introduction

A couple months after my father died, I walked into our small town bookstore. I don’t know what I was looking for on that particular day, but what I found seemed like it had been put there just for me. I was still in the very early stages of coming to grips with my new reality, and almost immediately my eyes landed on a title that read, “It Didn’t Start With You.”

The back cover described new evidence in neuroscience and post-traumatic stress, indicating that the root causes of many of our deepest struggles may reside in the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. I was intrigued, so I bought the book. I’m so glad I did.

What started out as a personal endeavor to understand my family history, grew and developed into something far beyond anything I could have anticipated. This is my attempt to put everything in one place.