Over the past few weeks, I've been blogging about the fact that our ancestors’ experiences got passed down to our generation, along with the color of our hair, our height, and our general personality traits.
We'll call my client Rose.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been sharing with you some of my experiences of a decade of work uncovering the ancestral wounds I carried within me. I shared with you the magic of doing your family histogram; and then last week, we talked about how the field of epigenetics has proven that these ancestral wounds do in fact get passed down, and I shared with you my story of the inherited deep sadness, longing and hopelessness.
Last week I shared with you that in Family Therapy there's this cool tool we use called a Family Histogram.
Doing my own histogram helped me discover that my great-grandmother's forbidden love for my great-grandfather, their illicit affair, and their early deaths leaving my grandmother an orphan, had affected my life in ways I hadn't realized before.
Back in 2002, when I was doing my fieldwork to obtain my second Masters in Counseling from Columbia University, I learned to do an exercise that shed a TON of light on the patterns in my life.
One of the most enduring gifts I received back then was learning how to do a good family histogram.
Forgiveness is a tough word. It's even tougher when we're dealing with actions that we feel are unforgivable.
I'm talking here about major violations in our trust, our rights, and even things that constitute a crime.