Friday, March 13, 2009

Family Patterns

(c) 2009 Joan M. Newcomb

I was going to call this 'Patterns in the Morphic Field' but realize that Family Patterns was more on target. Our original patterns come from our families; there are other patterns out in the morphic field, but we only connect/attract ones that match the ones we carry around within us.

There's a pivotal scene in the original Matrix movie, when Neo is in a hallway looking at the agents who've shot at him. Suddenly the bullets stop in mid air and drop to the ground. Then everything around him changes to streams of energy. He started seeming things in patterns.

If you view everything energetically, not through physical eyes, that's probably what things look like.

It's helpful to think in terms of patterns because it becomes impersonal, which they are. It's like looking at the programming that creates a computer game or a CGI animated film

We create being born into families that have a myriad of patterns running. However we don't see them as patterns, we see them as 'the way things are'. We don't recognize them because it's just an accepted reality. For instance, you could choose a family that was American, Democrat, and Catholic and you would resonate with the larger fields of American, Democrats, and Catholics. You could go to another country and relate to Liberals and Catholics.

There are other prevalent patterns, as well. Diseases which can be passed down through families, such as alcoholism or depression. Behavioral patterns of abuse. And then you find yourself in the world relating to the larger fields of these patterns. They seem to show up everywhere, but really it's only because they're within you that you're engaging with them in the first place.

We carry our family patterns with us everywhere. We bring it into the workplace, school, any time we engage with others. That's why companies and organizations can seem like the biggest dysfunctional families, because in a way they are. People are playing out all their core patterns, mostly unconsciously, as they go about their jobs.

As you grow up you may grow away from some of your family patterns, but it seems there are always residues of it within you. 'Once a Catholic, Always A Catholic' has more truth than many recovering Catholics would like to admit.

You may be living your life as a serene, teetoling Buddhist, working for an environmentally friendly company and a voting member of the Green Party. But when a wedding or a funeral calls you back to Boston and your crazy Irish family, you find yourself swilling down beer and chucking the cans in the trash (instead of recycling) with the rest of them.

Your patterns re-emerged when immersed in the greater patterns. Your family didn't even have to be there, Boston alone could have held these greater patterns for you.

Another scenario is that you become a serene, teetoling Buddhist in order to step away from your Boston Irish origins, but every environmentally friendly company you work for has some hard drinking boss named O'Leary or Shaughnessy who drives you crazy.

How do you do this? First you have to recognize the patterns. They're often hard to see because they're so ingrained. Or you may be in denial that they're still there since you're living an opposite life from your childhood (like the teetoling Buddhist). Your Expanded Self helps you with this, by kindly creating situations that reflect these patterns back to you over and over again. If something isn't working in your life, if you keep walking down the same deadend streets in relationships or jobs, that's a big clue.

Patterns seem to have intelligence, they'll talk to you as voices inside your head. But when you shine the light of Truth on them, they tend to go silent (or change the subject). When you're aligned with your Expanded Self, you can feel the difference. Patterns are instinctual. Consciousness is not.

If you feel stuck or uncomfortable, it's a clue that you're engaging in a pattern. There are many ways to de-energize them. "Reclaiming power" by diving into the discomfort and then telling the truth about it, is one way. Questioning your thoughts, ala Byron Katie works well. EFT, TAT, EMDR, or NLP go beyond the intellect, so are excellent ways to dissolving patterns you can't see. Other energy techniques include grounding (releasing energy down into the center of the earth), or 'blowing roses, or pictures (imagine you have been viewing the world through old family slides or Super8 movies, and dissolve them). Matrix Energetics is a powerful way to transform your reality, as well.

As you de-energize, or reclaim power from, your internal patterns the external ones seem to fade away. Really it's because there's no longer a magnetic attraction within you. (Resistance is also an attraction - what you resist magnetically comes to you). You may be able to return to Boston, continue your daily chanting and drink green tea! Or you may find you're no longer invited to weddings and funerals, and it doesn't bother you a bit. You can actually stay with the same organization but everyone seems to respond differently, because you no longer have the pattern running within you. Or you do move on, because you attract a more healthy environment in which to work and play.

As you do this, you'll feel lighter, happier, and more joyful. You'll feel compassionate towards people's hardships but not weighed down by them. You'll feel detached from the world's doom and gloom headlines. You can become an even more effective Buddhist environmentalist (if that's what you are) because you'll be coming from an open heart, not reacting to an internal pattern.

So try this for the next week, noticing what is a recurring pattern or what is stuck, and try something different. Use one of the above suggestions or make up your own (playfully waving your hand out in front of you can actually break up energetic patterns)!

See what starts changing in your life when you do!

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