You might be haunted by something that
never happened to you because science
tells us trauma can be passed down. Not
the memory or the recollection itself,
but the biological reaction. It's known
as epigenetic inheritance. Which means
the suffering your ancestors endured
might still affect you. War, starvation,
stress, abuse. It doesn't just vanish.
It leaves molecular footprints, tiny
chemical tags left on the strands of
your DNA. They don't rewrite your
genetic code. They alter how your genes
react and behave, and those alterations
are inherited. Children of Holocaust
survivors carry changes in their stress
response. This is also the same for
descendants of Ireland's Great Famine.
In one experiment, mice that trained to
fear a certain scent had babies and
grandb babies that froze at the same
scent without ever facing the original
trauma. You carry biological stress of
things and events you have never even
experienced. So, if you ever feel scared
or angry or uneasy, and you can't seem
to understand why, it may not be your
fault. It may not even belong to you.
But here's the thing. If fear can be
passed down, so can happiness. At times
when you feel uneasy, choose
forgiveness. Take a breath. Start to
appreciate more. You're now reshaping
the initial trauma you would pass
