s relationship with their parents is perfect, but sweeping issues under the rug only makes things worse. Sadly, this scenario happens to many families and can leave children with severe mental scars.
However, forgiving toxic parents can help put things into perspective and remind you that they’re only human. It’s important to remember that everyone here is struggling in their own way. Parents have one of the most challenging jobs in the world, and that doesn’t excuse poor behavior. But it does make it easier to have compassion when you put yourself in their shoes.
Plus, forgiving abusive parents allows you to release a massive weight off your shoulders. If you are bogged down by the past, let us show you the benefits of letting go.
Five Ways Your Life Improves By Forgiving Toxic Parents
1. It Allows You To Move On From Painful Memories.
If you have dealt with trauma in the past, you may find it difficult to move forward. The memories seem to haunt you as if they’ve become part of your persona and self-image. Many people absorb the trauma and identify with it because they don’t know anything else. Our environment and upbringing shape us, so it’s challenging to disassociate from the past.
But forgiving toxic parents allows you to see the bigger picture and move on. You tell yourself they did the best they could, and now you can build a new life as an adult. Your past doesn’t have to define you if you don’t allow it to, so give yourself this gift of rediscovery. Many people feel afraid to move on from trauma because they fear the unknown.
Who will they become without identifying with their past? That’s up to you, but remember that you can’t write a new chapter if you’re stuck rereading the old ones.
2. Forgiving Toxic Parents Helps You Accept the Past.
Before you can move on from the past, you must accept everything that happened. Maybe things didn’t turn out how you planned, but you can’t turn back the clock and change anything. Accepting that everything occurred for a reason helps you process painful memories and emotions. Perhaps the universe wanted you to learn a valuable lesson by placing you with your current parents. Usually, people come together to work out karma or have an experience their soul needs for its evolution.
By remembering that we’re all connected as spiritual beings, it helps put things into perspective. The one thing that underlies all our realities is love, even if we can’t always see it. So remember that any pain you experienced in the past only made your soul stronger. And it taught you the power of forgiving toxic parents, a lesson your soul needed to build compassion.
3. It Allows You to Start a New Relationship With Them.
If you and your parents had a falling out, forgiving them may open the door to rebuilding the relationship. Toxic parents need love and care as much as anyone, especially from their children. After you forgive them, you can schedule a time to talk things out and reconnect. They may want a relationship with you but need to know where to start. So, sometimes you must take the first step and open your heart.
Life’s too short to hold grudges, so tell your family you love them despite your grievances. You might feel surprised how quickly things turn around for the better.
4. It Helps You Take Charge of Your Life.
Forgiving toxic parents gives you the freedom to take responsibility for your life. Perhaps you blamed them for mistakes you made or how your life turned out. It’s only natural to harbor resentment and feels helpless when making adult decisions after experiencing trauma. However, at some point, you must move on and decide to leave the past behind. Finding closure with toxic parents puts the ball back in your court and provides empowerment.
5. Forgiving Toxic Parents Helps Clear Your Mind.
Science shows that childhood trauma causes noticeable changes in the brain, particularly in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Combining therapy and psychiatric medication can help rewire the brain to become more stable. In addition, forgiving toxic parents, meditation, yoga, deep breathing exercises, and other natural remedies can create mental balance.
Of course, mental illness is a complex issue, and there’s no universal answer for perfect mental health. However, forgiveness can at least put you on the right path to living through your heart. Opening up your energy field in this manner will help you have compassion for yourself and others.
Final Thoughts on Benefits of Forgiving Toxic Parents
If you had a turbulent relationship with your parents, you might find it nearly impossible to forgive them. But you can’t fully move on from the past if you harbor resentment toward toxic parents. You might not want a relationship with them, which is understandable if they treated you poorly.
However, you can at least decide to forgive their actions, so it’s easier to process negative emotions. As you let go of the past, you’ll feel much lighter and more vibrant in your daily life. Walking around with so much baggage would weigh anyone down. Permit yourself to experience freedom by extending empathy toward anyone who wronged you. It’s as much a gift to you as it is to them.
