Relatives Are a Great Growth Barometer
Our relationships with family members and other relatives are one of the best barometers I know of to get clear unsolicited feedback on personal growth and integration. Those with whom we share long histories exert the most force on us to stay within established boundaries and relationship patterns. The primary one being – identity.
Have you ever noticed that people continue to relate to you like they know who you are? And quite often we continue to go along with them – like they’re right! We fall into agreement because we, too, feel we know who we area and we return the favor by knowing who they are. It’s a very interesting experience to observe how the “known” gets placed on the person appearing in front of you or in your thoughts. Mostly, it seems, we don’t question this, let alone spend time observing it in any significant way.
It’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that people are much deeper and more mysterious than they appear. My awareness of this is expanding because I am continually discovering who I am. If who and what I am is constantly revealing itself in ways that surprise me, then extending that freedom to others seems natural and effortless.
Of course, it’s nice to have names to go with faces. And, history doesn’t disappear. But this does not mean that we have to stay within the containment field (a field of relativity?) of the past in our interactions with others. It appears that the only real way to open up the whole situation is through personal experience that challenges what we know about who we think we are.
Items of Interest
Links of Interest
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