M is for...Family Moods
The need for community has been loud and clear heading into the holiday season. I've always been surrounded by a loving family. I haven't always perceived it as such. Let me explain the previous sentence. Every person in my family has their own set of obstacles and annoyances in their personality. As do I. My family might say that I'm too sensitive and a touch judgmental. My personal opinion? They're all jerks! Just kidding.
I see myself as very sensitive, and I try not to be judgmental. I'm sensitive because I'm a medium and feel things deeply. I've done some work around being judgmental though. Personally, my judgment comes from a place that needs healing within myself. I now know that everyone is on their own path to their soul's purpose. My life path and soul purpose is unique to me and only me. Subconsciously, we make decisions to help support our life purpose. Just like we make subconscious decisions to support our own personal lie.
I first learned about my "personal lie" while in my Baptiste Yoga Teacher Training. I went through a journaling process to pinpoint my first memory where something went wrong in my life. My memory is crazy. I remember days and weeks of my childhood. This memory dated back to 1990, when I was five. This particular memory made me have feelings of not being important and feeling alone. Up until this journaling exercise, I had been making subconscious decisions to actually support those feelings. Unreal right? My own personal lie is that I am alone and unimportant. I could look at my life and all the decisions I had made from this point of view. Pretty cool to learn the brain and the emotions. At the end of our training we created a new way of being that took the place of our lie. My new way of being is that I am well-connected and appreciated. I make sure all my actions support me in this.
I spent Thanksgiving with friends of Craig’s in DC. He had to work all day so I decided to go on without him. I adore this couple and find them both very interesting, both separately and together. It was a lovely evening of beautiful flavors and wonderful conversation. Seven adults, two kids, two dogs, and a cat! It was crazy, and I was in heaven.
In my family, everyone yells over each other, so the louder the better. Best and favorite part of the night? The two little ones doing a tango around the table while yelling, “Penis, penis, penis. Penis, penis, penis. Penis, penis, penis.” I can't make this shit up!
So the next time things get a little awkward around the family dinner table, think of dancing the tango around the table singing profanity. The amazing innocence of children.
Heading into the holiday season it is my goal to meet each day with humor. Its so easy to fall into a trap of negativity. Everything in the news right now is awful and depressing. Energy flows where energy goes. If you think about the terrorist attacks, all the faults in ourselves, and faults in our friends and family, then that is all we will see.
People think I live in a happy bubble. Only part of that is true. I am happy because I know how to shape my perspective.
Create time in your day to send thoughts of love and healing to the families of terrorist attacks. Then, create a new way of thinking about your family members. See them as you. Look to see where they need healing and love. Then you can act in a way to support them in that. Focusing on what people do wrong never solves anything. It just means you want to be right, and you probably are right about them, in your perspective.
The only way to heal our hearts is to make it better one moment at a time. No one has to understand you and that thought is hurtful. The truth: life is about learning to understand yourself. Put all energy into that intention, and you will see something brilliant. You will learn that you don't know yourself very well. Whoa! Light bulb moment.
We control every moment with distraction, like having our faces stuck to our phones instead of paying attention to the people right in front of us. Enjoy five minutes a day sitting in silence by yourself. See how this will change your life and your experience this holiday season. If you don't put the work in, no one else will either.