Psychology of Genealogy

This post is very different from my usual, but I felt inspired to write about a sensitive subject that I think affects more families than what people would like to admit or even realize. I frequently listen to a genealogy podcast called Genealogy Gems by Lisa Louise Cooke. She had a psychologist on as a guest speaker to talk about the psychology of genealogy. They first talked about feeling like having a spiritual and deeper connection to ancestors after researching them. This is something I definitely feel. I have always felt close to my family. Learning their stories, why they made the choices they did, what affected their everyday lives, has brought me even closer to my family. I love knowing what led to my existence today, and knowing that one little change, one different decision by even just one of my hundreds of ancestors would mean I would not be here today. The rest of the podcast talked about how what our ancestors have been through bleeds into the following generations, and ...