Upon arrival into this production
A character is formed
Molded by those who appear familiar
If clay is our substance
Will we ever be permitted to use our own hands?
Are we destine to handle this alone?
Our individuality only exists due to family
Be it friend or foe
Obligation is not part of the design
The cobblestones that pave our journey
Are laid by family
by Frank Daly
The moment we arrive to experience this physical world, this place we call home, we are surrounded by those we accept as family. They are like trees in a forest. They grow with us, provide shelter, give us something to lean on, as well as the opportunity to climb, and at times their branches break sending us falling back to the ground.
We have all heard the saying, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.” This thought allows us to disassociate our character from that of family members that we not feel we connect with, the idea being that if we could choose we would not have chosen this person.
We choose our family before entering this physical experience in order to play out a particular theme and yet at times we wonder what that theme could be and why we would ever choose this experience, especially if it involves great pain and frustration.
If we can accept we asked for a certain theme and these are the characters that were placed on our production set called life, we begin to understand that our family members help us adapt to contrast, whether from love or fear, either way they are on the job.
When we are in a loving family setting it feels easy and comfortable, the feeling we describe as home. What is it about this setting that makes us feel good? Why when we are out of this setting do we feel bad? The reason is when we arrive into this physical experience we were already equipped with an internal guiding system that is always directing us to our desires on a path of least resistance. our feelings are an indicator to whether or not we are moving in the right direction. Just as a GPS functions, if we pay attention to the directions we gain a sense of confidence knowing the GPS will ultimately lead us to our desired destination, even ]if we do not understand the logic of each turn. Even if we get distracted and off course, the GPS will recalculate to help us back on track and with a simple u-turn, we are again on course.
When we accept the power of our inner guidance we see our family in a new light. The members that we love dearly and get along with help show us how life is supposed to feel, while the family members we do not connect with allow us to overcome obstacles and gain a greater understanding of our true power. This true power is the ability to stay steadfast in the direction of feeling good. Family enables self-awareness by holding a mirror to our current state and providing an opportunity to embrace what is or to change direction if the present state is undesirable. This can seem easy or hard based on our belief about circumstances.
Are we willing to accept there is no inherent built in meaning to anything and that we are the ones who give the circumstance and situations their meaning? If so, we will come to appreciate the true meaning of family because we realize why a family member may upset us. It is nothing they are saying or doing that generates negative feelings, it is the belief we hold about what they have said or done that puts us out of balance. Negativity is generated because the belief we hold is in opposition to what our self guidance system knows perfectly well.
Remember, our guidance system is always moving us towards what is desirable. When we change our beliefs to ones that make us feel better about the situation at hand we find ourselves moving in the right direction. At this place we can see that negative emotions are simply indicators letting us know we are moving in the wrong direction, away from our desired outcome. It isn’t a punishment, it is uncomfortable simply to keep us steadfast in the direction of our desire.
As we understand how our guidance system operates we become the director of our own production. We are the leading character and our family is the supporting cast. The greatest stories are filled with twists and turns leading us to a beautiful outcome.
