Happy Family Matters

Last Updated On: 25 May 2026

I started going to a Mahjong group recently; we meet once a fortnight and I love it 🩷

The lovely woman who runs it is from NZ and from an East Asian culture, she’s a fab social glue kind of a person opting to teach a small group of us.

She’s excited to get us to the more advanced stages of where the game gets really interesting.

If it could get any more so…

I can’t wait.

Right now I’m on the training wheels.

Family Roots & Ties

But this week I took my Australian friend along, she’s a creative to her core and after the others left the three of us got chatting.

Although I’d thought they’d get on, I wasn’t expecting the synchronicity of how much the two of them have in common:

* when they left Australasia
* whereabouts in London they’d lived before moving to Kent
* their food heritage
* cultural references galore
* language

And my favourite – their family cultures.

I’m thrilled for them to find such kindred spirits.

Although, with respect to my own family dynamic, I’m sure there are historical collisions in terms of the way parenting shifts generationally.

But I love the who do you think you truly are element.

It’s part of the work I do, ultimately, when we’re taught one thing and the challenges of shaking off the unwanted elements once we’re old enough to know some things aren’t serving – where a push-me-pull-you aspect tears at us.

The Blame Game

It’s never about othering our roots.

But each generation needs to grow from those roots and some family’s end up emotionally suffocating their children when it comes to holding onto what’s no longer relevant in one’s history.

I wanted to share this because I’m passionate about it, as well as it being a unifying thread.

I’ve found unwinding them can be complicated when it’s not clear what’s what.

This isn’t about dismissal.

It’s not about blame either.

It’s about furthering, accepting, and letting go of what isn’t useful in your adult life today.

Let me ask you, where is your family background impacting what you didn’t need and what you don’t want to pass onto your kids?

DM me if you’d rather not say publicly, because I’d love to know, and happy to hear it if you’d like to share.