Epigenetics

I enjoy focusing mental energy on positive wellness intentions whenever possible. These positive intentions keeps me centered on how and why the choices I make, steer my wellness journey. Sometimes I choose these positive wellness thoughts to be the focus of a meditation, sometimes I include these thoughts in my gratitude lists and thoughts, and as often as possible, I include them in my daily conversation, especially with my kids. For it is the thoughts that we focus on that will drive the direction of our lives. The deeper I go into my wellness journey, the more I am convinced that much of our health comes from within.

A couple years ago I learned about the term “epigenetics.” According to the CDC “Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.” How I understand this is that we are born with a genetic code that is comprised of strong links and weak links. How that code is expressed during our lives depends on how we live and the choices we make. If our lives are stressful on our bodies, we open the door for our weak links to express themselves more readily through illness or disease. If our lives are supported to be as healthy, resilient and strong, then we leave the door for our strong links to be expressed. This understanding gave me a sense of power (in a good way.) It said to me that we are partially in the driver’s seat, and that we can have a say in our health, opening my mind to endless positive opportunities.

This is not to say that there won’t be illness and disease, but this is to say that I could decrease the likelihood of disease for myself and my family with the choices that I made. When it comes to health, we want the highest probability of wellness and so with the understanding of the term epigenetics, we make wellness choices a priority.

So what does this look like for us?

I am driven to focus on what I can do to stay strong instead of what I can’t do. I recognize that my power comes from within. We support our doctors to support us on our wellness journey, but we don’t ask them to do it for us. We rely on our doctors to help “fix our flat tires” that we encounter along the way but we do not assume that they are fundamentally broken. We are intelligent, adaptable, and responsible. We are here to be active in our lives. We have gratitude for wellbeing and we honor that gratitude by doing wellness work to maintain as much of it as possible. We seek information for in order to have choices we must be informed. We love to learn. We appreciate both sides of an argument.

We have found that we have far fewer health challenges that we used to, now that we have stepped into a life of informed wellness choices. Our health is not perfect, but it is liberating and empowering to know that we can do things everyday that give us a better chance at wellness than we had otherwise. With that we can face life with more confidence and motivation to do whatever we can with the days and health that we have at our current moment.

Wishing you and your loved ones wellness, joy and a Happy Thanksgiving!