I wonder if this has ever happened to you: You're making a positive change in your life, it could be starting a new exercise routine, eating more healthfully and losing weight, or even starting a new business venture or a new relationship. Things are going well. You're committed and excited. Then all of a sudden you feel anxious, ashamed or unworthy. Your energy drops and now this new, positive change doesn't feel possible anymore.

What's really going on?

Isn't following your heart supposed to feel good? You know you want to make this positive change. You know that it's for your highest and best. But you begin to wonder whether this is the right time, because whenever you try to move forward you feel drained and deflated.

Well, did you know that you can inherit negative feelings and emotions -- and these ancestral patterns and emotions can sabotage your best intentions?

Just like you can inherit your great aunt's red hair or your father's brown eyes, emotional traits get passed down from one generation to the next. You can unconsciously take on your great-grandfather's depression or your mother's shame, your uncle's anxiety, or your great-great grandmother's hopelessness.

Here's the thing: Whenever you take on these feelings as your own, you unconsciously feel that you are being loyal to your family system. That your place in your tribe is secure. To stop feeling these negative emotions means risking abandonment and being banished.

Now I know that this doesn't make any logical sense. Because if you're like most people your family does want you to be happy and successful. But the fact is, on the unconscious level there's this thing called the family conscience that limits what you can comfortably achieve. And every time you try to move beyond this limit you start to feel these ugly emotions.

Think about it. How many times has it taken you forever to finish a project because you just can't seem to get started? Or you start something but things don't work out and you don't reach your end goal? How many times have you settled for less? Or how many times have you been so disconnected from your passion that you don't even know what you want?

Chances are there was an inherited emotion holding you back and keeping you safe within your family's "acceptable" limits of prosperity, happiness, well-being and success.

But the good news is that it doesn't have to be an either/or situation. You can free yourself from these inherited emotions and at the same time move forward with confidence.

And what's more, when you give back an inherited emotion your whole family benefits: You honor your ancestors and give them back their dignity, while at the same time you liberate yourself.

If this makes sense to you then you'll want to learn how you can free yourself from the inherited feelings that you carry out of loyalty to your family, parents and ancestors.