How Cycles are repeated

Within families, cycles become repeated generation after generation. Be they cycles of achievement or cycles of failure (and everything in between). Without awareness we can carry on the behaviours and beliefs we grew up with. This is how habits continue in the next generation.

Awareness is needed to halt poor habits of thinking and behaviour and ensure useful habits of thinking and behaviour continue to thrive. Without awareness we can carry on traditions blindly – both at home and in the workplace. This means that we fail to make the most of our potential.

Families can pose a strong bond between individuals, irrespective of whether the bonds pulling them forth are of a healthy or unhealthy nature.

For example in my work in the mental health service, many clients I have worked with also typically have parents with mental health issues and so mental health issues run in their families, the same is true of drug abuse and other dependency or addictive behaviours. Without appropriate intervention this cycle will continue.

It takes an individual with often supernatural strength to recognise that destructive cycles of behaviour must stop and therefore take steps to create an active change. This might mean taking a firm stand against family members’ behaviours, or even severing certain family bonds either short or long term.

It may mean risking social isolation from which the individual will require to carve a ‘new start’, away from the chaos of their family of origin. Sometimes being brave in this way takes insurmountable levels of courage and this is why the same cycles of behaviour persist.

Often the individuals concerned are aware of the problems but either unaware that change is possible or unsure how or where to get help from. Sometimes the pull of the familiar is just too strong – especially when it is all that we know.

It is like being in a whirlwind and you cannot appreciate the full turmoil of it all until you come out of it.

I’d imagine that this is something that many people can relate with on some level, so do share some of your tips on how to break unhelpful cycles of behaviour when you want to make positive change.

This blog has really been about the benefits of practising self-leadership.

What next?

If you would like help, contact me and for focussed training, attend the Self-Leadership training.

photo credit: June 11, 2013 at 10:34AM via photopin (license)