Our Legacy

Legacy is defined as an amount of money or property left to our families after our death.

When I hear the word legacy I would define it differently. I realize that we are taught that money and material things are the goal and yes, having food and shelter is a necessity and having a beautiful home and good food is amazing, but is it everything?

Perhaps I'll begin with the idea of a name. So many people are taught to create a name for themselves or honor your family name. Even if you don't have much money you can still be an upstanding citizen, playing by social or religious rules, and pass a respectable name down to your children. The question is, is valuing money above all else and playing by other people's rules what you want to pass down to the next generation?

Do you want to work your whole life to try and create a hoard of material items that your descendants will fight over?

Is our legacy more than that?

I would change the definition of Legacy to how you lived your life. What you taught and practiced. What you valued and shared with your children or others who looked to you for guidance. If I am able to guide someone to expand their life but never leave them a physical item, wouldn't my legacy live on? If my children love from the depths of their souls and live fulfilling lives based on my love and support not material gains, wouldn't my legacy live on?

Isn't it time we shifted the ideas of legacy and what we pass on to the next generation? I believe that this new definition demands more awareness, more responsibility from us. It is no longer enough to say, "I kept a roof over their heads," "I put food on the table" or "I did the best I could". It is time to know that we can do more. We can dig into ourselves and our taught values. We are able to decide what we pass on. We are not victims to our family names or vices. We are here to choose our paths and what we want to embody. Let's decide what is in alignment for us and offer that practice to our children. Let us support them in choosing what is right for them, not hiding behind tradition and duty. No one needs the guilt of ancestral line weighing on their shoulders. Our lives, our names and our legacies are living, breathing things. They are not old books on a shelf. We get to make our choices constantly and change our minds and beliefs as we grow. Our ancestors want us to learn, heal and expand into everything that is meant for us. Just as we should want that for ourselves and our children.

Your legacy is alive because it is you.