(Madisyn Taylor)
Families can contain a fascinating grouping of personalities. Despite the potential for so many to have similar traits, there are many different ways to express them. As people marry into families and have children, even more personalities enter the picture. There may be some people that we would not choose to be related to, but that's what friends are for.
If we trust in a universe that has a higher purpose for everything, then we must believe that family members are in our lives for a good reason. These reasons may be easy to see and appreciate with some, but others may offer us a challenge. With those, we can look for something we can learn or perhaps teach. In the modern world where everyone seeks to be individuals, many move far away from their families … But when we've successfully built a world around us that requires no one's help, our families are the people who are still attached to us. We can still choose whether or not to honour the family ties, and how to treat each other, but the fact remains that we are energetically tied to our families.
Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we'd like to go. If we can learn to accept our families for who they are, then we go out into the world armed with the ability to deal with anyone. Some families are better than others at preparing us for the world. What we learn from our families, even if they are simply blank spots on our family trees, becomes the basis of our identities as individuals. Rather than denying our connections, we can choose to accept their presence in our lives. Acceptance does not mean we have to like them; we simply acknowledge that we are connected to them and honour that connection for like it or not, there is a reason. When we can embrace all that they bring into our experience, we may be grateful for all we have learned from them and have to learn, while we experience everything that comes with family fully and completely.
My Thoughts:
We have no choice as to the family that exists before we are around, or even the family we are born into or how our lives progress because of that. What we do control is where it does go, once we are of an age to be making our own path.
As a child heading into the wide world of adulthood, we very rarely think about the effect we are having on the adults that have been instrumental in our upbringing. The paths we tread are often very different to the hopes and dreams that were lavished on us as children. Our choices can have a dramatic impact that we are often totally unaware of and it is not until you are on the receiving end of that scenario that you fully appreciate how hard it is to let your children be free to make their own decisions. That is especially true if your feel they are on the wrong path.
The only thing you have left is guidance and a vain hope that that they want to listen.