Your Legacy Begins Now
In this eighth episode we discuss what legacy means - how we may always think of it as something to consider later on in life, but perhaps not considering what we are doing now that creates our legacy. Here are a few key areas from our discussion:
YOUR LEGACY STARTS NOW
Does legacy need to be a BIG thing - is it about trying to achieve your dreams that may impact others around you? Do you feel you get stuck in ‘I haven’t done this…’ etc. In its basic meaning, a legacy is a gift of money or other personal property that's granted by the terms of a will - does this feel too restrictive as a description?
Is legacy also about the ripple effect? Certain traits or characteristics of passed over loved ones that lives on in you - it might be something small or tiny but could be ever lasting.
Rosa Parks - her action that day on the bus, still lives on now. She didn’t plan anything but she’s remembered because of her choice that she made that day.
Does legacy only happen after you die?
Is wanting it to be a better world a legacy? Do generations leave behind a legacy? Does that mean there can be a collective and individual legacy or are they one of the same?
I legacy a new thing, a new creation? Or can it be about healing, re-education - reintroducing truth or how we approach things?
As a parent do you think about legacy in terms of what you’re teaching them or guiding them in their understanding. Sibby gives an example of how easily children can be influenced - the silent teacher that creeps up and influences us all.
Do we tell each other when we make a difference positively to each others lives? We seem to be more focal on the negative but how much of a difference would it make if we did feedback the positive? Sally gives the example of things that might be ‘said too late’ at a funeral and those things were never communicated to the person whilst they were still here.
Sibby chats about the quiz - character strengths survey - these are the sort of strengths people remember and they become a part of a legacy. Here’s the link to find out more: www.viacharacter.org. Honing in on your talent and what you’re naturally good at is part of your legacy.
Is what you end up doing as a job part of your legacy? Is the way you chose to spend your time a legacy that is left for family members? For example if your parent put up with a job they didn’t particularly like for 20 plus years, is their teaching, their legacy about doing what you don’t like and getting on with it?
What if the world was build around the planet being the most important thing? So it would be 1) planet, 2) social structure 3) economy instead of how it is with economy being number 1 currently. Are we now stepping into a collective legacy and moving away from the individual?
Generational influences - DNA - in a tiny drop we can store up to 700 terabytes of data/information/knowledge. The earth and people are record keepers - it’s still present even if we can’t access it or we’re not aware of it. The legacy of human kind is already within us all.
You are creating your legacy now. Sometimes just being you and others recognising that, is enough.