Identity, Ancestry and the Way We See the World

We talk a lot about identity, but perhaps we don't always stop to consider how fundamental it is to the way we experience life.

Identity isn't simply a label we give ourselves. It is the framework through which we understand who we are, where we come from and where we belong.

And much of that begins long before we are old enough to make conscious choices about it.

Our history forms part of our identity.

Our ancestry forms part of our history.

Our families, cultures, communities and experiences all contribute to the person we become.

And our identity, in turn, shapes our beliefs.

Those beliefs influence how we interpret the world, how we understand other people, what we consider normal, what we value and even what we believe is possible for ourselves.

This is why identity matters.

We come from somewhere

None of us appeared in the world as a blank slate.

We have parents and grandparents, and generations of people before them. We inherit genetic material from those people. We inherit stories, traditions, customs, languages and cultural influences. We grow up within particular environments and are shaped by the history of the people and places around us.

Our ancestry is therefore more than a line on a family tree. It is part of the story of how we came to be here.

That doesn't mean our ancestry dictates who we are. It doesn't mean that everyone within an ethnic group is the same. But it does mean that our origins are relevant to our identity.

For many people, having a connection to their ancestry and history provides a sense of continuity - a connection between generations. It can help us understand where certain traditions, values and cultural influences come from, and give us a sense of being part of something that existed before us and may continue after us.

Different people, different histories

Human populations have not all followed the same path.

Different ethnic groups have developed in different parts of the world, shaped by different environments, migrations, relationships, historical events and experiences. Over generations, this has contributed to differences in ancestry, culture and traditions.

Those cultures can influence everything from language and food to music, humour, family life, social customs and everyday mannerisms.

These differences are part of what makes human history interesting.

 Diversity doesn't mean pretending differences don't exist. Diversity means having differences.

Recognising that different peoples have different histories and cultures is part of recognising diversity. There is nothing wrong with wanting to understand, preserve and celebrate your own heritage, just as there is value in appreciating the heritage of others.

The world would be remarkably boring if we were all the same.

We can have different identities without needing to turn those differences into a hierarchy, but ethnicity doesn't simply disappear because someone has a different nationality or was born somewhere else. Different aspects of identity can exist alongside one another.

Why history matters

Perhaps one reason history matters so much is that it gives identity context. Without history, identity becomes little more than a collection of labels in the present.

Knowing something about the people who came before us can help us understand the customs, attitudes, values and assumptions that we have inherited - consciously or otherwise.

We often don't question the worldviews we grow up with because they feel completely natural to us.

• Our family might have particular attitudes towards work, relationships, money or responsibility.

• Our culture might influence how we communicate, how we express emotion or how we understand community.

• Our experiences might teach us that people can be trusted - or that they can't.

Our history can therefore become embedded within our identity, and our identity can become embedded within our beliefs.

History shapes identity. Identity shapes beliefs. Beliefs shape perception.

And perception shapes the way we experience the world.

What we inherit beyond ancestry

There is also an interesting question about what we may inherit beyond our genes themselves.

Epigenetics is the study of changes in the way genes are expressed without changing the underlying DNA sequence. Our environment and experiences can influence these processes, and research has increasingly explored how significant stress and trauma may have effects that extend beyond the person who experienced them.

This has led to growing interest in what is sometimes described as intergenerational or ancestral trauma - the idea that the effects of profound experiences can influence subsequent generations through a combination of biological, psychological and environmental pathways.

There is still much to learn about exactly how these processes work in humans, but the possibility that experiences can leave effects that extend beyond a single lifetime is an important area of scientific research. Epigenetic changes are one potential mechanism being investigated, alongside the ways trauma can influence family relationships, behaviour, stress responses and the environments in which subsequent generations are raised.

And perhaps this helps us think about ancestry in a slightly different way.

We inherit more than physical characteristics.

We can inherit stories, beliefs, behaviours and ways of responding to the world. We can grow up within the consequences of things that happened long before we were born, sometimes without ever knowing the original source.

