Family: Like it or Not

Despite having similar genetic make-up, our families are made up of a broad range of personalities. As our families grow, the spectrum gets even wider. Inevitably, there will be someone we would not choose to be related to. Dr. Wayne Dyer put it so eloquently when he said, "Friends are God's way of apologizing for family".

Like everything, there are no accidents. There are reasons why these family members are in our lives. Trusting this process may be a bit of a challenge. We can idolize & dream of what our ideal family relationships may look like, but reality is, we are in the perfect family for us to learn the lessons we came here to learn. We can then look at those challenging relationships and choose to learn or possibly teach. There is nothing wrong with recognizing that you are incompatible with some people; family or otherwise. You may never achieve harmony with those you dislike, but you can learn to coexist peacefully with them. In a world where we seek identity, many move far away attempting to escape the family ties. Even when we've successfully secluded our independence, our families are the people who are still attached to us. We can choose to honor the family ties or not, but the fact remains that we are energetically tied to our families.

If we can learn to accept our family members for who they are, then we gain the ability to deal with anyone. What we can learn from our families, becomes the foundation of our identities as individuals later on. Rather than denying our connections, we can choose to accept their presence in our lives. Acceptance does not mean we have to like them; we simply acknowledge that we are connected and honor that connection...and like it or not, there is a reason. When we can accept all that they bring into our lives, we gain gratitude for all we can learn from them, come from the space of love, so we then can experience everything that comes with family fully and completely.

(ABOVE PIC: Three sisters rock formation located in Australia)