Two things which one needs to practice to have a stress free and happy life are gratefulness and forgiveness. Most of the people always complain and cry for what they don’t have. They forget what they have. To receive more in life one needs to express gratitude for all that one has got in one’s life, even for the minor things. The more one become grateful the more one receives from the universe. This is one of the laws of the Universe.
Hatred, jealous, envy etc are all emotions which create negative energy vibrations. If you carry them for long in your mind, they will manifest in the form of stress and depression followed by degenerative diseases. Forgiveness is the only one way to have a stress free, disease free life. I know that this is not that easy to practice. But once you have acquired control on this state of mind, you will start seeing life in a different way. Hatred, jealousy, revenge etc get rooted in your mind when someone, especially some one whom you have trusted in your life, cheats you or creates an issue in your life. You need to practice to create an auto-response in your mind which states, "whatever he had done, as per his consciousness it may be right; I am no one to judge, I forgive him."
In fact the damage, which can be created by keeping the negative emotions in your mind is much more than the actual damage created by the other person’s action. In the latter case the damage may only be in your business or profession, which can well be repaired. However, in the former case the damage is on your mind and body, which can lead to psychiatric and physiological disorders.
It doesn’t mean that, if some one is deliberately trying to damage your life, you just need to do nothing but forgive him. You need to take necessary steps to prevent the damages and also if needed should fight with the other person professionally or legally. The only thing you need to avoid is to carry those negative emotions for a long period of time.
The topic of forgiveness has created some other confusion too. If a person has a negative character and is destructive in your organization, you may wonder what needs to be done. On one side you are being advised to practice forgiveness, on the other side you know that this person has some destructive agenda. Here you need to remember one of the fundamental principles in human relations; never associate with negative people. While you don’t need to carry any negative emotions about that person, you need to totally dissociate from that person.
Hence, while practicing forgiveness never allows someone else’s emotions conquer you.
Source: Sajeev Nair's blog