Dialogue DNA

Okay... I think I'll blame it on COVID!  Why not?!

Over this past year, I have been slowly cleaning out photo albums and boxes that have been untouched for years: images and memories of early childhood, elementary school friends, high school activities, college adventures, and career path wanderings.  Stories forgotten and re-remembered... and now, decisions of what to keep, give away or toss.

Isn't it amazing when we have the perspective of Time Past to glimpse our Story Anew, the slices of time we have occupied so jealously.

How do you see the world?

Journeying backwards I became interested in my ancestry.  I have memories of my maternal great grandmother and grandparents, my paternal grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, my parents and siblings, but beyond that I recall only sketches of my extended family's path through time.  Slogging through birth and death certificates, census records, and military registration forms, additional information has surfaced: outlines and shadows of Lives Once Lived.

A recent interest has been DNA research: I discovered a nationality I never knew or heard about in family lore.  Do we ever fully know what makes up this person we see in the mirror each day?

What influences your decisions?
(Photo credit: Collection of Genetic Data
Leads to Privacy Concerns, The New Economy)

This personal remembering and exploration has allowed me to wonder about the Dialogue DNA that is also a part of my family's story:

• What we talked about... or did not;
• How we listened... or did not; and,
  
• When we sought new ways of thinking and being... or did not.

Are there ways to see and respond differently?

~ Click on image for a larger view ~
(Photo credit: Ladder of Influence,
based on the work of Chris Argyris)

Have you ever noticed that the images of the twisted strands of chromosomes look similar to the Ladder of Inference:  one determines our make up; the other interprets what we see and experience.

 

Through DNA studies, I am learning that each strand of life has an imprint that links me to Family Past.  Dialogue studies help me to realize that I imprint meanings and conclusions -- filtered through family, culture, education, and lived experience -- onto the present and future.

 

Time Past hides our story.  Exploration and reflection opens the Story Anew.  The Dialogue DNA imprinted on us requires that we talk, listen, and explore new ways of thinking and being.

 
May this week inspire us to clean house and rediscover the Family We Are.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)