Understand the Power of Genes

What if I told you that there is an invisible force influencing your thoughts and your actions? It impacts your relationships with your friends, your kids, your partners, your co-workers.

It has a powerful influence over all aspects of your life, and you’re probably completely unaware of it.

If you didn’t know I had credentials as scientist, you might question my sanity. But it turns out there is compelling evidence that there are underlying, unconscious factors that influence our behavior. And despite what Freud might have told us, the source of those unconscious urges isn’t the ego or the id, it’s our genes. 

We are all born with a unique code, that, quite literally, shapes us from the very beginning. It’s the instruction manual that lays the foundation for our individual growth and development. 

Many pieces of that manual are shared across all human beings – it codes for two arms and two legs, internal organs, a brain. But the parts that vary create the vast array of differences that exist between people – on the outside and the inside. Differences in our genes influence why our hair is blond or brown, curly or straight, brown eyes or blue, light-skinned or dark. Those are the differences that are easy to see, but the most interesting differences are the ones that lie within, that influence the way our bodies work on the inside. These differences impact lots of outcomes – why some of us can’t tolerate certain foods, or why we’re more or less at risk for different medical conditions.

The things I study are the genetic pieces that are even more interesting – the subtle differences not in our arteries and blood pressure, but in the ways our brains are wired. 

Have you ever wondered why you and your partner or best friend can run into someone, have a conversation, and come away with totally different impressions of the person?

Our genes impact the way we process and respond to the world. Our genes are involved differences in the things we call personality and other traits, like impulsivity, risk-taking, our propensity to worry. These differences then influence our risk for clinical disorders like addiction or depression or anxiety. But they also influence the day-to-day choices we make. The way we interact with our partners, our colleagues, our friends. They influence the things that make us angry or happy and how we react when we feel those emotions. Our genes influence almost every aspect our lives, and most of the time we’re completely unaware of it. 

But here’s the most important part: By understanding the ways that our genes are influencing our lives, it can help us break patterns that are causing us problems…

…whether that’s drinking too much or smoking, or anxiety, or challenges we’re having raising our kids or with our partners. Our genes aren’t our destiny.

If you want to change your hair or eye color, you can do something about it – dye your hair, wear colored contacts. It requires more effort than if you’d been born with the hair color you wanted, but it’s possible. By taking action, we can change the way that our natural genetic tendencies actually play out.  

I have spent more than 20 years studying the ways that our genes influence our lives. I’ve written hundreds of scientific papers and run dozens of projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and lots of private foundations. 

And now I want to help you harness the power of your hidden genes to live your best life.