, I haven't spoken to my father
in over 20 years.

Does that surprise you or make you shake your
head and want to email me with a "Melissa,
you must forgive and forget?"

The reality is that he was an absentee
(nice phrase for deadbeat) father. We saw him
(my sister and I) usually twice a year, sometimes
more often if it was convenient for him.

He spent his time traveling the globe and having
adventures, working occasionally in a family owned
business or not. He came from a wealthy family
and didn't have to work and also didn't support us,
my mom did. They divorced early on.

He was always searching for something.
He experimented with EST, transactional analysis,
transcendental meditation, jogging (when it first
got hot), all manner of crazy diets (orange juice
and cabbage, tuna and garlic, really!)

Finally he adopted religion and became Born Again,
but he is still searching and what he is looking
for lies inside him, not outside.

Today, no one in the family is in communication
with him. They've all given up because it was
such a one way relationship, his way only.

Recently I visited with my Aunt, his sister,
in Hawaii; I got a big gift.

She shed a lot of light on my father and what
he was like growing up. She also said that he
told her once that he didn't like himself,
and sadly, that's never changed.

My first thought was "yikes, it's contagious
because I've struggled with that mightily."

My second thought was "while I've fought that,
I'm winning." I've made new choices about who
I am and how I want to be that make me like me.

The old Melissa, not so much. I was a hot mess.
Diagnosed with long term depression in my late
thirties explained the previous 20 years
of emotional rollercoaster living. It was painful.

Today, I think I'm a good person.
I make a difference. I like myself.

I've grown, I've changed, and I've made new
choices not to be the product of my parents,
but to be who I choose to be. I work on it daily.

, you have the very same opportunity.

You are not your parents. (Unless they were/are
totally awesome, then go for it.)

You are not your history and your experience.

You can be any kind of person you choose to be
at any moment.

It is about choices.

We are conditioned to be who we are by habit
and we forget we have choices.

Who would you be if you didn't know who you are?

What character traits do you want to have?

How do you want to show up in your life
and work every day?

What have you gotten from your past (and your
parents) that it's time to let go of?

There are those who say we choose our parents.
I chose my father for his sense of adventure
and his charisma; I also got his temper and
his tendency to be dogmatic.

I can make new choices about the negatives
and keep the positives.

Who are you?

Who do you want to be?

I can't wait to find out! We are all works in
progress; it is in the choices we make.

Hugs,
Melissa

PS. Your Prosperity Path is as much about the
abundance of being your best self as it is about
money, happiness, and good health.


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