It’s All Relative

Day 343

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

– Norman Vincent Peale

I started writing this post almost two weeks ago, but every time I tried to write my thoughts on this topic, I would get a block. Finally, I decided to leave it, knowing that the time to finish it would present itself…Et voilà!

Today’s topic is a natural extension of yesterday’s principle of positivity, or maybe it should have been just before it. In any case, if you did yesterday’s forgiveness practice, chances are that you might have forgiven a family member for something they said or did because…well, let’s just get this out in the open, I’m not even going to try to sugar coat it:

Family pushes our buttons.

Even though we treasure our families, they affect us the most because sometimes they see us in an image that we’ve long outgrown, or one that we only ever embodied in their minds in the first place…so we think.

No matter how zen you are the rest of the time, when you spend time with family, the zen goes right out the window. Even Buddha might have lost his cool at the annual holiday fam jam. Alright, alright, Buddha would’ve kept his composure. Me, on the other hand. Different story.

But I’m working on it because I now know that the things that our families say and do that hurt us are a good thing. No, I haven’t lost my mind, although, trust me, I have with family in those situations in the past – many times!

You see, those situations act as a catalyst for self discovery. Everything in our experience is the out-picturing of what’s going on inside.

Family is usually cast in the starring role. In this role, they serve the very valuable purpose of mirroring our own beliefs – they show us what our subconscious thoughts are, and bring our limiting beliefs to the fore where we can clear them, helping us to shed our “limiting” skin, and become the beautiful butterflies that we are meant to be.

This year, instead of getting upset when your family inevitably pushes your buttons, look inside to see if you’re holding a belief that supports the negative situation – does your mom give you a hard time about being single because you believe she will? Does your sister always tell you that you could lose a few pounds because you expect her to? Change your inner dialogue, and your outer world will begin reflecting it. Remember, you write the script.

It may take some time to completely clear those beliefs, in the meantime, you can help to make your family holiday gathering the best it can be this year by changing your reaction – now that you know your beliefs are behind the unwanted experience, don’t feed into it.

Let’s make this the most memorable December ever, shall we?

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31 Days Of December French Hens & Turtle Doves Positivity Practice #8: Mirror Reflection

What belief is someone close to you reflecting?

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Go to my French Hens & Turtle Doves page to see the belief my family members are reflecting!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!