"Trauma passes through family lines until someone is ready to heal it. Your ancestors and descendants celebrate you, every time you do the work."
~ Unknown
My father lost both of his parents at the very young age of five and six years old, to Tuberculosis. Gratefully, he and little his brother were raised by his mother's sisters. When his parents passed away though, his aunts thought it was better for the children to put all pictures and memories of their parents away in the attic, thinking it would prevent them from experiencing trauma. But my father was old enough to remember his mother and the loss was so great. He often talked about her and always with the sadness that he never got to grow up with her. When his Aunts passed away, my great uncle brought the pictures down from the attic and my father got to see them for the first time. The trauma from the loss emerged again. Only, the grieving was harder. I remember vividly when the pictures were found, I was seventeen and my father was in his mid-fifties and he had never seen a picture of his mother and I had never seen one of my grandmother. I also remember being angry and thinking it was so cruel to keep these memories from them.
When I began to research this family I realized they had layers of ancestral and generational trauma that had been passed down to them. The knowledge of this brought forgiveness to me and knowing what I knew now, of course, they were trying to protect the little boys from the pain of losing their parents. It may not have been the correct thing to do… but I know it was done in love and with an understanding of what deep loss feels like.
Trauma keeps you in a state of fear and anxiety. The patterns of behavior that develop during times of trauma are survival strategies. Along with the trauma, fear, and anxiety, these patterns of behavior are passed down from generation to generation. If we were sitting together right now I know that you could describe some patterns that have been passed down and how difficult it is to manage life sometimes because of it.
It's time to heal. It's time to understand how your life has been shaped and molded by the lives of your ancestors. When you take this journey you will also learn wonderful surprising connections to your ancestors as well.
Let's stay in touch. There is more information about Ancestral Trauma on my website and there is also a link to a free guide that will let you know how to begin the process of understanding your ancestral journey.
To receive the free guide :
To learn more about Ancestral Healing :
~Bernadette