Making Peace In My Family

For most of us, nobody on the planet can trigger our heated emotions like family members! Even if we grow up and move away, spending time around our families of origin can pull us right back into old patterns. 

While it's very much true that we can't change other people, we absolutely can make changes within ourselves and in the way energy flows around and amongst our family members. This course is all about empowering positive changes behind the scenes to bring about visible and harmonious results you can see and feel!

Leçon 1: Finding Value In Family Strengths And Challenges

Some of us really enjoy our families and some of us feel like space aliens from another planet in the midst of our family members. Either way, our family members often serve as our greatest teachers in life, even if we fight those lessons tooth & nail! We are connected to our family members through unseen energy cords. Sometimes these energy cords become unhealthy, as in codependency or inability to forgive. Yet, when issues are resolved and the communication is clear, these energy connections can be quite nourishing and vibrant. We will start to explore and shift some of these connections in your family through meditation and breathwork.

Supplemental writing prompts:
- When you think about your family as a whole, what brings you the most joy?
- When you think about your family as a whole, what do you find the most challenging?

Leçon 2: Understanding Underlying Motivations And Cultivating Compassion

What do you think motivates the frustrating behavior you've witnessed in challenging family members? What are the pain points and unresolved traumas that may contribute to these behaviors? In exploring the motivations and behaviors of your most challenging family members, we aren't going to excuse anything, but we are going to cultivate greater compassion and understanding as we release judgment.

Supplemental writing prompts:
- Who and what are the key influences on your most challenging family member’s behavior?
- What are the pain points for this family member?
- Has your challenging family member felt fully seen and understood by others in the family? Please elaborate.

Leçon 3: The Family Mirror And Processing Difficult Emotions

Often, the things that frustrate us most with other family members are things that frustrate us about ourselves. Anger and conflict with others may contain an element of frustration with ourselves. This session will help you forgive yourself and make peace with those difficult family members, even if they have passed on to the other side.

Supplemental writing prompts:
Here are some elements to include in your letter of compassion & understanding:
- Begin by writing “Dear [my name] & [family member],
- Acknowledge 3 or 4 negative traits you share
- Forgive yourself and them for your shared shortcomings
- Acknowledge how some of the shortcomings could actually be opportunities for growth or blessings
- Acknowledge 3 or 4 positive traits you share
- Extend compassion to both of you
- State how you would like future interactions to be or not to be (even if they have crossed over - you may write about how you would like to feel when they cross your mind)