As a person working the steps, you may find yourself having to shed a lot of things from your previous life. But what about the people we cannot get rid of in our lives? Are some of those relationships salvageable? Can you detox from these?

I used to believe that if a relationship was toxic and was hurting me, it was worth getting rid of. I did the “clearing clutter” with a lot of so-called friends. Last year though, I was starting on the same “cleaning” path with my family; the people I’m related to by blood. I was set on getting rid of the relatives that didn’t serve a higher purpose in my life.

Where to Start?

It’s difficult to have that “talk”, especially with your family and even worse when they believe you are the “black” sheep. Last year when I was ready to do it, I didn’t know where to start of how to do, and I even forgot what the purpose was. At that time, I had some guidance but I wasn’t clear on the steps to have that conversation. The acknowledgment that the conversation had to happen was there. And that was the first step. Oprah and Iyanla Vanzant recently talked about this in their Lifeclass show.

The Seven Steps

I love that they broke it down into seven steps and even demonstrated how to do it using a real example. The entire episode can be seen at Oprah’s Lifeclass site.

Here are the steps they summarized for us:

1. Acknowledge a conversation has to happen
2. Clarify expectations
3. Extend an invitation to the other person to have a conversation with you
4. Set the ground rules for conversation
5. Listen to the other person
6. Be willing to be wrong
7. Agree on the next step

What could be the result?

After I had the talk with my family, I was surprised to find out that I was able to salvage a very important relationship: mother-daughter relationship.  Be ready to start from scratch and begin a new page with that person. Keep your GetClean Blox handy to keep you focused on your purpose.

Are you ready to have the talk? What are the biggest challenges you believe you will face?

By Lina Gonzalez, a vegan environmentalist raw foodist tech yogini. She loves books, music, the beach, writing, and all things purple! She’s a certified yoga teacher and blogs about the Alkaline lifestyle at her personal blog.

Photo Courtesy of Oprah.com