Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this podcast I’ll be exploring Love and your Life’s Legacy:
- I’ll explain how your legacy is a gift to the world that just keeps on giving
- I’ll talk about how what you value and what you love determines the legacy you will leave behind
- Finally, I’ll share a simple exercise that will help you create a life worth loving and a legacy worth leaving
CLICK HERE TO LEARN WHAT ARE THE BEST FOODS THAT WILL BRING MORE LOVE INTO YOUR LIFE
A legacy is something that is given from the past and received in the present and that will most definitely change the future.
There are many different types of legacies that you can leave behind after your passing. They may include tangible material things like a car, a house, money, a business, a cure, or even a child. Your legacy could also be abstract experiential things like an idea, a philosophy, a religion, a physical training program, or a procedure for dealing with grief.
Now your legacy, whether it is a person, a place, or a thing, whatever it is, it will always leave an impact in the world of the living for many years, long after you’ve moved on and it will change the world. The change may be small or large, but there’s still an impact. Even the smallest of events can lead to massive change, like a butterfly flapping its wing can contribute to the eventual formation of a hurricane, your legacy will have ripple effects on the world stage.
For instance, you and I are products of a lasting loving legacy known as humanity. Each generation of life is a legacy by default. Just by being born you have already impacted your parents, your caregivers, everyone who you’ve come into contact with throughout your lifetime, you have changed. So no matter how short or long your life or how small or big of an impact you have:
“You are legacy in full expression”
And you are leaving a legacy that will change the world, whether you’re fully aware of what that change is or not.
Now the type of legacy you leave behind will be determined by what you love and what you love about life comes from your personal core values.
Your personal core values are the needs you have when it comes to living an awesome life. They define how you want to live. They guide your choices and they determine the type of person you want to be. Core values also influence the types of personal relationships you want to be in and also what communities and organisations you wish to join.
If you value fast cars, big mansions, and money than those material objects will be what you want in your life and these are what you will leave as your legacy. If you value family, friendship, connection with others, than personal relationships and their affect on the people in your life will be the legacy that you will leave behind. If you value food, music, and wine a restaurant may be your legacy. A piece of music could be your legacy, or maybe a food, music, and wine festival, that could be your legacy.
Whatever you love you will pursue based on your values and after the game of life is over for you, those people, places, and things that you valued and have nothing but love for, will become your legacy.
There is one exercise I’d like to share that will help you determine your values, what you love about life, and ultimately your legacy. That exercise is writing your own obituary. Yes it may sound a bit of a morbid thing to do, but once you get into and finish your obituary you’ll be left with a sense of fulfilment and will find yourself really passionate about getting after life.
Really take the time, which could be hours, days, or weeks, to write your obituary and keep in mind these two things:
- How you would like to be remembered as a person? and
- What would you like to leave behind as a lasting loving legacy?
After the exercise look at what you’ve written down and you will figure out what your personal core values are. If you wrote down he was a rich man who supported a lot of charities, then you know you value money and also generosity and that you love to give, and your legacy will be the many charities that you’ve helped. If you wrote down she was a nurturing mother who adopted and raised many abandoned and orphaned children, then you know you value family and giving children a second chance of having a loving family and home, and your legacy will be the next generation of adults who once felt alone, but now feel nothing but love.
Whatever you wrote down use it as a stepping stone to align the life you live with what you want your legacy to be.
There’s no right or wrong legacy. No matter what you value you will leave behind a legacy. The point I’m making here is that you’ll either be consciously aware of that legacy or completely ignorant to it.
I’ll leave you with you this thought.
Feeling loved or being loving isn’t really about sharing material things.
“Love is about sharing experiences with others.”
I am grateful for the lasting loving legacy my ancestors have given me and I will do my best to live a life full of unconditional love so that I leave a lasting loving legacy for those who one day I shall leave behind.
Links and Resources
Please leave a 5-s tar iTunes review for the Whole Guidance Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Android | RSS