Connection Opportunity post #17

What learned behaviors do we gain from our parents? How does that shape us in the future? What innate and natural skills do we take into adulthood only to notice years later? How does this timeline shape our connections with our parents and other people around us?

Here are some questions that can help us, regardless of our relationship with our parents, to reflect and gain a deeper understanding of how our past has shaped our present. Whether the influence was positive, negative, or somewhere in between, it has brought us to where we are today.

Consider your conversations. How do they serve you, and where can you make changes? Are there challenges related to your perception of who your parents are and where you may become? If so, why? How do the answers to these questions impact your connections with others?

• Family/Kids: How does the relationship, or lack of relationship with your parents, impact your current relationships? What legacy do you want to leave?

• Personal /Self - Where is your identity intertwined with your parents? What do you tell yourself?

• Clients/students - How do you resonate with people you work with based on your experiences learned from your parents or learned from your experience with one's parents?

• Work/professional—Where are your connections defined based on parenthood in your office? Does the topic of parents come up at all? How will people think of you when you are gone?

• Nature - Is there a place in nature that brings your parents to mind? If not, what do you think the reason might be? If so, how and what emotion does the bring up for you?

• Community/online networks—How are your parents infiltrating your network? What emotion does that bring up for you if they do or don't?

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