How did your experiences shape you?

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“The same person can organize in different ways depending on the signals they get early in life. That’s why — What happened to you? — is so important. The timing and nature of these experiences plays a major role in how you unfold as a human being.”

In this episode snippet, Dr. Bruce Perry, acclaimed neuroscientist, child psychiatrist, and co-author of What Happened to You?, illuminates how our experiences shape our brain development and thus our worldview and behavior.

This week, when we find ourselves in the throes of an old pattern, let’s reflect on the central theme of his book. Instead of asking, What’s wrong with me?, how might your response change if you asked: What happened to me? It’s in claiming our agency that we begin to heal.