Changing Our Genetic Heritage

At birth we were given a blank story book which was a manual for creating the life we want. The Universe wants us to write our wonderful life story filled with happiness, love, abundance, friendship and great adventures. The problem is no one has given us instructions on how to create our story. Here are some basic instructions on to how to create a wonderful Life Story. The Gifts and Burdens of the Past Everyone needs to know their past. We all need an anchor for our identity. We may not like or want what we have, but we crave a connection to a history we can call our own. Just ask a foster child, an adopted person, or a young displaced refugee without knowledge of his/her background and you will find a gaping void that longs to be filled with history. We need a link to the past to know how we fit in the world, where our place is in the story of humanity. Without such a link there is a lack of foundation, and a person has greater difficulty creating a meaningful present. In the Western culture of the United States where many immigrants arrived from diverse places, speaking a variety of languages, many people have lost the connection with their non-continental past. Second generations may not have learned the parents’ original language and couldn’t read documents from home. Wars and internal conflicts often destroyed rural villages and home-staying relatives. Postal services were erratic, if available at all. Therefore, our sense of continuity is often limited to two or three generations. Even those of us with Native American roots, whose relatives inter-married with main society, lost our links with our native cultural past because of persecution in prior generations. Birth and death records were lost or unrecorded for the protection of the parents and/or children, so tracing lineages is difficult. We cannot find lost relatives and heritage, even if we search. Our only link is through our DNA. In other countries and cultures, people can trace their ancestry back thousands of years. They may even know the names of their ancestors for multiple generations and be named in accordance with a family tradition that honors the past ancestors. This gives a sense of permanency and connection to a place, culture and community which is lacking in newer lands. This connection may cause constraints in the younger generation desiring to break free of the traditional roles and expand into new lifestyles, but they at least have an anchor to home. Even knowing one or two generations gives a person a sense of home, family, place, community and tradition. “My family is from ….” establishes a certain fixed point of reference for a first meeting with a stranger. So too, if you have a mother and father, you have a specific genetic history as a reference. This may be good or bad, but at least it is a starting point when you want to refer to health, finance, intelligence, career, relationship and spiritual history in relation to the rest of the world. Without such an awareness, you are at a loss to know who you are compared to others with these links. Our genetic codes are indeed our roadmaps to life. Inheritance of Foundations In the past there was an ongoing debate between the scientists and the behaviorists about whether our genes or our environment was the most important influencing factor in who we are and what we become. The outcome has been decided: we are what we choose to be! The latest scientific developments have clearly shown our DNA does not determine who we are, what we become, our health, our financial situation, or our mental or emotional condition. Neither does our upbringing. We cannot dismiss either factor out of hand but we can understand now how we can control our reality. Our destiny is in our hands.