In this episode Nancy asked me:
"As I was thinking about our conversation this morning, I feel it would be irresponsible to not talk about what’s happening in the world right now. And whether it’s the Middle East, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s antisemitism around the world, anti-blackness around the world, and the generational trauma that is playing out now across the globe and the seeds of intergenerational trauma that are being planted. I just invite you to share what is in your mind as you’re watching what’s unfolding.
Johanna: Such a big question, I want to hold it with a lot of reverence. Our first system is our culture, where we come from, our country. That’s like the macro system. And then we’ve got the micro system - being the family.
This makes it difficult to look at anything objectively because we belong to one system or the other and this influences how we see the world.
I tend to really hold this higher view that many people would probably call Utopian, similar to the John Lennon song, Imagine.
We all live in these very vulnerable human bodies. If we were to take a look across the globe, what we all share in common is that we all want to feel safe, to have peace in our environment and to feel some level of happiness and fulfillment.
Where things get lost and we come into this incredible conflict, it is in a way a systems war. A war of ideologies, a difference of my God versus your God. Or we can even look at our political structures, the left and the right, and we’re willing to fracture families over differences of viewpoints.
And so it’s such a complex question and I'm reminded of one of my colleagues that shares this work is about creating world peace one family at a time.
I believe this is where it starts, those conversations around the dinner table.
* Are there elements of us versus them in the small microsystem of the family?
Where it begins, in family conversation - that culture is this and this person is that. And I think it even starts in smaller ways, like gossiping about relatives.
I believe kindness can be taught. I believe inclusion is something we show our children by the efforts we might make to the neighbors who are struggling, by the efforts we might make for a family member who’s fallen on hard times.
In this episode…
In this episode of Your Permission Prescription, I’m joined by Johanna Lynn, founder of The Family Imprint Institute. We delve into the fascinating world of epigenetics and the influence of inherited family trauma on our lives. We discuss the emotional imprints passed down through generations, the lingering influence they play in our day-to-day lives, and how understanding your epigenetics helps to explore your past, uncover hidden patterns, and make conscious choices for a better future.