Revisiting Our Family Dream

[Tricia Francis]

It was Easter Monday March 28^th 2016 exactly 5 years 5months after my family and I did Our Family Dream.

We were, all, gathered to celebrate the Easter holiday enjoying some good food and quality time while the little ones played. I took this perfect opportunity to surprise them with this little activity where we revisit our Family Dream to assess ourselves on Where We Are and I was excited for the outcome.

I started off with an ice breaker which I thought would be very meaningful for the family. I give each person a twig to break in half and they all did. I then asked them to hold the two pieces together and break it once again; with a bit more force the adults were successful.

I asked “was that easy”?  I received a resounding YES!

So,  I put all the broken pieces of twigs together, then passed ‘them’ around, starting from the youngest 2 years old to the eldest asking them to break the entire bunch in half, no one was successful.

I asked “was that easy to break now”? I received a resounding NO!!

I told them that the twigs represent us and as individuals’ things could feel /seem more difficult but when we support and work together as a Family, as a TEAM, we become stronger and not easily broken. 

This activity was so meaningful for us. We agreed that even though we are such a close family we tend to deal with some situations privately, thinking it might be an inconvenience to others, but now realizing the family was always willing to support each other no matter what, we are willing to be more open knowing that we can accomplish more and overcome situations easier.

At this point everyone was enthusiastic and ready for the next activity, and then came the big reveal! I showed them our 2011 family activity and everyone reminisced how wonderful that day was. The little ones were surprised to see themselves in the photos but can’t recall the activity. :-)

I placed our family dream down and said “we will measure ourselves on Where We Are in relation to our Dream”. I had put together photos of some things we had achieved in 5 years that we had listed in our Dream.  After taking a moment to view the photos side by side, I asked them “how they felt”?

Vickiola said with tears in her eyes “Wow! I feel bless right now, at this moment I feel bless to see what we have accomplished. I can’t believe it, I wish kelvin (husband) could have experienced this today. We have to show him this”.

Penny said “I got chills with a feeling of accomplishment. To see our Dream a reality makes me want to cry with  joy. I knew what we dreamt was possible, but to see it in reality makes you say, hey this thing works and that means we can dream bigger and we can accomplish more, we can achieve what we want. It makes you WANT to Dream Bigger”.

Mom said “I feel happy and amaze. To think we put our Dream on a piece of paper and go away hoping to work towards it, then it became a reality. It feels unreal looking at this side by side, I feel so happy, I feel a joy inside me, all over me, and it makes my heart want to cry”.

We all agreed that we knew we had accomplished things but to see that clear connection to what we had in our Family Dream was amazing.

Kids said; they felt happy to see everyone so happy and that they enjoyed the STORY of the twigs and understood what it meant. Daniel also said “I am excited because I want our family to take a trip to New York because that is my DREAM and I am glad to see the things we drew on the paper came true so I know my Dream will come true”.

So with that being said, we updated Our Family Dream and set our focus to work conscience and unconsciously as Family towards our 2016 onward Dream, which most definitely included a family trip to New York but first getting everyone their Visa ☺.

So here I am one year later writing about our wonderful activity. I must say we have already accomplished something’s and even being tested as a Family. That test has proven that together as a Family, as a Team we are not easily broken, but stronger.

It’s not time for our next self-assessment yet, but what We do know is that we are at a Level 3 as we continue to work on our dream and a Level 5 in LOVE :-) :D <3

Below (Part of Our 2016 Onward Family Dream)

[Rituu B. Nanda]

How are you Tricia?

Here is an experience of Myrna on CLCP with family (Philippines)

https://aidscompetence.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dreaming-with-my-kid...

[Rituu B. Nanda]

I have always loved the story of your family dream and you revisiting the dream is heartening. Congratulations on your active facilitation and energetic response from your family. just love your family!

[Marlou]

Fantastic sharing, Tricia! I can feel the family strenghts here at the other side of the world! Greetings to the all!