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Obligation. What an interesting word to examine during a time of ancestral connection and honoring.
I share this with you because you are the Ancestral Bridge, and you have an important job on Earth.
Many of your previous ancestors had it rough and tough. Many of them didn't have access to resources, people, or opportunities. Very few, especially if you were female, had rights or choices. So in some ways, you have it easier. In others, you don't.
Your ancestors pushed hard to create the life that would help them survive. They weren't always the nicest or most educated of folks, but they contributed something.
Because of this energetic contribution from the past, there is pressure in the present container to do something worthy. This pressure can create a myriad of stressors, from overworking to over-preservation. However, this pressure is energetically linked to obligation, and as an ancestral bridge, you can work with this energy.
You can either carry the yoke of obligation from your ancestral line, or you can choose to carve new pathways and methods of being so the past, genetics, or history do not define you.
You can choose to change your relationship to obligation so that you don't just have to because your family, society, or friends told you to.
You can upgrade your relationship with the obligation by acknowledging that you choose to do something rather than feeling or being forced.
An obligation is a strange word indeed because it carries mixed meanings.
According to Oxford Languages, obligation means an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound, duty or commitment
Now there are two sides that you can look at this obligatory coin.
One side looks at obligation as a moral action of conduct. The other side is a mandate to do something that does not connote any moral or ethical dimension.
If you have a family, you may feel obligated to feed your children and provide shelter, clothing, and education. If you don't meet these obligations, you may find Child Protective Services will take your children away for negligence. Unfortunately, this type of obligation is deeply entrenched in responsibility, and sometimes it isn't easy to discern between the two.
Another example of the mixed message of obligation is tied to racism. Your ancestors may have been card-toting bigots or members of the KKK; however, it's not your obligation to carry that message of division and racism forward if you want to live in a world where you embrace diversity.
This is the type of obligation I'm talking about shifting. Think of all the lessons, ideas, values, and philosophies that have been handed down through your generational line. You, friend, are carrying the hopes, dreams, and obligations of your Ancestors.
You may even find yourself expressing these aspects:
- Perhaps you work very hard because there's a part of your ancestral lineage that says if you don't work hard, you'll never amount to anything. Therefore, you feel obligated to work.
- Perhaps you've been told that money is hard to come by, and there's a story in your ancestral lineage that states if you don't save, you'll never have anything. Therefore, you feel obligated to save.
- Perhaps you've been told that women need to stay at home, tend to the kitchen and raise babies. Therefore, you feel obligated to follow this role instead of believing in your dreams.
- Perhaps you've been told that people will think you're less than or poor if you don't look or dress a certain way. Therefore, you feel obligated to keep up with your neighbors and peers while drowning in debt.
Obligation is a tricky thing. Part of focusing on the Ancestral Bridgework this month is to see where you're holding obligations that may not even be yours within your cellular memory and human energy field.
To release the grip of obligations that aren't yours, here are three tips to help you transform this relationship:
1. Acknowledge your choices.
- When you start to acknowledge your choices every day, you come from a present perspective and awareness of power and ability. You can choose yourself over having to please others and recognize your opportunity to choose where others may not. This gives you grace and an opportunity to release yourself from the obligation of having to follow.
2. Ask if it's for your Highest and Best Good.
- Remember that obligation is a two-sided coin, one is the moral choice, and the other is neutral. In asking for your Highest and Best Good, you permit yourself to evolve from obligation and align to the right choice, right outcome. This upgrades your relationship with Source and yourself because you're operating from the standpoint of only choosing what's best and what's right for you.
3. Let acts of obligation lift others higher.
- Sometimes, things JUST have to happen because you may have given your word that you're going to be there for it. Instead of coming into situations with resentment at the feeling of being obligated, see how your one action impacts someone else. That one action can positively or negatively lift someone's life depending on your attitude and nature. In shifting this energy, you can think of your obligatory acts as a blessing to the world and others.
Releasing your relationships to ancestral obligations isn't always easy; however, it's about reclaiming your power and impact in your family line. Not all obligations are bad. Many are rooted in kindness and a desire to do good.
However, if the energy of obligation hangs over your head or your family's lineage, it's important to find ways to release it and live in harmonious balance with the world.
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