Family: Between Inheritance and Intention

Family is our first home, and for many of us, the place we learned to live without one.

Family is where we first learned what love feels like. The care we received (or the care we longed for) quietly taught us how to feel about ourselves. It taught us whether we were safe, whether our needs mattered, whether we could be both seen and accepted. For some, family was a refuge. For others, a battleground. For many, it was both: a tangle of deep love and deep hurt, loyalty and longing, gratitude and grief.

We carry these imprints into every relationship that follows. The ways we were seen or overlooked. The roles we played to survive or belong. The unspoken rules about what could be said and what had to stay silent. Even when we've grown beyond those walls, the blueprint remains: shaping how we trust, how we connect, how we define home. But family isn't only the past. It's the parents we're still learning to understand, the siblings we're navigating as adults. It's the people we choose, the communities we build, the ways we re-parent ourselves. It's the tension between what we were given and what we're trying to create.

In this week's Connection Circle, we'll explore how family shapes our capacity for trust and intimacy, how loyalty can both connect and constrain us, and what happens when love and harm live in the same house. We'll reflect on the patterns we inherited and the ones we're trying to break. And we'll consider what it means to honor where we came from while building something new.

This conversation will leave space for questions like:

• How does your family of origin still show up in your relationships today?
• How do we stay connected while becoming our own person?
• Can we grieve our family while still loving them? Can we love them while still protecting ourselves?
• What does it cost to break generational patterns? And what's the cost of not doing so?
• What does it look like to create chosen family, and how is that different from, or similar to, the family we inherit?

Whether family feels like a soft landing or a wound still healing, you are warmly invited to join us.

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Important Note:
Connection Circle is a space for meaningful conversation and shared reflection. While we often explore topics that touch on psychology, emotion and personal experience, this group is not a form of therapy or mental health support. There are no therapists or mental health professionals involved in organizing or facilitating the group. If you're in need of psychological care, please seek support from a qualified mental health professional.