As I was standing on the edge of the beach watching my 3 daughters walk away from me holding hands, going deeper into the water, not know what lay ahead of them, not knowing if they would fall, not knowing if they could actually save one another if one slipped, they just knew that they were there, together. They knew that if they looked back, they would see me. What does your next generation see when they turn back?
The opportunity to break generational curses and create generational mental wealth presents itself to us daily. The Ladies Raising Ladies platform was created to provide a solid, consistent opportunity to do things different, to confidently confront mental health issues, to seek healing within our families so that our daughters, their daughters, and their daughters can turn back to see us, to see the changes that were made, to see the moments we allowed ourselves to be vulnerable, the moments we began to heal a generation. Therapy for Ladies is not just a blog but it is an avenue to start the healing process by courageously addressing unresolved mental health thoughts and behaviors that do not create mentally healthy mindsets.
In last week’s FB Ladies Raising Ladies Let’s Talk Tuesday (that’s a lot of words), I spoke about this very topic. I shared 3 ways that we can begin to Create Generational Mental Wealth. As an added bonus, I have created an self reflection worksheet starter for you to use with Step One of the process. Click here to download your free copy!
3 Things You Can Do to Create Generational Mental Wealth
Look at the Past. If you know me, then you know I absolutely love love love my family, the whole entire lot of us. :-) The women in my family are so amazing, and all my life, have been my sheroes. As a little girl, I saw them through this rose colored lens shielded with naive admiration. As an adult, I see each woman in my family, through a lens that is no longer rose colored but clear with knowledge about who they always were and are now, beautiful complex human beings. Now I am able to look at my past and identify thought and behavior patterns that have been passed through generations. I choose to use this information to identify what has served me and would continue to serve the next generations but I also now have the courage to work through those thoughts patterns that do not serve me well, and if continued, would be a detriment to the generations to come.
Look at Your Present. Take some time and do some self reflection. Use the Take a Look at Yourself worksheet to jot down some of the thoughts and behaviors that you can identify from your time of self-reflection. Once you have done some self reflection, now it’s time to look at your current situation to see how you can make changes.
What are you willing to do to address these negative thoughts/behaviors? Use the information that you learn in the self-reflection worksheet to identify those behaviors that have been passed down and develop a plan to start tackling what does not serve you at this time in your life and will not serve future generations.
Look to the Future. As I watched my daughters walk away, it dawned on me that it is not only my responsibility to make sure that they are prepared for the future, but also my responsibility to assure that when they turn back to look at their past, it is not full of secrets and curiosities. It consists of times of vulnerability, weakness, needs, wants, communication, strength, forgiveness, and the courage to make changes for future generations.
Choosing to go to counseling can be a freeing experience especially if you come from a family that, most times unknowingly, have strong biases towards mental health treatment in general. In conjunction with therapy, having conversations with the women in your family could be a gateway to healing and self understanding.
Thanks for reading,
Your Mentally Wealthy Therapist
