Your Story Is Not Set in Stone

How to release inherited patterns and create your own path. (Estimated reading time: 4 minutes)

We inherit more than eye color or height from our families. Patterns of stress, coping, and even unspoken fears can travel across generations. Yet modern science offers a remarkable truth: what you’ve inherited is not your destiny. With awareness, care, and intentional practice, you can begin to release old patterns and write a new story for yourself — one filled with freedom, health, and authentic choice.

The Science of Inherited Patterns

Epigenetics — the study of how environment and experience affect gene expression — shows that trauma can leave chemical “markers” on DNA, shaping how genes are turned on or off. These markers can influence stress response, emotional regulation, and even physical health. But crucially, research also demonstrates that these changes are reversible. Supportive environments, nourishing food, and safe relationships can help “switch off” stress-driven pathways and restore balance (The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk; The Developing Genome, David S. Moore).

What we inherit is influence, not fate.

Breaking the Cycle

Neuroscience adds to this hope. The brain is not a static organ; it remains plastic and capable of change throughout life. That means harmful coping strategies learned in childhood — shutting down, people-pleasing, emotional eating, or over-controlling — can be replaced with healthier patterns. Through practices like mindfulness, therapy, movement, and creative expression, the brain builds new neural pathways that support resilience, calm, and authentic connection (Mindsight, Daniel J. Siegel; The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge).

Patterns are not prisons; they are habits — and habits can be reshaped.

Reclaiming Your Health Story

Family histories often include cycles of depression, anxiety, or addiction. But while these cycles may echo through generations, they are not immutable. With the right care — safe community, proper nutrition, nervous system regulation — even deeply rooted struggles can shift. Studies show that both mental and physical health outcomes improve when individuals actively reframe their narratives and take new actions toward well-being (The Deepest Well, Nadine Burke Harris).

Your past shapes you, but it doesn’t define you.

Writing Your Own Path

Healing is not about erasing the past — it’s about transforming your relationship to it. By understanding where patterns came from and choosing differently, you reclaim authorship of your own life. You step out of repetition and into creation, where inherited burdens become fuel for freedom.

You are the author now — and every page is still blank.

Healing Takeaway

Write down one family pattern you inherited that feels heavy — then next to it, write one way you’re already living differently. Small breaks in the cycle are proof that the story is changing.

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References & Recommended Reading

• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. — foundational work on trauma, healing, and the body-mind connection
• The Developing Genome — David S. Moore - Explores how genes and environment interact, debunking genetic determinism and showing how experience shapes who we become.
• Mindsight — Daniel J. Siegel -  Explains how developing awareness of our inner world leads to greater resilience and wellbeing.
• Norman Doidge – The Brain That Changes Itself - Inspiring stories of neuroplasticity, showing the brain’s power to adapt and rewire at any age.
• The Deepest Well — Nadine Burke Harris  - A compassionate exploration of how childhood adversity shapes lifelong health, and how healing is possible.

With care from my heart to yours,

Shannon

Shannon Sanguinetti M.Sc. | Founder of Repor - Where Science Meets Soul