Today was a dense day. But then, any day filled with the conversations about early family systems’ experiences is bound to be dense.
We went through what are typically referred to as family systems ‘roles’ and recognized that they are strategies – and that they are a choice. These are not our identities. They are not who we are. They are choices we make to keep ourselves safe at a time in our lives when we are tender and vulnerable and indeed, legitimately at the mercy of our environment. Unless we take the time to notice, these habits gain such momentum over time that we think they define who we are. And yet, in any moment, we can stand in the ‘now’ and choose to engage otherwise.
By the end of this day, it became very clear to us all that the only way to move through the thick, apparently impenatrable shield that both surrounds and makes up our cultural habits of body, behaviour and thought, is authenticity. One second of authentic presence can shatter what has been held in place through decades of deceit, self-betrayal, glancing away and silencing ourselves. The challenge is: to be authentic, we must be willing to show up for our own life.
Breathing is good…..
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