"Better safe than sorry" is something we have all said, at some point in our lives.
Maybe not as often as the Norvegian singer Morten Harket in the famous A-ha's hit "Take On Me", but probably still pretty often.
According to Oxford Languages, the old proverb means "It's wiser to be cautious and careful than to be hasty or rash and so do something you may later regret."
It could be seen as an invitation to be judicious, self-aware, and forward-thinking.
The funny thing, though, is that, in order to be safe instead of sorry, we actually say "I am sorry" incessantly.
So much so, that the expression barely conveys its original meaning any longer and it is used as a mere set phrase.
We say that we are sorry even when we don't actually mean it, thinking that it's better to say that we are sorry than to risk being considered rude, insensitive, or clueless...
And yet we end up not being credible at all.
Asking ourselves on which occasions, under which circumstances, with whom, and why we can be truly sorry is definitely something worth investigating.
It could help us establish the habit of saying that we are sorry only when we actually are, for a change.
Coaching question of the day:
"When are you truly sorry for something?"
Maybe not as often as the Norvegian singer Morten Harket in the famous A-ha's hit "Take On Me", but probably still pretty often.
According to Oxford Languages, the old proverb means "It's wiser to be cautious and careful than to be hasty or rash and so do something you may later regret."
It could be seen as an invitation to be judicious, self-aware, and forward-thinking.
[Being sorry means taking responsibility for your emotions
You are truly sorry? Good, time to own it!]
The funny thing, though, is that, in order to be safe instead of sorry, we actually say "I am sorry" incessantly.
So much so, that the expression barely conveys its original meaning any longer and it is used as a mere set phrase.
We say that we are sorry even when we don't actually mean it, thinking that it's better to say that we are sorry than to risk being considered rude, insensitive, or clueless...
And yet we end up not being credible at all.
Asking ourselves on which occasions, under which circumstances, with whom, and why we can be truly sorry is definitely something worth investigating.
It could help us establish the habit of saying that we are sorry only when we actually are, for a change.
Coaching question of the day:
"When are you truly sorry for something?"
Tags: Coaching question, Self-coaching, Self-awareness, Self-reflection, Emotional intelligence, Radical honesty, Proverbs, Being sorry
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