What if our childhood wounds stem from something before childhood?

Wait, what? What would be “before childhood”?

What if our early life traumas are connected to memories and energy that we inherited?

Inherited how and from whom?

I know…we can each recall and identify events in our own lives that “caused” the trauma we experience; these traumas and experiences are ours. We identify with them and we feel ownership of them.

But were they really ours to begin with?

What if the events that we have experienced directly served to bring stored ancestral trauma to the surface to be cleared? What if we are experiencing the ripples of ancestral trauma in our lives?

Let me explain.

We are infinite beings, having a physical experience, and we may not remember things from before we were born, but our bodies’ do and those memories can lay dormant in the depths of our psyche.

I am a firm believer that the universe is continuously bringing us experiences that call us deeper into awakening. The universe isn’t out to get us, but rather to show us where we are still disconnected or unaware, and bringing us continuous opportunity to reconnect to our highest potential.

I do not believe that we live in a cruel universe where we are randomly being punished or forced to face hardship for no reason. So what is the higher purpose of these challenges and traumatic experiences?

If we are infinite beings, maybe our own experiential challenges were there to create our own point of reference for the wounds and the trauma that we inherited. From this personal point of reference, we can access and heal the wound in our lifetime. If we didn’t have our own intimate interaction with the wound we would not be able to understand the impact from an empathetic position. It would be a step removed from a personal experience and not likely to hit us deep enough to cause the discomfort that pushes us to seek change, to awaken our search for a higher purpose.

Many of these stored traumas come from our Ancestors. Even what many people interpret as past life recollections, are often stored trauma from ancestral wounds. And those things that we inherit…we are also here to clear.

Epigenetic research is showing us physical confirmation that we can inherit characteristics from the experiences of generations past, and as a healer and energy worker, I believe that physical or scientific proof is often a threshold far below what is actually occurring.

This inherited trauma can often show up in our lives as recurring patterns or themes, irrational fears or reactions to life events or an unconscious drive/tendency that doesn’t align with your conscious choices. For example, I know that it is irrational to feel fear around speaking my truth. I know that I do not have to worry about someone attacking me in my sleep for disturbing the status quo of our tribe or something like that…. and yet I’ve found myself facing that fear often in this journey of being in the public eye.

My personal story is the pattern of infidelity, which stems from a wound of betrayal and abandonment, from my grandparents, to my own dad, to two husbands of my own. It seems to be a theme that travels through my family. I had to take a look at how I was personally impacted by these actions around me.

And this is not victim blaming, this is not blaming at all. No one is to blame; rather each of us is playing a part in the evolution of our souls. This perspective is actually an empowered stance to create change in the only place that I have the power to create change, within myself.

When we consider the perspective that everything outside of us is a mirror of our internal world, how does that play out in this realm of ancestral wounds and inherited trauma?

It is almost like zooming out…. from our own singular life to the continuum of our family and recognizing that the events are exposing unhealed wounds or disconnections that were handed down to us. And I am not just talking physical family; I believe that this extends to soul family as well, if you are open to considering that aspect.

The great thing is that we can heal, transform and release these traumas for our ancestors, for ourselves, for our kids and their kids.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it. So why should we care to take responsibility for traumas that we didn’t create?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

For one thing, it is negatively impacting our lives and has the potential to negatively affect the lives of our families and our kids and people that we care about. That right there was motivation enough for me to consider what I could do change the patterns.

Also, we are a part of the whole family tree. We have gained wisdom and evolution and the potential for growth through the actions and wounds of our ancestors. Think about it in terms of choices and ‘mistakes’ we made when we were younger…. that taught us something, that helped us to grow and mature and to become who we are today.

When we “zoom out” on our family as a whole, those experiences of our ancestors were like the learning we did when we were younger and gave us a more evolved platform from which we began our journeys. So while they took the brunt of the pain or trauma of experiencing the creation of these wounds, they couldn’t see the bigger picture, like our 16-year-old selves couldn’t see the bigger picture when we were younger. This work includes a deep gratitude for the wisdom gained from the actions of our ancestors. If we get to gain from the events, we may feel some responsibility to heal and transmute the consequences of those lessons.

You may be asking “why me, why do I have to do this work”?

Because we are each on a divinely guided journey and it is not coincidence that we find ourselves in the families that we are in and working through the traumas and wounds that we are. These experiences and lessons are a part of our purpose.

I found myself with the ability to do this work and the wounds showing up in my life to be healed, it became confirmation that it was a part of my purpose work.

We are here to help heal the weight of the lessons learned. We get to transmute the trauma to wisdom and be the point of change where the wounds no longer travel through our timelines but rather get replaced with wisdom and gratitude to pass on to future generations. What an amazing role to play in our families!

You may be asking “why now…why didn’t generations before take care of things”?

Because we are in a time in human consciousness where we have the ability and the resources to do this work.

Our ancestors didn’t do it because it wasn’t time…. humanity wasn’t ready or able to do the work at that point.

The collective needed to move through the challenges and the difficult experiences in order to evolve and grow. Just like seasons change, so does the nature of humanity and we are past the “winter” of disconnection and suffering and ready for a renewal of interconnectedness and healing.

In addition to helping our own direct families and loved ones, we are also playing a part of healing the collective, considering we are all interconnected on some level.

It is almost like clearing the dead debris after winter. We help to cultivate an environment for healthy spring growth, future generations to come. Doing work in our own ancestral timelines is almost like releasing a bit of a pressure valve on the collective. We are transforming our own share of the weight and the heaviness and adding to the healing of the whole.

And lastly, freedom, this work brings freedom…freedom from suffering and limits that may be holding us back from achieving everything that we desire and the purpose that we are here to fulfill. When we release these underlying anchors we have the ability to step into life from a clearer slate, from a truer sense of what and whom we are, without the heavy memories that didn’t belong to us.

Are you ready and willing to be the one in your family who takes responsibility to transform inherited wounds into wisdom and gratitude?

If you are, you can begin to connect more intentionally with your ancestors. You can be open to more insight about what traumas are showing up in your life to be released. You can focus on healing the experiences in your own life as well as doing energy work to connect to the origination of the wound.

Often times, just the act of bringing more conscious awareness to the fact that these wounds may not be yours, or even originated with your parents, it helps to shift the story behind the trauma. When we can consider that we are all doing the very best that we can with the resources and experiences we have to work with, it shifts the perspective and the emotion connected to it. It allows for a space to observe and forgive a little and step out of the weight of the trauma that we can get cycling in.

If you would like more information on techniques and processes that allow for the healing of inherited trauma and ancestral wounds please reach out! This is deep soul purpose work that I feel called to offer to those ready to heal in this arena.