I am currently on medication for high blood pressure which is an inherited trait and I have a particular aim - which is to lower my BP naturally to the point where I can rid myself of the pills. I certainly won't be irresponsible about this as I am very aware - given past career as a nurse - of the dangers of hypertension.

One of my interests in hypnosis is to see how much this can help me and so far my almost miraculous conversion to long term exercise and losing weight through that method has been successful. That is perhaps the most important step forward but I also find myself looking at other behaviours in myself that can if overcome also contribute towards a reduction in my blood pressure naturally.

So it was with some interest that I came across this paragraph in an article recently: Men's grudge-bearing may not just be antisocial, according to other previous research it might harm their hearts. For example a study by Hope College Michigan, asked 71 people to think about someone who had hurt them and found that their blood pressure surged and heart rates increased. Their muscles also tensed and they perspired more. When they were asked to imagine forgiving their transgressors, their cardiovascular stress levels dropped.

That paragraph was from an article about the differences between males and females with regards to bearing a grudge

There it is again - just the mental process of thinking and imagining has such a profound on us physically. No wonder this hypnosis stuff works.

A report in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reveals that American researchers have found that men are significantly less forgiving than women. The scientists report that the only way to get a man to drop his long-term grudge-holding ways is to encourage him to develop some semblance of feminine-style empathy.

The lead researcher, Julie Juola Exline, of Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, found that men's capacity to forgive can rise markedly if they are encouraged to feel empathy towards the people who have offended them.

Exline suggests that women have been taught from an early age to be more sypmathetic and to lean towards relationship-building, rather than focusing on the "I'm gonna get even" that men obsess about.

Maybe we have to reassess that saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

So my adversaries can come out of the closet today - I will be in a very forgiving state of mind. How long will that last - ah that is where hypnosis will come in.

Will it help my blood pressure - well it may not make a major impact as I am not that vengeful on the whole, but as they say - every little helps.