💜Let’s talk about remorse. 💜

👀Funny word, isn’t it? 👀

❗️But an important one. ❗️

💞It goes – or I should rather say it should go – hand in hand with an apology. 💞

❤️Remorse means I am sorry for what I have done or what I should have done but failed to do. 💔It requires us to put ourselves into the other person’s perspective. 💗See things from their point of view. 💙To do our best to understand how they feel – how we made them feel. 💘

💕Empathize with them. Acknowledge that we – hopefully unwantedly – hurt them. 💔

☑️No, I did not forget that I also talked a lot about everyone’s being responsible for their own feelings.

💛Still, we can – we should – apologize when we accidentally hurt someone. 💛

🎶I have long wondered about how to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory approaches. 🎶

⁉️I believe the key is humility. Another painful word, I know. ❕

🔎Because when we apologize and show genuine remorse, we humbly acknowledge we did something hurtful. 👑We are lowering ourselves from a pedestal of “I am right” to see and value the differences and incompleteness of others – and of ourselves. 🔍

♥️Remorse means that even if we cannot understand why our actions were hurtful, we take responsibility for them and seek reconciliation. ♥️And it is for the other party to accept it or not. We did our part – if it was genuine. ✔️

❔And why is that important? ❔

⛔️Because a mere “I’m sorry” without remorse is just a string of shallow words. ⛔️

🌒”I’m sorry” without changed behaviour is just a superficial coating on the picture we wish to paint about ourselves to the world. 🌑

💜A true “I’m sorry” carries the power to bring us closer. 💜