A society grows great when old men plant trees, whose shade they know they will never sit in. – Greek Proverb
When I was learning about Shamanism which is one of the most ancient forms of healing, a lot of the teachings were about letting go of the past and making changes for our children’s children.
This has great responsibility attached to it. What choices I make now in my lifetime will affect many generations to come, and each direction I take consciously, will reflect upon the decisions that my children’s children make.
This is true in our own lives and from the decisions that our parents made and those before them. When we become aware of this pattern in our family tree, we can become responsible to change what needs to change, and this takes courage.
Knowing more, we can make new choices and develop a new understanding of life. Often I have found clear patterns in people’s family line, like, divorce, fear, unable to have children and tragedy. It is quite astonishing how often these patterns repeat themselves generation after generation, until one of us decides to let go of these patterns and move forward differently.
Healing these past beliefs and generational thought patterns takes time. Accepting the way life has always unfolded for you and your family isn’t enough. First we need to become aware of what changes can be made and then we need to make conscious decisions daily to break these patterns with disciplines like, meditation, yoga and stillness.
I have seen wonderful healings in my own life and in others when these patterns have been addressed, forgiven and let go of. Every thought and decision in our life counts and if I can make the path easier and smoother for my children and their children, then I have lived a good life.
LIVING IN THIS MOMENT 
It’s so true Karen. A while back I wrote a series of posts entitled Four generations of women. I saw some definite patterns in the my daughter’s, mine, my mother’s and my grandmother’s life. I also imagined one of my descendants discovering my blog posts and finding courage for herself through reading them. Now you’ve got me thinking about the decisions I can make that will make a difference for future generations. ❤
Diana xo
This is wonderful Diana, and I am so glad you have seen this in your own life. Many people find this hard to believe, but once you start looking, it is amazing what we can discover and learn from our past.
It makes me very happy that you want to become conscious of how your decisions can afftect your children’s future! As you can see I am very passionate about his topic ha 🙂 Thankyou for sharing.
I prefer to look back and find the positive traits of my parents, grandparents and ancestors that I can pass on to my children and grand-children, rather than negative behaviors or patterns. And it is true, that if there are negative patterns there, we can learn to break them and start with new patterns for the next generation.
Absolutely Elizabeth, it is just as important to honor the wonderful gifts of love and abundance that our parents and those who have gone before us have passed on. Everytime I have been able to heal a part of my life, I can see the difference it is making in my children, and that is what I wanted to encourage today. 🙂 Thankyou
This is such a beautiful proverb ~ wish everyone over the age of 40 would be able to read it & understand it, for then the world would be an even more incredible place. Beautiful post and words that impart such great lessons to us all.
Thankyou so much Randall. The meaning behind the proverb is very deep. I am so grateful to have been taught this wisdom. I appreciate your understanding of this.
It was great to have you introduce this proverb to me ~ thank you!
This is beautiful, Karen. So true. When we heal ourselves, we heal our children. Michael Brown speaks of this in his book, The Presence Process. I have seen changes in my adult children as I continue my healing work on myself.
Thankyou Carrie, it is a gift to see these changes as we move through our own healing. Michael Brown’s book sounds great, I will check it out. 🙂
Karen, I added a link to his website, the Presence Portal, at the end of yesterday’s post, “excerpts”. Blessings to you.
Thanks Carrie thats great.
Karen I have just been back to my childhood town of Wagga and caught up with many old friends. I see the things that effected them through their childhoods etched in their hearts and minds still today. As a parent we have such a giant responsibility to nurture our children and show them a loving and caring way to live. To face the hard stuff with a strong heart and to make positive choices in everything they do………This quote is a wonderful way to think about what we can do Thank you.
What choices I make now in my lifetime will affect many generations to come, and each direction I take consciously, will reflect upon the decisions that my children’s children make.
Beautifully said Kath. The wounds from the past are indeed etched in their hearts and is great motivation to help me make new decisions like you are. It is a gift to give this to our children. Have a wonderful day my friend 🙂
This post resonates with me so much. I see similarities in my mother and grandmother’s histories, painful traits that I do not want to pass down on to my daughter, and it wasn’t until I read this post that I realized I have the ability to break those patterns.
I’m so interested in the “how” – I know you spoke of recognition and forgiveness, but I’m curious if there are more specifics you have in mind.
Very glad to have found your blog via Twitter and my friend Kath over at Minuscule Moments.
Hi Dana, Im glad you stopped by too. Seeing the gifts and the wounds from our past is definitely the first step. All my healings have been possible with practising certain disciplines. First I started with Yoga and then moved into Meditation daily. I have been trained in Reiki and Shamanism which helps clear our Chakra’s, which is the energy system within us. Understanding where in our body we maybe holding any wounds from our past and letting go of that through forgiving our ancestors and no longer holding these patterns for ourselves or our children really helps.
Practising stillness regularly and understanding your body and your emotions can really help you see what can be done to change these patterns. I am happy for you to email me if you have any specific questions about this. (naaron2@hotmail.com)
I hope this gives you some insight Dana. Thankyou.
Karen
It’s great to keep everything in check and be responsible not even just for yourself but for others. I’m gonna be honest here, as always 😉 . I guess what I really want to say is that we all have dirts in all of us. We have bad patterns. Even being good all the time can be a bad pattern. I just want to say that. I do what you are saying here. I have this very bad pattern that I need to work on and keep in check not to affect everything. 😉
Great comment Rommel. Life is a continuous journey of change and it’s good to be aware of ourselves and how we think and act. Your time in Greece will open you up to new challenges and wonderful experiences to see life differently!!
beautiful post – well defined. the right length and wholly enjoyable, Eve
Thankyou so much for your comment Eve. 🙂