Family Systems

Family SystemsToday I am talking about family systems and how understanding your family system can help you identify and understand your own personal patterns.What is a family system?A connected group where each person affects and is affected by everyone else. It sees the family as a whole system, like a network, with patterns, roles, and relationships.Roles:Each person usually takes on a role, which we discussed in the previous podcast episode, Roles Within the Family.Patterns:Families develop repeated ways of interacting, communicating, and responding to conflict.Balance:Family systems tend to resist change and try to keep things stable, even if the patterns are unhealthy.For example, if a child starts acting out, a family systems perspective would not only ask, “What is wrong with the child?” It would also ask, “What is happening within the family that may be contributing to this behaviour?”.Understanding patterns within the family system.When we begin to identify patterns within our family system, we can better understand where our beliefs, emotional responses, coping mechanisms, and behaviours come from.Who influenced you? How did you learn to respond, slow down, communicate, or be honest? Who modelled the behaviours that you are currently displaying?Our family systems can shape us unconsciously. When we become conscious of these patterns, we then have the opportunity to take action and create change.One exercise you can do isdraw a family tree and map out your family system.Whatever you are struggling with, identify where you may have learned it.You may begin to see how patterns have been passed down through generations, and why change can sometimes feel difficult because it is embedded at a deeper level.Lasting change often requires awareness of the family system itself — the roles, communication patterns, and boundaries within it.Once we become aware, there is an opportunity to create healthier ways of relating, both within ourselves and within the system around us.Subscribe to Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass Method™ for more conversations on healing, self-awareness, and emotional wellbeing.Instagram: @wholeyfitFacebook: Wholeyfit – The Soul’s Compass MethodLinkedIn: Victoria PenfoldWebsite: victoriapenfold.com