Release Your Inherited Legacy: An Excerpt From "Get There Now" By Susanne Conrad by Susanne Conrad

In this excerpt from my book, Get There Now: Transform Yourself and the World Through Laughter, Listening and the Power of Choice (chapter 8, Release Your Inherited Legacy), I explore why to let go of negative inherited legacies and embrace a choice-based future of fulfillment.

Inherited Legacies to Release

• Artists don’t make money.
• Work and life have to be hard.
• To succeed I have to suffer.
• Food will soothe me.
• I can’t have/do it all.
• I need to stay quiet to keep the peace.
• I always need more.
• I’ve got to beat the system.

Choice-based Legacies to Carry Forward 

• I am able to create community through activity.
• I can live a life of service while taking care of myself.
• Fulfillment in all areas of my life is possible.
• I work with intuitive intelligence to get things done.
• I have faith in the current and future generations.
• Work is fun, fulfilling and abundant.
• I am inquisitive and enjoy looking into the meaning of life.
• Giving without expectation is a way of being.
• Love of people is a renewable resource.

I have found that simply recognizing or discerning inherited legacies is the antidote to judgment, allowing me to release those legacies that no longer serve me. “Know the truth and the truth will set you free” was the operating adage of Dorothy Wood Espiau and her teachings. I now can sense truth in my body, and so can you if you begin to listen. Each generation has an opportunity and responsibility to honor and care for their lineage by bringing the best forward, forgoing what no longer serves and forgiving any harm that it has done, and integrating what is new.

In most cases, the key to releasing inherited legacies is forgiveness.

Forgiveness does not equal condoning.

Forgiveness is the releasing of carrying the burden, the resentment, the aggravation of not listening or learning earlier. It is a monumental choice of moving forward from a chronic state of unforgiveness, which affords the unforgiver the empty, shabby right to be right about how they or another person are wrong. Unforgiveness is the main character in the drama of duality, and it lives to produce chaos and energy that mimics our positive lifeforce yet has no fulfillment.

As I got older, I released my inherited legacy of fear and all of the associated struggle that reared its head that day. I began to both understand and forgive my mother for her retelling of my traumatic birth. I realize now that she was always attempting to free herself.

Forgiveness is the willingness of the calcified ego to step off the stage of right and wrong, and into a world of unified wholeness. Besides, forgiving can be fun. Some days, I wake in a groggy indistinct state of unforgiveness and remind myself, “Oh, right, Suzy ... remember? You already forgave yourself for that. Stop being a bully to yourself,” or “Yeah, girl, remember? You already forgave that business colleague ... no point wrecking your sweet heart over it. Go to bed, good woman, and rest.”

I am pretty sure future generations are thanking me now for tidying up my legacy DNA.

This excerpt is presented with permission from River Grove Books, an imprint of Greenleaf Book Group.

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