Thursday, February 22, 2018

My gift to the world – my amazing family


This gift is being posted on my three blogs – this one, plus All Ages, All Stages ~ Rx for Caregivers.  It’s the first of many posts on the wonders of being the youngest in a family of often troubled but always wondrous souls.
The nudge for the share came – separately yet on parallel tracks – from Shad Helmstetter & Jen Sincero, from What Do You Say When You Talk To Yourself You Are A Badass.  Both spotlight the power of  self-talk, the importance of  taking out endlessly looped negative messages that lessened & replacing them with constructive ones of ability, determination, accomplishment.
I chalk up my ability to see my parents & older sibs as amazing to a) my from-birth curiosity about what makes people tick; b) the power of the spoken word; c) the power of the written word; and d) an older sister who taught me from an early age to save essential documents  & resources.
While we know what others have done, can come up with theories on why they did it, what they might have thought or felt, most of the time it’s just a lot of guess work.  Luckily, my family were great letter writers, so I have a lovely trail of bread crumbs leading to a sense of their thinking & certainly how they felt.  Praise be!
There is no doubt that my birth family led to my work as a life expansionist.  It was not easy being their daughter, their sister, but the experience enriched energized empowered.  The word that keeps coming to mind is plasticity – my family interactions helped me understand how life constantly calls on us to modify & re-wire our connections with each other & even with ourself.
Thank you, Shad & Jen, for opening up to me this opportunity to share how family experiences taught me the importance of developing an inner reel of constructive self-talk, that important lessons can be learned from the most ghastly situations, that nuggets of golden wisdom can be mined from even the worst ick.
This intro post is on all my blogs, but future family shares will be posted on Rx for Caregivers.  It’s essential for them – whether caring for clients or family – to look for the lessons in challenging moments, to remember that at best we know just a sliver of what’s behind what others think feel do, to cut them – and ourselves – a break instead of stressing out.
It’s my belief that our families are meant to serve as our first lab experiment, our very own petri dish of living organisms & we’re meant to see how they/we interact AND LEARN FROM IT.  Whether our experiences are wretched or wonderful, they’re all instructive.  But only if we choose lessons over lessening.
Hey, if I could come to a positive, empowered place through a hard-won appreciation of my astonishing family then ANYONE can!
To the greater world & especially caregivers, and with thanks to Shad & Jen, I share one of my most treasured possessions & the source of some of my most important learning – – my family!

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