In my younger years . . .
I spent far too much time on things that seemed important at the time although, in retrospect, I know they were not…like worrying about my hair or whether someone would like me. If someone had told me these things back then, would I have fully understood? I might have; it’s not possible to know. The passage of time and life experience has taught me these things.
What I DID learn: to Leave a “Learned Legacy”
Leaving the world a better place: passing on learned lessons and the wisdom that comes with these lessons may be far greater than the importance of any earned legacy.
Usually it is the retired person, aunts and uncles, the grandparents and parents who have a sense of urgency to leave a learned legacy. It can be someone else, however, someone with a story to tell, who triumphs over discrimination, wins happiness and contentment through hardship, recovers from addiction, or who experiences, endures and overcomes (or accepts) illness. All wonderful humane and humanly stories worth learning from.
Learned legacies come in many forms:
- Practical information about life and living: sports, agriculture, and horticulture such as how to make fishing flies for river fishing, be a beekeeper, raise heirloom vegetables, or hens for eggs
- How sobriety and happiness can be achieved through freedom from addiction
- What I wish I would know now when I was your age
- How I dealt with cultural discrimination
- Information about the family tree and the people in it
- Career and the true “payment” learning through my work
- How things came to be, thoughts about them and what WILL be
Ways to pass it on: There are many books as well as journals with prompts for writing about your life. For some this can be a good starting point. Also, your legacy need not be written. Photos, teaching a younger person how to do things that are special to you, and videos are great ways to pass on your Learned Legacy.
As I developed my Learned Legacy Coaching, I found many people are seeking to:
- Articulate, clarify or identify their Learned Legacy
- Organize their Learned Legacy
- Choose who will receive their Learned Legacy (it could be specific or very broad!)
- Ways to tell others intimately, authentically yet hopefully about struggles to overcome adversities, including poverty, shyness, health challenges, abuse, alcohol or drug addiction.
- Choose the right channels to communicate their Learned Legacy: scrapbooks, photo albums, journals, video and audio recording – there are many options.
Some questions to ask when creating your Learned Legacy:
- How is the world better with my life contribution?
- What would I like to pass on to the next generations?
- If I were to die today, will I have left that learned legacy that I have imagined?
- How would I like to be remembered?
- What do I wish I would have known years ago?
Also, people appreciated the occasional mental, emotional and social “check-ins,” getting insight and feedback from “another set of eyes and ears, as well as bouncing ideas about while getting acknowledgement and reinforcement from their Legacy journey.
It is important not to stress over being complete with your legacy
Don’t stress over it, enjoy it. It is important to be gratified and satisfied with what you are passing on. Regardless of our age and state, we are all still growing and learning.
Blessings and remember, you are simply Divine.