Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share How Thinking About Your Ancestors Can Help You Thrive
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
How Thinking About Your Ancestors Can Help You Thrive
Join our limited newsletter, The Science of Habits, to get curated, science-backed tips to help make your New Year's resolution stick in 2024.
https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/podcasts/habits
We explore how contemplating our heritage can make us feel more belonging, gratitude, and confidence in what we're capable of achieving.
Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/5djerhbj
Episode summary:
Oral historian Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz knows the profound impact the past can have on the present. For our show, Mi’Jan tried a lab-tested writing practice that took the historical facts she knew about her own family further – by way of her imagination. She journaled about her great-great grandmother Emma, the last enslaved person in her family, and her late father, Njoroge , imagining what they might say to her today.We also hear from psychologist Susan Moore about how learning about your ancestors can help you feel a sense of self-knowledge, gratitude and belonging.
Practice:
Imagine an ancestor in your family lineage. It can be someone you have known or someone from centuries ago.
Spend the next 5-15 minutes writing about them. If you don’t know the details, imagine how their life would have been. Write down anything that comes to mind such as their way of life, their profession or what they looked like.
Next imagine what they would tell you if they were alive today. What specific insights, advice or feedback would they give you? Write down your reflections.
Today’s guests:
Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz is an artist, documentarian and oral historian.
Learn more about Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz’s work: http://tinyurl.com/5e8t9ha7
Follow Mi’Jan on Instagram: http://tinyurl.com/mr3yp3kz
Susan Moore is a psychology professor at the Swinburne University of Technology.
Follow Susan on Twitter:http://tinyurl.com/mr3vsr2k
Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:
How Teens Today Are Different from Past Generations: http://tinyurl.com/y5ffwavr
Don’t Be So Quick to Stereotype Generations: http://tinyurl.com/mrxx7xfj
How Collective Trauma Can Hurt the Next Generation: http://tinyurl.com/2vunsm2z
Find Purpose by Connecting Across Generations: http://tinyurl.com/h4yyjesh
More Resources on Connecting with Ancestors:
NPR- 8 listeners share the powerful ways they keep in touch with their ancestors: http://tinyurl.com/48kjmenk
Harvard - How Family History Can Inspire Accountable Reparations and Foster Ancestral Healing: http://tinyurl.com/ta24x773
TED - How to be a good ancestor: http://tinyurl.com/54zvkzsv
How do you connect with your family history? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness!
Rate us on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: http://tinyurl.com/yv69erdh
View all episodes
By PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.5
18051,805 ratings
Join our limited newsletter, The Science of Habits, to get curated, science-backed tips to help make your New Year's resolution stick in 2024.
https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/podcasts/habits
We explore how contemplating our heritage can make us feel more belonging, gratitude, and confidence in what we're capable of achieving.
Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/5djerhbj
Episode summary:
Oral historian Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz knows the profound impact the past can have on the present. For our show, Mi’Jan tried a lab-tested writing practice that took the historical facts she knew about her own family further – by way of her imagination. She journaled about her great-great grandmother Emma, the last enslaved person in her family, and her late father, Njoroge , imagining what they might say to her today.We also hear from psychologist Susan Moore about how learning about your ancestors can help you feel a sense of self-knowledge, gratitude and belonging.
Practice:
Imagine an ancestor in your family lineage. It can be someone you have known or someone from centuries ago.
Spend the next 5-15 minutes writing about them. If you don’t know the details, imagine how their life would have been. Write down anything that comes to mind such as their way of life, their profession or what they looked like.
Next imagine what they would tell you if they were alive today. What specific insights, advice or feedback would they give you? Write down your reflections.
Today’s guests:
Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz is an artist, documentarian and oral historian.
Learn more about Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz’s work: http://tinyurl.com/5e8t9ha7
Follow Mi’Jan on Instagram: http://tinyurl.com/mr3yp3kz
Susan Moore is a psychology professor at the Swinburne University of Technology.
Follow Susan on Twitter:http://tinyurl.com/mr3vsr2k
Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:
How Teens Today Are Different from Past Generations: http://tinyurl.com/y5ffwavr
Don’t Be So Quick to Stereotype Generations: http://tinyurl.com/mrxx7xfj
How Collective Trauma Can Hurt the Next Generation: http://tinyurl.com/2vunsm2z
Find Purpose by Connecting Across Generations: http://tinyurl.com/h4yyjesh
More Resources on Connecting with Ancestors:
NPR- 8 listeners share the powerful ways they keep in touch with their ancestors: http://tinyurl.com/48kjmenk
Harvard - How Family History Can Inspire Accountable Reparations and Foster Ancestral Healing: http://tinyurl.com/ta24x773
TED - How to be a good ancestor: http://tinyurl.com/54zvkzsv
How do you connect with your family history? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness!
Rate us on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: http://tinyurl.com/yv69erdh
More shows like The Science of Happiness
View all
Living on Earth
473 Listeners
Latino USA
3,743 Listeners
Afropop Worldwide
304 Listeners
Live Wire with Luke Burbank
318 Listeners
The World
903 Listeners
Snap Judgment
11,557 Listeners
Happiness Podcast
813 Listeners
Good Life Project
3,272 Listeners
The One You Feed
2,517 Listeners
Reveal
8,069 Listeners
The Psychology Podcast
1,857 Listeners
Hidden Brain
43,343 Listeners
Untangle
826 Listeners
10% Happier with Dan Harris
12,573 Listeners
Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson
2,404 Listeners
Things That Go Boom
319 Listeners
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
14,589 Listeners
Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
23,640 Listeners
Chasing Life
8,182 Listeners
How to Be a Better Human
1,394 Listeners
Suave
1,426 Listeners
A Slight Change of Plans
1,882 Listeners
How to Age Up
1,371 Listeners
Try This
290 Listeners