Your Nervous System is a Connection to Your Ancestors
♡ This text originally appeared in Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters, an affirming weekly email series for highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults who feel burnt out from wearing masks all day & are re-learning who they really are. Subscribe here to receive letters directly in your inbox.
Every day, as part of my sensory care routine, I like to brush my arms & legs with a skin brush. It exfoliates the skin, helps with circulation, and makes me feel more awake & connected to my body.
When I engage in this soothing ritual, I think about how taking care of my nervous system is also a way to connect with my ancestors.
After all, each of our nervous systems is an ancestral inheritance.
The human meat-suit that you’re living in right now, didn’t just come from nowhere.
Every cell in your body came from somewhere and someone older than you, who experienced this earth before you ever landed here.
Even if you don’t know a thing about your ancestors, your nervous system knows a thing or two.
🌀 Your ancestors’ faces are reflected in your facial features.
🌀 Their voices are echoed in the tone & timbre of your voice.
🌀 Your most natural, automatic instincts — how you experience joy, how you hold grief in the body, how you respond to danger, and where you feel most at home — reflect both the story of your life & the story of the lives of your people.
When we pause to let that sink in, the meaning is profound:
Taking care of our nervous systems is a gift to ourselves and all the generations that came before us (& the ones who come after). It’s like saying: Thank you for this ancestral inheritance. I will treasure it for as long as I live!
The next time you take care of your nervous system, I invite you to imagine your ancestors (the wise & well ones) thanking you back.
With care,
Liz
Liked this blog post?
Subscribe to Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters to receive these reflections directly in your inbox.
Interested in working together?
Online Therapy in Colorado | Coaching Worldwide
Helping highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults heal their nervous systems & connect with their authentic selves.
About the Author
Liz Zhou (she/her) is a neurodivergent therapist, coach, and speaker. She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves, using brain-body modalities (Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, psychedelic integration) that are quicker & more effective than traditional talk therapy. Liz offers Nervous System Healing Intensives online worldwide.
