top of page
Christine McGreevy

Keep on Trying

Updated: Oct 5, 2023


You know, I’ve never heard anybody

talk about how important

it is to build and maintain family relationships at home.


In our world there are SO MANY methods

for improving every kind of relationship:

goals for life at work, with self, with partners,

the list goes on and on

but family group dynamics

are completely overlooked.

And even saying that almost feels off limits…

since families live together,

spend so much time together,

siblings grow up beside each other.


Maybe we assume that we will

automatically experience the best kind of connections

just because we’re related.

We imagine essential elements like

empathy, trust, respect, kindness, and compassion

will just happen in the midst of our busy lives.

But that’s like thinking

I have teeth and they will just stay healthy…

even if I don’t brush them.

or

My car’s engine will keep running

even though I never put gas or oil in it.

We all truly do know better.


Teeth do need to be brushed,

cars need fuel to travel the distance

and family connections benefit, even flourish

from our sincere and deliberate efforts to focus

on building bridges across

those many canyons that can separate us.

Thank you for being a part of this circle

where we tend our relationships on purpose.

Here we agree to reach for something

radical, beautiful, and unusual

in our annual Solstice gatherings.

We create a structure to

talk to each other,

about each other,

in front of each other…

within a safe, affirming, nourishing container of heart.

Stepping out of our usual competitive habits and daily routines,

learning to be skillful in communication takes actual work,

but like anything we practice there is a payoff.

Even when we aren’t good at it at first, even if it’s messy,

just by coming together we begin to shift

the ways we feel inside

and the ways we see each other.

Leaning in to nurture our home interactions

even just for one night,

sows tender seeds of caring and closeness

which then help us to return to each other again

tomorrow, next week, next year


and Keep On Trying.







0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page