There are a combination of factors that influence who we are and who we have become. Hereditary influences such as skin and eye colour or height and weight anything that is handed to us by genes. Also our temperament and Mum and Dad or other family members may have already told you about your nature, things that may have emerged from a very young age. Such as; you were such a happy baby or you never slept or you were such a busy baby and maybe even stubborn or determined. The list goes on and may give you some clues to a personality or disposition you were born with. Feel free to jot any of these down in your notebook for session three; in this session though we want to look at a key influence, our childhood environment and family culture. This could be when very young or more around late childhood even into your teens depending on where the majority of your memories lie. A good way to really dig into this is to do a genogram.
I remember the first time I did a genogram at a study course. In this genogram I traced back my family history as far back as I knew which was great grandfather on most branches of the family. Then once we had filled in the names and dates etc. We looked at various influences and common threads. I learnt that there was no alcoholism in the family actually I come from a long line of non drinkers thanks to the influence of Christianity which also runs in the family. Unluckily though there was a genetic predisposition for heart attacks and early deaths on one side of the family and on the other to live incredibly long lives well into the late 90’s but with much family dispute and disharmony on this same side :{{. I found it insightful just to do this kind of historical genogram and still remember how good it felt to gain some insight into the genealogical threads. This experience gave some insight to me personally and some helpful context to who I am.
You may have already have done family tree type history at some point but the genogram that I am going to talk you through is more of a map than a genogram and a reasonably simple and succinct way to provide insight and self discovery. Here is your Genogram instructions (link).
Genogram instructions