Unlike your biological genes you have some say in choosing to maintain your energetic genes. They are a bit more stealthy than your eye color and height, but they are just as real and even more powerful in shaping your life than your biology.
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So you have cute ears, thick hair and are short? The women in your family can sing? Do you think you have a good chance of having twins or gaining weight around your middle? Perhaps you come from a long line of scholars and overachievers.

We profile ourselves according to our genes and then build expectations by what is possible, given our history. We are fully aware that our DNA gave us the physical parts of us we love and those less desired parts that we try to accept. We predict our future as we look at our past. If your dad died at 44 of a heart attack, it will likely wear on you as you approach that age as you wonder if that is your fate, and all because of your genes. If your mom stands five feet nine inches tall, you may predict your daughter will enjoy those above average inches as well. We both bless our genes and curse our genes.

It is easy to wrap our minds around our biological genes, but what about our energetic genes? How about the energy passed down from your parents that are the cumulative blueprint of the generations before you? Do you believe those exist just as surely as your DNA strands? It is true. The triumphs, battles, pride, prejudices, fears, priorities and attitudes of those that swam before you in your gene pool live in your cells as well. Think of the statements used to describe your family through your past generations.

Did your great grandfather work in a coal mine and live to be 97? Perhaps you had a tenacious great aunt who survived the holocaust. Do you come from a family of alchemists or brain surgeons? Did everyone in your family go to college, join the military, or become teachers? If you describe your family as one who keeps kosher, affiliated with a political party or are a gregarious lot, these statements carry a family history with them that are not about your twisted double helix. It is about something different, the energy of your family. Imagine that any of the previous statements were about your family. How would that effect how you did business, handled adversity or dreamed for your future? What would you say about your previous generations? Were they brave, dysfunctional, adventurous, sickly, eccentric or entrepreneurial?

Unlike your biological genes, you do get to choose if you want to keep your energetic genes. Whether negative or positive these energetic genes have helped to shape you into the person you are today. But now, you get to decide if your energetic genes are something you want to maintain as part of your life. Your energetic genes may serve as an energizing force in your life or perhaps you have outgrown them. If they are a burden to you to maintain or they no longer are aligned with your philosophy, consider what you would like to replace them with.

Know that if you choose to do something different from those in your gene pool, they may offer up support, but they will likely offer resistance to you. When they learn that you plan to stray from the pack, your family or group may feel uncomfortable to have you break the energetic mold. It threatens their security since it is “how it has always been done.” They may want to do the same but they lack the courage it takes. Truly you are the author scripting your life, so you get to decide!

You may be met with responses such as:

·“What do you mean you are/ are not going to college?”
·“Why do you want to be an interior designer? We’ve planned for you to go to the same medical school as your Mom and Granddad!”
·“The men in our family are quiet and stoic, not Broadway singers!”
·“What do you mean you will no longer keep a kosher kitchen?”
·“You really would be happiest if you married a Greek boy!”
·“Such a small percentage of people really make it in show business, so pick a real profession.”

Only YOU can decide if staying within your energetic pool is a good thing or a bad thing. If it is authentically you, then dig in! If it is not, consider making the choice to separate from the energy that does not contribute to what you want to create in your life.

Knowing what energy we are born into and deciding if we want to continue to own that energy is our choice. You do not have to embrace any occupation, illness, education level, family situation or ways of “being” not aligned with the real you, even if generations before you did. Making choices that are in alignment with the person you want to be will bear a great gift to you and those that may inherit your energetic genes. That is living authentically.

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Author's Bio: 

Rena is an trained counselor, author, lifecoach and speaker who resides in the DC area. With a M.Ed from Johns Hopkins University and as a 2004 Body-for-Life Grand Champion she is dedicated to the spiritual and physical revivals of clients. She is the creator of the Audio CD Journey Like a Shaman!and the Journey Like a Shaman! Meditation Journal. Share your thoughts on this article with her on her website http://www.MySoulSalon.com or send an email to Rena@MySoulSalon.com.