"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
<br/><span class="body-2 opacity-80" style="padding-top:0.75rem">~ Mahatma Gandhi</span>
Forgiveness can be difficult, and we can’t fault those who struggle to forgive for we've never walked in their shoes, felt their pain nor embraced the hurt inflicted by their grievance. That said, far too often I encounter families where deep wounds have torn the fabric of their relations in a way that no amount of mending can fix.
How do you get to this uncrossable chasm? One thought: not being open to forgiveness.
Like all things in life, from investments and hard work to your diet of choice, pain compounds. When pain is allowed to sit - accompanied by the re-enforcing internal dialogue we inevitably embrace - it grows and hardens, creating an immovable mass.
However, when you leave a crack in the door of forgiveness and embrace the idea that perhaps you may forgive (maybe not yet, but someday), it prevents that seed of pain from hardening.
Forgiveness is not a topic of discussion in board rooms, but in a family business or family office, it can be the elephant across the table. And, while there are a host of intimate reason why forgiveness matters, I’ll add one more to mix: it’s good for business.
"When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future."
<br/><span class="body-2 opacity-80" style="padding-top:0.75rem">~ Bernard Meltzer</span>
