What if someone was to tell you that you can change your genes? What would you say?
The long-standing nature vs. nurture debate has fueled many fires over the years, but what if science could demonstrate that such a change can be made? My many years of curious research and personal journey have led me to believe that such a gene change is possible. How you might ask? I will share a bit of pop science I have come to both learn and experience.
In a desperate attempt to heal my own life, the highlight of my search began when I first stumbled upon The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton, a former professor at the University of Wisconsin and a research scientist. He shares his revolutionary findings in a growing field of what is coined epigenetics. What this research showed using a simple petri dish filled with embryonic stem cells was this: The health of these cells were influenced by the medium they were exposed to.
To drill down further, DNA is the blueprint we are given as part of the double helix strand in our chromosomes. The other part is made of protein that acts as a covering over the double helix, similar to how skin covers our bodies. Environmental factors that we are exposed to influence the activation of some DNA and also the regulation of the protein that can read or trigger the expression of said DNA.
But what that does mean for you, you might ask? Well, like a single cell in a petri dish, we are nothing but a collection of trillions of cells, much like a single drop of water is to the ocean, and, as such, are also influenced by our environment.
So now you may be wondering what these environmental factors may be? In a nutshell, they are the "choices" we make in life: what we think, how we feel, foods we eat, relationships we make -- all influence our perceptions of the world, our internal world of "expressed" genes.
In making my own changes and embodying many of these lifestyle choices, my healing and awakening supported the activation of these so called "good genes." And as nature would have it, leaders, masters, enlightened ones, gurus, and pundits alike are presented to me through books, seminars, healing sessions, podcasts, etc. and continually expand my own awakening in this truth and purpose to serve others.
More recently and synergistically, I came to learn more about gene control through Dr. Mitchell Gaynor's genechanger blog. Dr. Gaynor, an oncologist, healer, and educator, is one of the foremost leaders in the new science of epigenetics: His work and passion has served humanity through health education, healing practices, scientific research, and as a last resort, medical intervention. He shares practical lifestyle changes and concurrently offers inexplicable healing that only an open heart is wise to; thus allowing for the many environmental influences that can surely change our genes.
So as the old adage goes, "I have good genes," can now mean that we get to fully live out our true potential partially through choice, rather than chance.