I love old movies. One is The Young Philadelphians starring Paul Newman, known these days for his salad dressing and pasta sauce more than for his leading roles in film. This 1959 movie is about a man who becomes what his mother wanted him to become, an attorney well placed in society. In the beginning, Mr. Newman narrates saying,
“A man’s life, they say, is the sum of all his actions, but his actions are sometimes the result of the hopes, dreams, and desires of those who came before him. In that sense, my life began before I was born.”
This is a profound statement on at least two levels. In the movie it meant that the mother’s aspirations for her son affected his life; in fact, her dreams for him began while he was still in her womb. What it means today is that previous generations can impact our lives including our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents and other even older progenitors. In addition to genetic influences, epigenetic influences are even stronger. Epigenetic means “beyond the genes.” The environment and our experiences can literally cause genes to express or not. If you have a gene that carries a trait or even a disease that is undesirable, it does not have to be expressed. Our worry and concern, our belief that our genes have to become our reality are simply not true. Whether our parents had physical genes in their bodies or thoughts in their minds—they don’t have to manifest in our bodies and minds. Our lives do begin before we are born, but the power of our parents to impact our lives can be reduced and even eliminated when we know about epigenetics. We can exercise more control over our lives than has been thought possible. Now we know!