Do you remember a time when you felt the gripping fear that literally froze you in your tracks?
Well, I have many moments that I remember, and those moments can compromise your overall wellbeing.
Think about every fearful memory you have. You probably have many that have built on one-another over time.
And now, there are even studies showing there is a great chance that we even inherit some of them.
I believe that to be true.
What if fear or phobias could be passed on to the next generations?
I was reading an article recently supporting that thought.
It is a study where mice were taught to fear something they wouldn’t typically have a problem with. They were given mild electric foot shocks every time cherry blossom odor was introduced to them until they would respond with fear.
Later the same mice were bred and their offspring showed the same fear behavior when the odor was present, even though they weren’t initially shocked.
If this runs the same way in humans, many things make more sense to me.
It is no wonder we have an over-exaggerated fear in situations that should be mild.
Think about it…
If we have generations of our ancestor’s fears contributing to our normal responses it all comes together.
That’s a huge amount of the stress on you. Not only do you have the experiences from your own life, but your family line going back, who knows how many generations.
I for one am so grateful to have tools like The Healing Codes to be able to reduce the stress, those lifetimes of memories can cause.
It is so important to clear as much stress out of our lives as we are able to be healthy.
It’s for your own wellbeing and possibly for your future children.
Melissa, I agree! I’ve often thought that my parents’ experiences during wartime and economic depression really affected them as well as me. It seems our task is to clear the fears, no matter where they originated!
Yes Martine,
I think we are understanding more all the time how this works and gaining tools to help clear a lot of the past upsets. I am so grateful to be living in this time when science is more able and open to seeing how all this works. I ‘feel it myself but many people need to ‘see’ it that way.
Thanks for visiting girl, so good to see you here 😉
That study is so illuminating, Melissa! I do believe I’m working with ancestral fear and grief and I want to clear it for all of us. Thanks for sharing this information with us.
That’s great Sandra,
I’ve read a lot of your work and love your approach! I hope you can clear all that you’re working on quickly and with ease 😉 From experience I know how great that can feel, especially when there is a long line.
((Hugs))
Hi Melissa,
I almost drowned when I was 7 so I have a very healthy respect for water, especially the ocean. I do not allow my fear of drowning or being without air stop me from diving in. I’ll be honest, I do get anxious. I even had a panic attack while snorkeling once (my husband swam with me to shore and got me back on the beach safely) – but I will not let the fear keep me out of the water. When my girls were little, it was real important for me to NOT pass this fear on. I had them in swimming lessons from the time they were 3. And we lived near the ocean 🙂
Hi Peggy,
Thanks for visiting. That is an issue I’ve had to work on in the past and actually wrote a post on it last year. You can check it our here http://melissazoske.com/2013/07/26/the-healing-codes-phobias/
I have no fear of water now. Absolutely nada… aaannnnd I love to snorkel and even considered scuba diving this year.
A miracle for me 😉
My Mom also went through watching a friend drown right before her eyes, so we worked on that as a generational issue as well. There are so many things we go, through that we seemingly put behind us, but who knows if they are ‘really’ gone. Or are they just stacking one on top of the other?
I feel it’s the latter. I am so glad you have found the courage to work through this.
Have great Memorial day!
Hmmm…Interesting study on the mice. And what’s even more interesting is the effect it had on the offspring. I’m wondering the same thing you are Melissa — how does that apply to us? It really does in a lot of ways. We capture the perceptions from our parental units and adult role models and accept them for ourselves and believe them to be true — fears and all. It has to be some sort of protective mechanism, but it just goes to show that it’s all based on perception, and that if we can change our perceptions, we can overcome our fears too. Nicely done!
Absolutely Victor,
Thanks so much for stopping by. I was just talking with my husband earlier today about how little we really know about these type of things. With our being able to understand more all the time we can see how our mind is connected to all of it in a big way. Our beliefs, our perception of those beliefs and what is really ours or what we CHOOSE to be ours is so important.
I’m excited to see what the future holds for us in these discoveries.
I know that children do absorb the fears and phobias of their parents, Melissa. It is scary at some levels, and yet it gives us a chance to better understand our fears and work towards banishing them!
Totally Corrine,
We are just scraping the top of all these new discoveries. I am so excited to learn more and see where all this leads us. I realize some fear is good, like the life saving kind… But not the kind that runs your adrenals on overload from overreacting. I used to be a huge worry wart, no fun 😉
Good to see you girl! Thanks for visiting.
Can you share a link to the study? I’d like to share this page and include the original study with my family.
Hi Steve,
Here is one of the many stories I found for the study http://tinyurl.com/m4s45cy It has a link to the actual study at the journal of Nature Neuroscience. But the language wasn’t very fun or easy to read. The article above has some more great info on the change in DNA of the mice as well. Very cool. I should have put the links in my post. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoy it.
Hi Melissa, a very informative post. Fear is so powerful that somehow holds us back when we want to move forward. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Lynne,
So true. It has for me many time in my life. I hope we can all learn to move forward with more ease and make play of it 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow Melissa! I have done a lot of work with trauma survivors and heard a bit about intergenerational trauma, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that scientifically supports it. It’s all so amazing when you really try to understand it. I think the study you describe is particularly interesting because obviously the mice were still transmitting fear inter-generationally using mechanisms other than language about what had happened to them, but still, the story about the smell and the fear came across. It makes you wonder how our “stories” are shared, even when they are not in families.
Thanks for stopping byJessica.
Yes there is so much we don’t understand. Once we realize that everything is connected for the good of the body,mind and spirit as one, we will take a huge leap in understanding.
Hopefully our ‘stories’ will continue to heal, even before then 😉
Hi Melissa,
fear often is born of unfulfilled desires,and yes it is possible that fears can be transmitted from one generation to another.Going a step ahead ,fears are also transmitted from on lifetime to another.
we surely need to take notice and address the issue ,because that ‘s the quickest way to live an empwered life.
Thanks
Mona
Hi Mona,
So glad to meet you. Yes, let’s get to it. I’m all for the quickest route for sure. I would like all this cleared… like yesterday-lol!
Thanks for stopping by I appreciate it!
Interesting post. We may unconsciously pass our fears onto our children and I think that we should be aware of those unnecessary fears and overcome them.