A family may carry fear because of something that happened generations ago. A pattern of emotional suppression may have developed as a response to circumstances that no longer exist. A particular belief about safety, trust, authority or survival may have made perfect sense in one generation and continued to be passed down long after the original circumstances had changed.

Some of these patterns may be consciously taught. Others may simply be absorbed. And this is where ancestry, identity and the subconscious begin to overlap.

We are not simply shaped by what happens to us as individuals. We are also influenced by the environments, relationships, beliefs and histories that existed before us.

Understanding this doesn't mean that we are destined to repeat the past, it means that there may be more to our patterns than we initially realise.

Identity and the subconscious

This is where the subject becomes particularly relevant to hypnotherapy.

Much of what makes up our identity is learned before we are consciously aware that we are learning it.

As children, we absorb enormous amounts of information from our parents, families, communities and cultures. We learn what is safe and what is dangerous. What is acceptable and what isn't. How relationships work. How we should behave. What we should expect from other people.

Perhaps most importantly, we begin to develop beliefs about who we are.

These experiences don't simply disappear, they become part of the mental framework we use to navigate the world.

Some of those beliefs are conscious. Others sit much deeper, operating almost automatically. We don't necessarily think, "I believe this because of something that happened when I was six."

We simply respond.

That is one of the reasons the subconscious is so important in therapeutic work, our conscious mind can tell us one thing while deeply ingrained patterns tell us another.

• We might consciously know that we are capable, while somewhere beneath that we carry a belief that we aren't good enough.

• We might consciously understand that a past experience is over, while our nervous system continues to respond as though the threat is still present.

• We might genuinely want to change a behaviour while another part of us is still operating from an old belief about who we are.

  
  

And sometimes, those beliefs have become so deeply connected to our identity that changing them can feel almost like changing ourselves.

Understanding gives us choice

This is why I don't think self-awareness is about dismantling our identity, quite the opposite.

Understanding where our identity came from can actually make it stronger, because we become more conscious of what has shaped us.

We can recognise our ancestry and culture. We can appreciate our history. We can understand the experiences that influenced our family and the beliefs that were passed down through generations.

But we can also begin to separate what we are from what we have learned.

That distinction can be incredibly powerful, because once we understand where a belief came from, we can begin to examine it.

-          Is this genuinely my belief?

-          Or was it something I learned?

-          Does it still serve me?

-          Is it based on what is happening now, or on something that happened in the past?

And perhaps most importantly:

Do I want to carry this belief forward?

This is where hypnotherapy can be so valuable.

The aim isn't to erase someone's identity or replace their beliefs with somebody else's. It is to help someone become more aware of the patterns that have been operating beneath the surface, and to create an opportunity to respond differently.

Sometimes the belief we need to change isn't "I am anxious."

It might be the deeper belief underneath it:"The world isn't safe."

It might not be "I lack confidence."

It might be:"I'm not capable."

It might not even be a belief we can easily put into words. It might simply be a familiar emotional response, a behaviour or an automatic way of interpreting a situation.

Therapeutic work can help bring some of those patterns into awareness, and awareness creates choice.

We don't have to erase what made us

Perhaps this is the most important point.

Understanding the forces that shaped us doesn't mean rejecting them.

Our ancestry does matter.

Our culture does matter.

Our history does matter.

Our identity does matter.

And none of those things prevent us from growing or changing.

In fact, the better we understand ourselves, the more freedom we may have to decide what we want to keep and what we want to leave behind.

We are all carrying beliefs that were formed somewhere.

Some were deliberately taught to us. Some were absorbed without us realising. Some were created through experiences that happened to us. Some may have served us very well at one point in our lives but no longer do.

The question isn't whether we have been shaped, of course we have. The question is whether we understand how we have been shaped well enough to decide what happens next.

Because our history shapes our identity.

Our identity shapes our beliefs.

Our beliefs shape our perception.

And when we become conscious of that process, we gain something incredibly valuable:

the freedom to choose which parts of our story we carry forward.