If you are on the verge of entering into a rift, step back and consider the effects on others. Based on their experiences and mine, before cutting someone off, I suggest that you make a family diagram that is not of the past history, but of the future. For example, if you and your brother or sister declare that your relationship is over, what will it mean for your children, their children, and their children’s children? What is needed, my respondents told me, is legacy thinking.
