When it comes to spirituality and personal growth, it is important to know the history we bring on.
The history of our lives it just doesn’t start from the day that we were born, but from couples who gave birth along time so that you can be here in life.
Why do we learn history? Is a common question that we ask or have heard.
And one of the most common answer are “to learn how past societes lived”, “to avoid past mistakes” or “so that history doesn’t repeat itself”.
But do we actually learn about those concepts or is the correct way that we are teaching history?
When I learned about history in primary school, the mexican education system had a different history book per year.
In each year we learned about the different time periods, but I don’t remember learning the deep stuff going on in the individuals’ psyche of those times, or something that I could say “I stick with this knowledge, because it might be useful for the future”.
Probably, Spirituality and History could be a “complicated relationship” knowledge that as a kid is hard to understand.
But if kids are already yawning at school, or now in this new normality, they might not even care of the information that is taught by a screen set by a school, what is the point of making them learn history this way?
Or at least I should first and watch in things have changed, but for me it seems that it would be more intersting for them to learn directly from Youtube what they want, and family could save money on tuition fees. (Of course, there should be guidance).
In my case talking about history classes, I remember a bit of the indigeneous culture, the arrival of the spaniards to latin america, the mexican independence and the mexican revolution. But honestly, and relating this facts to myself or even to spirituality, What is the relation?
I might say that, what it would be useful for to know those general facts, if there is no conection with me or I think it is unrelevant for my present, or what impact it had on my direct ancestors.
And there is where the storytelling of the teacher takes importance.
I think that history teachers should be the best ones at building bridges and connecting the dots, so students know the relevance of how past societies decisions, including their family members, had on them.
As I read in 5 reasons why we learn history and I quote.
History is a humbling reminder that you only have a short time on this earth. And the only reason you are alive today is that every single one of your ancestors survived. They made it through wars. Plagues. Natural disasters. Rude kings.
Now at this present time, that I am creating more awareness for myself about spritual topics, I wish I have learned more about the practices of personal growth that past societies had.
I wish I haved used better the time at school to really learn of how to connect the dots of history to my life.
I wish I have really learned the depth meaning of ancient mythologies and stories from all around the world, and not having to start recently.
And the family could be one of the starting points, since family has been the direct human beings where we learn and come from.
I have heard that we carry intergenerational behaviours, around 14 generations, but do we actually know the stories of our closest past members of the family tree?
What moved each of our ancestors to say “hi” to each other; to connect with each other?
The question would be, who was my 14th past generation, which could be 300 years ago. Were they already in Mexico? Were they coming from Spain or probably other region of the world?
I don’t have any clue, and I don’t have any knowledge about the things that they learned and that they thought could be helpful for their future generation, a.k.a ME.
So I ask, what would you love to teach to your descendence? How will you do it? What were the lessons learned from wounds and victories that they should learn? How will they know the decisions that you have to make when you had to choose between A or B?
They are your past to present point.
Remember, those human beings had to take decisions and “survive” whatever they lived so that eventually you could also be here, the present.
So here, with the support of a freelancer writing team, we leave you some tips to start to create your family tree with one useful and easy online tool, Canva.
Family trees for quite some time have been helping us to show the factors of the past and the changes that this has been causing to the present.
Furthermore in this article, we will talk a little about family trees and how Canva has helped many individuals to make numerous family trees in the best possible way.
A family tree is a form of graphic expression where the past of a person is represented, their ascendants, and the changes that have occurred over the years.
It is worth mentioning that a family tree is not only used to show the ascendants and descendants of a person, but it is also widely used to show the change that has occurred and the evolution that has had a culture, a race or a language.
A family tree shows the different trajectories that a topic or a subject in common has, but generally, it is used to show the descendants of a person.
The family tree is the one that is responsible for exposing in a graphic way the descent and ancestry of a person.
This serves to better explain its past and to know a little more about the person.
It also helps to make a comparison and find the differences and similarities between the times, and a lot of information that can be obtained with the help of a family tree.
We just have to open the Canva tool and it will suggest us the multiple templates it offers, from design and creation of logos, instagram stories, promotional posts, invitations and of course, a family tree.
Canva has several templates that can contribute to the creation of our own family tree, including typographies and a good combination of colors.
Although, we should not overlook that Canva gives us the option to create our own design, filling it with our ideas and we are the ones who are creating the family tree that we want to show to others.
Taking into account that a family tree is a diagram that helps to represent the members of the family of an individual, each member must be placed in a specific area, where the person who is making the family tree will be placed in a centered way.
So this tool will help us to show us a little more about how we should be placing each family member according to their relationship.
Another great help provided by Canva is giving us access to this type of templates for free.
It is ideal for those who have a minimal budget or for non-profit organizations.
The services offered by Canva are also ideal for any other type of purposes, however, if you require some other service with a more professional view, it is best to use Canva Pro, which is a tool that is used for projects that require a professional look.
Returning to Canva and the creation of a family tree, there are great results thanks to the wonders that this system has integrated.
For that reason there are too many people who have recommended its use both for the creation of family trees, as well as for other types of visual materials.
Before going on showing how to create a family tree, you have to do a bit of research.
And this is just common sense, what are you pretending to have on your family tree, if you don’t have information.
Start asking your parents and if possible your grand parents about their ancestors.
We might always listen to the repetitive stories of our grandmothers, but they also hold knowledge about who were our great grand parents.
It is necessary that you focus on collecting all the information that will be useful.
It is necessary to start with first names, last names, age and gender, and later if necessary you can add the occupation, location, marital status, date of birth, blood type, current status (in case the relative is alive) date of death (in case he/she has already died).
The data collection also depends a lot on who the tree is addressed to, that is, to whom we want to show it, and what we want to show it for.
So digging out for information is one step to have what to add into the family tree.
Since Canva has a large number of templates, it is up to you to choose which one best suits your family tree.
As well as the data collection, this step depends on the reason why you are doing this project and to whom you want it to be exhibited.
It is not the same to show a family tree to a child than to an adult, or to show it to the same relative we have known all our lives, than to schoolmates and your teachers.
The main individual is placed in the center, although he/she is often placed last in case he/she does not have, or has not had children.
It starts with the grandparents. (If you have previous generations go for it).
To one side the maternal grandparents, followed by the paternal grandparents.
Then the uncles and aunts, and in a centered way the parents of the individual.
Then the individual, if he/she has a brother or sister they are also placed, and in case he/she has children they can also be placed.
Although it is always recommended not to load the design with unnecessary content, only the creator is the one who can decide what data he wants to include in the tree.
So we recommend that you consider the reason and purpose of the creation of your family tree, in order to place data such as dates, education, skills, hobbies and so on.
As previously mention, try to get key information that helped your ancestors and might be relevant for you in future decisions.
You can also add photographs or elements that represent their kinship, such as a lipstick for your mom or a tie for your dad, or something more memorable.
The idea is to explain in the clearest and simplest way possible while looking well represented.
The past is part of us, so it is good to remember and commemorate it.
A family tree is the best way to achieve this, so we recommend using Canva for your family tree and any other visual material you want to try.
