A woman is also more receptive to a man’s mistakes. By
clearly expressing her forgiveness when a man asks for it, a
woman gives him the messages he needs to be the best he can
be. The ability to forgive is the most important skill for a wo-
man to have. With this power, she can keep letting go of little
resentments that eventually build up and prevent her from
being loving and responsive. In a similar way, the ability to
apologize is the most important power a man can utilize.
WHY MEN DON’T APOLOGIZE
One of the reasons men don’t apologize more in relationships
with women is that apologies to women don’t work—or at
least men don’t think they work. On Mars, when a man says
he is sorry, he is saying he made a mistake. The other man
happily accepts his apology. He feels, Okay, now that you
admit you are wrong and I am right, we can be friends again.
If there is a problem on Mars, it is usually the end of the dis-
cussion when one person finally apologizes.
On Venus it is the opposite. When you say you are sorry,
the discussion begins. When a man says he is sorry to a woman,
she will proceed to tell him in great detail why he should be
feeling sorry.
To find forgiveness, a woman needs to
talk about her feelings until she feels that
a man understands why she is upset.He becomes very frustrated with this response because he
expects his apology to be the end of the discussion. When
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