Who is our family?

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We usually think of them as Mother, Father, Sister, Brother.

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Yet sometime we feel out of place in our family.

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We feel different.

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How we show up in the world is different from them.

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We sometimes even wonder how did we get born into this group of people?

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In the past, family were our tribe.

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They were the people who stood up for us.

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Who took care of us.

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And protected us from harm.

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They were the ones we could count on when there was no one else.

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Yet in modern times the definition of family has changed.

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We may feel alienated from our biological family.

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In fact, we may feel closer to our friends or coworkers than we do our family.

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Sometimes we might feel that a group of people we have a shared experience with is our family.

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Or perhaps there it is a community of like minded people from around the world.

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Since we are more connected than ever before, we may feel closer to people in another country than those in our own house.

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Family is not about biology.

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Family is not about blood relation.

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It is about those people whom we hold closest in our heart.

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Those whom we feel the most connected to.

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The people whom we know will have our back no matter what.

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In the Western world, families have become more fractured than ever before.

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While once they were our sole support system, they may now be more a source of stress than anything else.

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Yet in this loss there is a new opportunity.

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The chance to build a family of our choosing.

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To create something new with people whom we feel so close to even if there is no relation.

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Some families are still a great source of support.

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Yet others are so dysfunctional that we wonder how they came into being.

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Now we can choose who we want our family to be.

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Do you know who your real family is?

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Are they people out there with whom you feel closer than any relative?

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~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant