Recently I was blessed to spend some time in the woods worshipping and praying alongside my mother and my two daughters. We got to work hard to take care of the land and the people who joined us, and of course I have a photo of a precious moment between my mother and her granddaughters. (Honestly, this "wear everything you own" method of Texans dealing with a chill in the air made for an amazingly colorful, creative photo!)
As I caught this moment on camera, I realized that the work my mother did to break cycles opened a door for me to do the same for my daughters. Generations of hard work have gone into creating a better mindset for my girls... Work that my sister and brother are doing for them from afar, and it made my heart sing.
I’ve been talking to women a LOT about breaking the cycle of whatever it is that they don’t want to pass in to their children:
Addiction to Food, Alcohol, Drugs
The need to stay and fight
The need to run and hide
Emotional Manipulation
People pleasing
And so so so much more
(and yes these are people that came to me to work on their weight/diet/fitness - we go deep!)
But here’s the thing. They want to break the cycle by AVOIDING the behavior!!!
What if I told you it doesn’t work that way?
Truly breaking the cycle requires a demonstration of NAVIGATING these emotions. Allowing our children to see us using appropriate coping mechanisms and tools to change our mindset or invoke appropriate feelings.
This is good news. It means you have HOPE!! Every moment of every day is hope. This moment has been given to you to do the next right thing!!
What do you hope your kids do a better job of navigating based on what work you are doing on yourself?! Tell me about it: