The narrative of genetic determinism
For a long time, we were taught that we were the inevitable result of our heredity, our childhood, our environment. That our genes decided for us. That the world happened to us and that, ultimately, there was little real room for action. This narrative isn't just heard: it's internalized. And when it's internalized, it becomes our identity.
Bruce Lipton provocatively put it in The Biology of Belief (2005): “The Matrix isn’t science fiction. It’s a documentary.” Beyond the metaphor, the idea is clear: our perceptions influence our biology. Not necessarily because “the mind controls everything,” but because repeated experiences shape our perception, our nervous system, and the internal environments in which our cells function.
What is epigenetics and why is it changing the framework
The program that many have internalized sounds familiar: your genes control you. Your history defines you. You can't change much. However, epigenetics, initially conceptualized by Conrad Waddington and later developed by molecular biology, reveals something more nuanced: genes are not a fixed destiny. They are biological potential whose expression depends largely on the chemical and relational environment in which they are found.
This environment isn't just about food or toxins. It includes sustained stress, the quality of relationships, and perceptions of safety or threat. Research in behavioral epigenetics shows that certain experiences can activate or silence genes without altering the DNA sequence. The code doesn't change; its expression does.
This means that our biology is in constant dialogue with our experience. Each sustained emotion generates specific neuroendocrine responses. Each repeated internal state shapes a particular physiological environment. Each automatic interpretation strengthens neural circuits and response patterns, something also consistent with what has been described in neuroplasticity.
Genetic expression, stress and the nervous system
We are not absolutely determined by our DNA in the rigid sense that was popularized for decades. Our biology responds and adapts.
One day you might be trapped in a pattern of fear, with your stress axis activated, your body in hypervigilance, and your mind anticipating threats. Another day, after a process of awareness and regulation, as described by self-regulation models and polyvagal theory, you might experience greater coherence and inner security. Your genes didn't change in twenty-four hours. What can gradually change is the internal environment that modulates their expression.
- Your physiological state changed.
- It changed your perception.
- It changed the way you relate to what happens.
- And that difference, sustained over time, has a biological impact.
Neuroplasticity and real biological change
Moving from victim to creator isn't just a motivational slogan. It doesn't mean denying pain or ignoring real circumstances. It means understanding that, while we don't always choose what happens to us, we can influence how our system processes and integrates it.
Neuroplasticity shows that the brain changes with repeated experience. Epigenetics adds that certain environments and sustained states can influence gene expression. It's not about "positive thinking" and magically transforming biology, but about understanding that what we repeat—thoughts, emotions, physiological responses—consolidates neural networks and regulatory patterns.
The first step isn't to force a different emotion. It's to observe the internal narrative we repeat without questioning it. Every time we say "that's just how I am," "this always happens to me," "I can't change," we reinforce a neural network and an associated physiological state. Naming that pattern is the first step in introducing variability into the system.
- Not because it disappears immediately.
- But because it stops operating in the shadows.
From victim to creator: biological responsibility
When you acknowledge the victim narrative you hold, you reduce the automatic burden, introduce a pause, and create a space for choice. That space is small at first, but it's real. And in that space, transformation begins.
It's not instantaneous.
It's not spectacular.
It is progressive, regulatory, and adaptive.
Every time you choose to regulate your nervous system instead of fueling the reaction, you are modifying the biochemical environment in which your cells function. Every time you hold a different emotion long enough, your body can solidify new physiological responses and regulatory patterns. This kind of sustained adaptation is consistent with what epigenetics and neuroplasticity describe at a biological level.
It's not about denying real limits. It's about ceasing to reinforce learned limits.
You are not absolutely determined by your genetics.
You are not solely the product of your history.
You are not your most repeated pattern.
Your biology constantly responds to the signals it receives.
The question, then, is both simple and radical:
What message are you reinforcing every day?
Sources and references
• Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science.
• Lipton, B. H. (2005). The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles.
• Merzenich, M. (2013). Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life.
• Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation.
• Waddington, C. H. (1942). The epigenotype.