There are certain things in life that affect who we are and what we are to become. Families, culture and the environment are the aspects that develop the way we react and behave. What we learn through our family history helps us grow according to our customs and our traditions because it is something very close and unique. Culture makes us move through customs, traditions and practices that hold a family together and moves further on to the atmosphere we live in. What we get to know in our environment helps us survive in circumstances beyond our imagination.

Culture is defined in the dictionary as social and intellectual formation and the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, etc. In simpler terms, there is an entire system of cultures in which each of us operates. At the center is the self, including your gender, in part influenced by the other cultures within your personal system. The next part
is your family and friends and your interaction with them.

You may have grown up in a small family, a large family, a blended family, a poor or rich family. If you grew up in a family where money was not a problem, for example, you make take certain things for granted: food, freedom, housing.
But if you grew up in a family of poverty, you may worry here your next meal comes from, where you will live, who has control over your freedom. My spirit is the essence of the synergy created by the interaction amongst my body, mind and spirit. It is my aliveness and closeness to my values, who I really am at the center. It is the combination of my energies through spiritual, emotional, mental and physical growth. So all depends on how you live your life authentically, or in tune with your personal vision and values, based upon your beliefs, culture, instinct and history. If we move from one environment to the other it is our culture and beliefs that help us to adapt to all changes. If we have not learned from our background we turn off our own needs. We insulate ourselves from our feelings. We deny our spirits.

And we lose ourselves; i.e., we are lost. The responsibility for this lies with the individual and how he reflects his influences. So, being strong and patient are traits that I have learned that have helped me survive because these teachings have become inculcated within my soul and existence.