The Lessons of a Living Legacy
Months ago, one of my former classmates passed away from cancer.
Weeks ago, I found out one of my former teachers, who is the same age as I am, was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and is in hospice.
Days ago, Stephen Hawking died.
These things caused me to pause. I remembered being asked a question about the legacy I wanted to leave. This question re-minds me that I don’t want to leave a legacy.
I want to Live a Legacy.
I’ve learned that relationship Is everything. You experience life by relating to it. You only experience yourself in relationship to something else. Whether that relationship is with people, projects, objects, or nature, etc., how you relate to yourself and other parts of your life determines the quality of the life you lead and the legacy you’re living.
How do you experience yourself while you’re living your legacy? Each day, I practice what I believe to be living the truest expression of who I Am. On my last day, I want to say for sure, that I lived fully.
Living fully and in the compassionate practice of relating is recognizing the life enhancing points of being in relationship to everything. Relationship happens in the space between you and me – It is the source of our experience of each other and ourselves, so it must be clean and clear.
Here are the beacons for the Legacy I am practicing Living:
“Let it be, love it, let it go” JKLF Click To Tweet
Let it Be
1. Life is a wild ride and everything that I’ve experience is happening through me rather than to me.
2. I allow myself to feel my feelings in the moment and ask for what I need.
3. I make decisions based on the fact that I like myself more than I want someone else to like me.
4. I choose my own happiness and joy over wanting to be liked, needing to be right or seen as good, smart, fun, or important.
5. I live a life of service because giving and receiving are one.
6. I don’t need to fix myself. I can explore places inside of myself, ideas, and possibilities, and make decisions about what stories I tell myself.
7. When stuff comes up, be curious and be fascinated.
Love it
1. I love myself and let myself be loved.
2. There are many aspects to this personality. Love them All.
3. I can love my life and I don’t need to take my life and myself so seriously or make my stuff too important.
4. The primary Relationship, is the one with mySelf.
5. I am as I was created, and I never need to be hard on myself.
Let it Go
1. Expectations and assumptions.
2. Taking things personally.
3. Grudges and ideas that I have outgrown
4. The self-imposed image of who and what I thought I had to be to get love/recognition from others.
5. Proving myself
6. Needing anyone else’s approval.
7. Judgment.
These are the ways of being, thinking, and speaking that serve my living legacy. What is your practice for living your legacy?
Perhaps you haven’t thought about living your legacy rather than leaving one. So, ask yourself, how can you live your life as the truest expression of who you are? What does that look like, sound like, feel like, perhaps even taste like to you?
See if themes emerge for you in that experience of yourself in your life. Instead of spending your energy on what you’ll leave behind, focus your energy on what you’re creating through your relationships while you’re alive. Allow yourself to be guided by your truest experience of yourself in relationship to all things. Live into your legacy.
Espavo!