My Family

My Family

I come from a large and very loud family. I am very thankful for this. Every time I or my brothers or sister would bring home a new Girlfriend or Boyfriend there was always a situational briefing we had to give to prepare them, first do they know the date, time, and location of their birth, my Mom is going to ask and immediately give you your birth chart, it also helpful if you know your immediate family members birthdays, time and location, second to not take offense to any comments on their looks, even if sounds bad it is a good thing, third if they make fun of you they like you, fourth they are not yelling at each other or you, it's just how they talk. 

The loudest in my family is my Aunt Lydia, my Mom's oldest sister. You can hear her anywhere in the house, in fact if I am at my parents house and she calls my mom I can clearly hear her part of the phone conversation from the other room.

My Grandmother was the matriarch, and once she passed my Aunt Lydia took the throne. I love my Aunt Lydia, growing up I never found her terrifying, because I knew nothing, but she is.  My Aunt Lydia gave one of the best lessons of my life, stick up for yourself, don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do, and everyone in our family has a right to make fun of you, scold you, tell you you are an idiot and tear your life apart, but if anyone else does that we will kill them (Yes she literally meant it and said it that way) 

Being nice and kind is a good thing, and it should be done whenever possible. However there are times when not being nice is appropriate. This does not mean violence, but standing up for yourself, holding a boundary, standing for what you believe in is a really good thing. Also finding your people, that small group of people that love you and will fight for you if needed.

In a world of superficiality these people can be hard to find. With all the Love and Light, and truth seekers that propagate a nice quote, or say they support you but always seem not available when you need them most. To be clear we can't be there for everyone all the time, and they can't be for us, so our first line is to stick up for ourselves, to be strong in the face of opposition, but when we can't (none of us can always be strong, we need other to be able to lean on) have the people who will change plans, stop what they are doing to support you, if they are like my Auntie Lydia, kill for you. I hope you all are so lucky to have an Auntie Lydia in your life, or maybe more than one. Even at 80 years old I know that I could call her tonight, tell her I need her, she would not ask questions, she would not judge, she would just ask one question "Who do I have to kill?" and be on the next plane.

Take a yoga class with me at Yoga On York, in studio or online. www.yogaonyork.com