Vishen LakhianiFounder of Mindvalley | NYT Bestselling Author | Transforming Lives Globally

The Importance Of Forgiveness | Vishen Lakhiani

21 Sept 2017 · 1 min

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Speaker Vishen Lakhiani explains the idea that 'hurt people, hurt people'—people who hurt others often hurt themselves and pass pain on—and encourages listeners to break that cycle through forgiveness and empathy. He describes empathy as a high form of learning that lets you see another person’s point of view; forgiveness may take time but beginning with empathy can be powerful.

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Hurt people, hurt people, which simply means that everybody who hurts you is doing it because at some level they will hurt themselves. They're just passing it on. But you have the ability to cut that cord and stop the hurt so you don't continue passing it on. Think about human history, right? And how nations fight nations fight nations, fight nations for generations because of this crazy idea, hurt people, hurt people that we can forgive, we can move on. So in that second part of that exercise, you feel empathy. Bill Bullet said, knowledge is the lowest form of learning. Empathy is the highest form of learning. Empathy means you can see things from another person's point of view and really seek to understand them. Empathy is one of the greatest forms of intelligence we can develop, and that's all it takes. Now, it doesn't mean you'll forgive someone immediately for certain acts. It could take years. But this is the first step, and you never know how powerful this can be until you try.