What's in Your DNA?

DNA isn't destiny

What you have in your hands, to determine, to prime, to control, that’s what is called destiny. — Abiola Okun

A lot of us talk about how we were biologically endowed with certain skills, talents, expressions, physiques, and some dare even say habits. While a part of that is true, and there’s such a thing as biological priming known as Deoxyribonucleic Acid - DNA; the truth is that DNA isn’t destiny. Biological priming isn’t the only thing that primes. As a matter of fact, that’s just a little percentage of what makes your destiny.

We have seen, time and again, how more and more people defy the very biology that makes them up, going along to do extraordinary things that end up making other people ask if they truly were born by their parents.

Just as there is biological priming, there is mental priming too. This is what gets into your mind, or specifically, what you put into your mind. Your mind makes up your very soul. What you constantly see, read, and hear, all of these things are what pervade your psyche as thoughts, they are the things that influence your mind and you know how they say that you are what you think. Not what you think you are, but what you think about.

You are not what you think you are. You are what you think about.

The information that you feed yourself with, consciously or unconsciously, day after day, through your ears and eyes, primes you into the very person you become. It has a huge chunk of determination of your destiny, dare I say, even more than your biological priming does.
I have seen folks say things like, “It’s not in our family’s DNA to be smart.” “There are patterns in our family, tied in our DNAs that make sure we don’t turn out differently from the rest of the family.”
But that’s not true! What’s true is that, if you listen to the same things as your family, see the same things, hear the same things, take in the same information, and go to the same places, then yes, you won’t turn out differently from the rest of them, but it’s not just biological priming at play here! Something even stronger is at play; mental priming!
This is why, when people who aren’t even connected by blood, or even by location are exposed to the same information all their lives, they will think and turn out the same way!

That’s not all! There’s environmental priming too! It’s a little similar but completely different from mental priming. Environmental priming is the effect of where you are. This also has a lot to determine about your destiny. Your environment is your friends, your neighbors, your desk, the cultures and religions you’re exposed to, the adverts that you consume daily, the options that come across you daily, the news, your colleagues, your wardrobe, your bookshelf, your actual location, it goes beyond the mind. It is everything that has to do with your physical, bodily environment. Things you can see, touch, hold, talk to, etc.
While mental priming discusses inside-out, how what you think about is what you become, environmental priming discusses outside-in. It says that you are a function of your physical atmosphere.

We all might not know it, but every single second, we are being primed, chiseled, and shaped into something. It now is up to us to determine what we get shaped into. If we do nothing, we will be shaped, and we will conform to that which the world wants us to become, and I promise, if we allow ourselves to be shaped into what the world wants, we will be no different than the other 5-7 billion unconscious beings who live like they’ve taken the blue pill of the average, mediocre life. We will not stand out, and there will be nothing outstanding about us. (Cliche, I know. But allow)

What we must do is determine what we want to do, and what our destiny is, by taking control of our priming. Yes, our biological priming has been done, it’s had its own say, but the good thing is, it doesn’t have the ultimate say! You can manipulate and program your mind and environment in such a way that it defies the odds that come with your biological priming and makes it insignificant.
Things like discipline, integrity, bad and good habits, materials, and knowledge to get wealth, don’t come with your biology. They come with your mind! What you know and the actions you take with what you know!
Things like looking good, smelling good, being around good people, being in good places, living good, they don’t come with your biology. They come with your environment!

While you don’t have much say in your biological DNA, you can have a say in your mental and environmental DNA. Both make up your heart and your soul. Biology is temporary. Your heart and your soul are eternal.
Isn’t it beautiful? How good and perfect it is, that we are very much in control of the very things that make up our legacy long after we are gone?
What your lineage gave you in terms of biology, in the long run, won’t impact your destiny as what you give yourself consciously, or what the world gives to you unconsciously.

DNA isn’t destiny. What is destiny is what you have in your hands to determine. How you turn out isn’t the fault of your parents. It is yours.

Think about it.

To your growth,
Your Coach,
Abiola Okunsanya,
Handzinspired.