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Honor the ancestors!
Drive your creative growth by honoring the ancestors.
Chris Valdheims
August 12, 2023
Listen to this episode: “Honor the Ancestors!”
I can pinpoint the time and place when I first felt my ancestors' presence.
It was in 2018, in a small northern Lithuanian village called Laizuva. I went there with a Russian inventor and entrepreneur named Anatoly, who was related to me through my grandmother's family.
I wrote a pretty detailed story about it called “The Cathedral” that was published in a literary journal a few years ago (I changed my relative's name in there, by the way).
We went to the graves of our ancestors, swept them, and placed candles. As I’ve written on Instagram:
My great-grandmother's name translates to Emily Mist. She lived in rural Lithuania.
On the day I visited her grave, a mist descended slowly onto us and turned into a slight drizzle as we left.
Maybe someone was there, and I could feel it.
I've wanted to know more of her life and the lives of all those who came before me…
As someone who grew up knowing nothing of my family, either on my father's or mother's side, I marveled that I was now visiting my ancestor's graves in what would be the old country.
I was the first to return.
Since then, I've spent much time understanding how my forebear's story led to my story. I wanted to know what had been passed down from them to better express what I felt and somehow knew.
Early on my path, I came across the book "It Didn't Start with You," which seems vital for anyone interested in how their ancestors' stories shaped their world.
In this episode, I talk about that book and how uncovering more about my family history (especially the dark parts) helped me be more creative and how that ties to epigenetics (the science of which I admittedly only have a basic understanding).
I get that this topic might not be obvious in a discussion on creativity, but I never promised obvious.
I only strive for deep and valuable, which this discussion is.
Enjoy.
Listen to this episode: “Honor the Ancestors!”
PS - I mean it when I say I would love to hear from you. I want to hear your questions, insights, reactions, comments, whatever. Learning how you respond helps me to understand what to talk about in the future. 🖤