The Importance of Maintaining a Strong Family Foundation

We’re all really lucky to live in such a technologically proficient world. The electronic media, the vast improvements in medicine, and the constantly developing and evolving scientific world around us helps us do more than human beings have ever been able to do, and in less time; it keeps us connected to our loved ones in a much more expedient manner, and gives us access to global news and information — on literally a minute-by-minute basis.

What makes living in these times so good is that we have the ability to do many things simultaneously; we can actually accomplish several tasks at once, like talking to our loved ones or friends while grocery shopping; booking a flight online while we’re packing for the journey; and spending time with our children and family on a much-needed vacation while still telecommuting to our office.

On paper, it sure sounds like we have it made! Who would have thought, even just 30 years ago, that this would be the fantastic world we now inhabit? Not many people would have believed it. What great strides! What efficiency! Right?

Well, of course, though all these electronic means by which we are able to so expediently race through life are certainly resourceful to us, think about this for a moment: Do they really make our lives more accommodating on a personal, qualitative level? Are we finding ourselves sacrificing true quality for quantity?

And, more important, does that actually limit — not improve –  our overall happiness quotient, or what we perceive to be our “success” in life?

Sometimes, it surely seems to be the case. Think about it: At least every magazine you pick up today has at least one “tip” — if not an entire article — on how to downsize, streamline, simplify, scale back (all those buzzwords and more), in order to simply keep up with the pace of our world while also giving back to yourself — and, most importantly, to your family. Does that seem at least a little bit skewed to you?

Because of the ways in which the world has changed, we also have many different levels of what constitutes an actual “family unit.” There are many single-parent homes, as we all know, and there are also “extended families” making a home together, in which aunts, uncles, cousins, and even grandparents are cohabitating under one roof.

The pert little image with the stay-at-home mom and the picket fence of the 1950s is just not part of today’s reality. And ask around to those who will remember: even then, Beaver Cleaver was just a TV character!

One thing our “perfect new world,” with all of its bells and whistles, has taught us well is actually quite helpful here: We can, actually, have anything we want (okay, well, almost anything). Most of what we can imagine, we can create – we have those tools at our disposal. What we aspire toward, we can claim as our own.

One of the greatest things about our mobile society is just that — it’s become so accommodating, so malleable, that we can stretch it virtually any way to suit us, and it will still “fit.”

So, let’s use a simple example here: Instead of reorganizing your home office, maybe think about what really matters, when it all comes down to the basic nuts and bolts of who we are: in a word, it’s family.

Family cohesiveness is what has kept humanity going; the propagation of our species is dependent on us being together, of course, but consider also that because we were born with deep emotions and the need to connect with one another, we’re obviously meant to have meaningful, lasting, loving relationships — in other words, we’re born with the instinct to bond, and to make that bond a lasting and loving one. And, the word we’ve assigned to that is “family.”

The value of a healthy emotionally (and physically) close family environment is richer than any amount of money you can make while you’re out on the beach with your family, busily crunching numbers on your wireless laptop.

The time you spend fostering relationships with your own family — those people who, no matter what, are biologically attuned to you and only you, like no one else in the world — is simply not the kind of time you can afford to miss.

And remember: Whatever we value is only what worth we, as a community, assign to a product — except for one thing: Family, and the time spent nurturing and maintaining that intrinsic value, is not a commodity.  Once you place a price on family, even in figurative or metaphorical terms, you’ve sold out to a lonely life — guaranteed.

It’s fun and exciting to keep up with our fast-paced, often very thrilling world out there, and to participate in it with your family, sharing laughter, tears, all the good and bad times and all that’s in between, will give you a sense of personal enrichment you can’t find on the best laptop or automobile in existence.

If you always remember that the riches within your soul — what you can give from your heart to your children and all of your family — is not only priceless, but it’s also here to stay, then you can most definitely count yourself as one of the truly “successful.”

About the author - Catherine Van Herrin is an Atlanta native and has 20 years’ professional experience in the publishing industry. She also works as a spiritual intuitive. Catherine currently lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

Written exclusively for KSuccess.com. All rights reserved.