 Your past isn't gone. It's here now. It's still happening. To be alive is to have a past. Your psyche hasn't arisen from the present; its source goes back thousands of years. It's only a new sprout from an ancient root. Although it's common to think that attitudes and beliefs are self-generated, much of your personality and consciousness has sprung from the deep and primordial ancestral legacy that dwells within you.
The formation of your identity is, in part, the result of the progressive lineage of your predecessors. The way you experience life is filtered through the experiences of all the generations who preceded you. Your sense of self rests strongly on the experiences that you had as a child, which, in large part, were created by your family. They, in turn, were influenced by their childhood families and so on back through time. From this heritage you've gained positive qualities that strengthened and empowered you; but qualities such as distrust, fear, and isolation may also be a part of your legacy.
The ancestral soul
The vast range of negative human emotions, such as frustration, anger, and fear, felt throughout history can be subliminally recognized in ourselves as our ‘human nature'. Although some people have romantic visions of ancestors, human nature hasn't changed much through the centuries. Your ancestors probably experienced jealousy, resentment, rage and sorrow as much as anyone who lives in the present time. They probably repeated the same patterns, both negative and positive, as their parents, grandparents and beyond. Physical traits, and even some psychological tendencies such as schizophrenia, are genetically bestowed from one generation to the next. In addition, behavioural inclinations, such as sexual abuse, incest and dysfunctional attitudes, can be traced back through family history. Sometimes habitual ancestral patterns and traits resurface again and again throughout generations in an almost mystical manner. It's as if a deep aquifer of ancestral consciousness – an ancestral soul – flows underground for several generations, and then resurfaces, tapping in to the consciousness of present-day descendants.
The ancestral soul can have such a penetrating effect on the psyche that it can even influence one's destiny. It's especially interesting to note this tendency in some adoptees, who, as adults, trace their biological roots and discover an uncanny number of similarities between themselves and their distant ancestors. Adopted at birth, these individuals would have had no conscious way of being programmed toward the particular professions, attributes and traits they share with their ancestors, yet this phenomenon of ancestral similarities can be documented again and again.
Our genes are encoded with the imprints of our ancestors, so perhaps ancestral memories or the ancestral soul also dwell in our genes. This phenomenon may be apparent in twins or siblings who, although separated at birth, still somehow cultivate the same interests and display the same mannerisms. Yet whether the life similarities in siblings separated at birth can be accounted for by ancestral soul or genetic encoding, the end result is the same. Our relations influence us all, even if we're not consciously aware of them.
Your ancestry and your genes are affecting you in every moment. Sometimes we're affected positively by the past, but sometimes the weight of the ancestral soul has a negative influence on our lives. The legacies from our predecessors can have a staggering effect on our emotions, especially if they're not examined. The ancestral soul is ever present within you, in one form or another, ever ready to be re-actualized. Denial or refusal of your roots often creates a polarization, so that, in effect, you're still programmed by your past. The past is what makes the present coherent, and it will remain damaging for as long as we refuse to examine it honestly.
You do not have a choice about having a past; it's a given. You do have a choice, though, as to whether you'll repress, explore, or re-create your past. You can either fight with the unresolved past that dwells inside you, or you can examine the forces that shaped it and even reshape it. Modern therapy often initiates psychological healing by unearthing memories from childhood and early family relationships. However, many negative patterns have their source beyond early childhood. Conventional therapy can deal with most difficulties, but problems that don't seem resolvable through traditional means might be resolved by tracking into the far past. Breaking free of negative ancestral patterns or ancestral unfinished business can heal the family tree.
Four acts of personal power
I've created a four-step programme I call ‘Healing the Family Tree'. The first step in this programme is to remember and uncover memories from the past, both personal and ancestral. The second step involves the discovery and identification of negative or dysfunctional familial tendencies. The third step is to break free of these patterns so that they don't go beyond you. The fourth and last step is to create new patterns that become your legacy to the future.
We can heal our past
The patterns of the past loop and fold back upon themselves in a compulsive, repetitive manner. The past is what we call karma. Our lives are determined by the past, particularly that which is forgotten. The experiences of the past still can cast long shadows that can darken the future.
Yet you can heal the past. It can be done lovingly and gently, yet firmly. Hold a vision of what you want to accomplish, and keep your focus on that goal. Remember that everything that has happened to you has allowed you to grow spiritually. There is value in your past, no matter what form it has taken. Perhaps it has made you more compassionate toward the suffering of others. Perhaps it has allowed you to become a stronger human being. The roots of trees grow deepest where the wind blows the hardest. The Dalai Lama said that we do not learn tolerance from our friends; in other words, in order to develop tolerance, we need experiences that will cultivate that quality within us.
Hold your past as a precious gift. Beneath the pain and suffering, there is value to be garnered from each of your experiences as well as from the emotional legacy you gained from your forbears. The spirit of appreciation and thankfulness for what you've been given will allow the future to unfold for you in beauty.
From Four Acts of Personal Power, © Denise Linn 2007, published by Hay House.
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