Property Lines
September 20, 2016
Excerpt from “It’s Always Something” by Gilda Radner:
When I was little my nurse Diddy’s cousin had a dog, just a mutt, and the dog was pregnant. I don’t know how long dogs are pregnant but she was to have her puppies in about a week. She was out in the yard one day and got in the way of the lawn mower and her two hind legs got cut off. They rushed her to the vet and he said, “I can sew her up, or you can put her to sleep if you want, but the puppies are OK. She’ll be able to deliver the puppies.”
Diddy’s cousin said, “Keep her alive.”
So the vet sewed up her backside, and over the next week the dog learned to walk. She didn’t spend time worrying; she just learned to walk by taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, and then taking two steps and flipping up her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies, all in perfect health. She nursed them and then weaned them. And when they learned to walk, they all walked like her.
What have you inherited from your parents or grandparents? Do you recognize any behaviours that you inherited from your parents or grandparents? What are they? Are they healthy behaviors and attitudes?
What might you see in your life that you disliked in your parents or grandparents?
To justify behaviors and attitudes that may not be healthy for you or others, you might say something like this, “My mother was like this and so was her mother” or like this “My grandfather raised my father not to take a handout from anyone. We’re proud people and I’m not going to take a handout either. Thanks, but my boy doesn’t need an instrument to play in some band. He has honest work to do.”
Here’s another all too common example of what you may have inherited. A family has a strong disagreement over something. The grown siblings cease speaking to one another and do not allow their children to associate with each other. They harbor bad feelings so long that those who refused to forgive become unforgiving people. The cancer spreads to other relationships as well. The grandchildren and the great grandchildren know very little about the original feud. In fact, they know very little about each other. They have little in common, except most of them are mad at someone all the time.
To help you disinherit your unhealthy behaviors book Betty for your complimentary coaching session. Email: betty@bettyfranklin.com
