I think this may speak to the mechanism of how our ancestor's traumas get internalized, but I also mention how indigenous belief systems which connect to protective ancestors may have inherent wisdom in bolstering resilence:
"Another key insight from Bonnie’s work is that it is not just our connections with people who are co-present to the potentially traumatic event, but that also people, presences and relationships that we have internalized matter.
For example, a traumatic event is less likely to embedded if we got our needs met by our parents, and we were supported by their care in early life, whether or not they are present or even still alive, or if we know there is a loving spouse waiting for us at home, or we have a group of friends we can truly rely on.
By the same token, there is also wisdom in indigenous beliefs grounded in a sense that we are connected to ancestors who love us and watch over us, or having a totem or spirit animal as a protector."
This is interesting and timely to me, as I have been reminding myself of Bonnie Badenoch;s concepts of "trauma as relational" and "internalized others"... I just wrote about her work here https://garysharpe.substack.com/p/the-mind-body-interpersonalrelational
I think this may speak to the mechanism of how our ancestor's traumas get internalized, but I also mention how indigenous belief systems which connect to protective ancestors may have inherent wisdom in bolstering resilence:
"Another key insight from Bonnie’s work is that it is not just our connections with people who are co-present to the potentially traumatic event, but that also people, presences and relationships that we have internalized matter.
For example, a traumatic event is less likely to embedded if we got our needs met by our parents, and we were supported by their care in early life, whether or not they are present or even still alive, or if we know there is a loving spouse waiting for us at home, or we have a group of friends we can truly rely on.
By the same token, there is also wisdom in indigenous beliefs grounded in a sense that we are connected to ancestors who love us and watch over us, or having a totem or spirit animal as a protector."