Hey loves, and welcome back for another episode of The Brave Table. This one is all about family trauma and why it’s important to heal generational wounds. If you’re from an immigrant family, you’ll probably already know what I’m talking about, or maybe you’re in a relationship with someone who is. But no matter what your background or culture, it’s likely that you have some generational trauma in your lineage.
When I talk about trauma, it doesn’t always mean something huge and scary — it’s something significant that happened to you that shaped who you are. It can be big or small; external or internal; something physical like an injury or something emotional like a compromised relationship with a sibling or a death of a loved one.
When these things happen either to you or to those who came before you, it affects your genes and changes how your body reads DNA sequences. The good news is that these changes are reversible when you begin to heal.
I also talk about how I’ve had to peel back the layers of trauma through domestic violence, the loss of family members, the pressure to be successful, and the trauma work I’ve done to heal what I’ve passed down to my children.
And while this can feel a little heavy, the beauty here is that our generation now has the opportunity to THRIVE instead of just survive. We have so much information at our fingertips to help us do this work, so let’s look at how we can learn from our parents and our family’s past to create a better future for ourselves and the generation to come.
Some of the juicy nuggets you’ll experience in this episode:
- What does trauma - and generational trauma - really mean?
- How generational trauma can predispose you to anxiety disorders and depression, but also incredible qualities like resilience and emotional strength
- How we choose our soul karma
- Having compassion and empathy in our walk with our families
- The importance of taking care of yourself in motherhood and even before conceiving
- What is Family Constellation therapy and shifting from an individual mindset to one of interconnectedness
- What are Epigenetics and how your behaviors and your environment can create changes that affect your genes
- Understanding your family’s core values as a starting point for your own growth and healing
- Tips and tools for navigating when our family doesn’t support us in our evolution or understand who we are
- Question prompts you can use with your parents/grandparents to learn about their experience growing up
Books I reference in this episode:
- It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn
- Connected Fates, Separate Destinies: Using Family Constellations Therapy to Recover from Inherited Stories and Trauma by Marine Selenee
Other episodes & videos I reference:
- Episode 2: Being Brave In Reinventing Yourself
- YouTube video: How to Break Free from Your Asian Parents
Thanks for tuning in, Brave Table squad! If you enjoyed this episode, then please leave a review to help more brave souls like you find the show.
The Brave Table with Dr. Neeta Bhushan 