Who is our family?
We usually think of them as Mother, Father, Sister, Brother.
Yet sometime we feel out of place in our family.
We feel different.
How we show up in the world is different from them.
We sometimes even wonder how did we get born into this group of people?
In the past, family were our tribe.
They were the people who stood up for us.
Who took care of us.
And protected us from harm.
They were the ones we could count on when there was no one else.
Yet in modern times the definition of family has changed.
We may feel alienated from our biological family.
In fact, we may feel closer to our friends or coworkers than we do our family.
Sometimes we might feel that a group of people we have a shared experience with is our family.
Or perhaps there it is a community of like minded people from around the world.
Since we are more connected than ever before, we may feel closer to people in another country than those in our own house.
Family is not about biology.
Family is not about blood relation.
It is about those people whom we hold closest in our heart.
Those whom we feel the most connected to.
The people whom we know will have our back no matter what.
In the Western world, families have become more fractured than ever before.
While once they were our sole support system, they may now be more a source of stress than anything else.
Yet in this loss there is a new opportunity.
The chance to build a family of our choosing.
To create something new with people whom we feel so close to even if there is no relation.
Some families are still a great source of support.
Yet others are so dysfunctional that we wonder how they came into being.
Now we can choose who we want our family to be.
Do you know who your real family is?
Are they people out there with whom you feel closer than any relative?
~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant
