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INSIGHT 13 · PAUL WELLENS

Let the reaction to your boundary show the quality of the relationship.

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A thought to pause on

You learn something about a relationship when the other person must also be able to tolerate your no.

"A relationship does not show its quality when everything goes well, but when your freedom is inconvenient to the other."
Paul Wellens

A recognisable situation

As long as a father agrees to all his children's requests, the conversations remain warm. When he refuses one request, one child suddenly becomes distant. That one moment is not a complete judgement about that relationship, but it does provide information that deserves attention.

A question to consider

How does the reaction to your no help you to see how much space there really is for your boundary?

In plain words

Respect is not only visible when two people want the same thing. You also see it when someone sets a boundary and the relationship can still hold.

The nuance

Do not make one bad reaction a definitive judgement about a person or relationship. Look at what repeats.

Explanation in own words at What truly moves people and the speaker's compass. Book p. 57; speaker's compass p. 15.

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GETTING STARTED

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