How Do Your Genes Affect Your Behavior?
It is said that things happen in seven year cycles. Seven years ago when biologist and epigeneticist Dr. Bruce Lipton published Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There From Here, people weren’t quite ready for his “new age philosophy” on how we possess the power to evolve our belief systems. Genetic testing was just being released for an affordable cost to the public and, we were finding that, despite people’s belief systems -- say, those based on fear and bias that divided us -- our shared biological traits had far more in common rather than the traits we perceived to make us different from one another. Fast forward seven years and we’re coming together collectively in the NOW age to evolve our beliefs.
We’re ready. We’re sick of fear and tired of biases based on race, culture, politics and sexuality. The dogmatic institutions are breaking down and we have the tools we need within ourselves.
Lipton suggested that this power is contained in our cellular data. Now we are able to simultaneously discover through science what makes each of us unique individuals and exactly the same. We are, after all, a community of co-existing cells. Lipton’s research really convinced skeptics about how mind-body medicine is a provable body of science. His data and that of his colleagues helps explain what biologically wires us to believe one way or the other. We’re born with our own unique genetic variations, therefore it’s understandable that our behaviors will vary somewhat from person to person. It’s been discovered and has been well-documented that many behaviors and beliefs are driven by genetics. While we are not our genes 100 percent, we are an expression of them. This is the study of epigenetics. These are the environmental variables that affect our genetic expression. We have the power to break the cycle of old, outworn belief systems. We want to be lovers, and not only can we consider the idea of it, we can literally ditch hater-behavior and trade it for love. We want to up our cognitive ante, and we have a great chance of doing it… but first, we have to make the conscious decision to do so.
End the Hatin’ On and Get Your Lovin’ On
Are you willing to put all of your beliefs on the table to make room for a new way? Will you take a chance on rewiring your beliefs to make them inclusive? What fears will you leave behind? What will you gain? What do you see everyone in the greater global community gaining as a result of changing your biologically-wired beliefs? Consider the following:
That uneasy feeling
The next time you’re feeling uneasy about someone else’s behavior, thoughts and language, or the next time you hear someone suggest a thought, theory or opinion other than your own, remember that this sensation you’re experiencing is a result of your biology responding. You are wiring down to the cellular level. Instead of allowing your own belief system to shock you or to self-sabotage your ability to evolve, try pausing to cool down before responding. Prolonged anger and frustration can cause inflammation and its biological process can affect healthy neuro-cognition. Anger, Wisdom For Cooling The Flames, is a book by Buddhist monk, Thich Naht Hanh that can help out with this.
Politics, language and behavior
Want to really dedicate yourself to change? Want to remove bias and end persecution toward others? Have you looked at your political motivations and considered that they may be what’s dividing you more than actually bringing you closer to humanity? Persecution happens at the subconscious level more than you may have considered. Instead of bitching, blaming and hating, try loving-based, solution-oriented commentary on how to remove bias through altering personal behavior. Understanding what advocacy means to you and how it’s connected to your core belief system might just be the thing to take a long, hard stare at. Look at your language -- are you engaging in discussions that are associated with negative-talk? What are your information sources? What are their agendas and why are you ascribing to them? Think like a neuro-linguist and look at your words -- do they divide or bring together the whole picture? Do they bring together more than just your self-serving attitude? We cannot realistically hope to evolve collectively if we remain so politically confused and divided.If we have this power to really decide to change our beliefs, let’s truly believe we’re all deserving of love and equality. Because everything else is really a myth if it isn’t about equality, right?
