{"id":762,"date":"2012-04-21T18:31:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/?p=762"},"modified":"2012-04-21T18:31:10","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T22:31:10","slug":"creating-your-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/2012\/04\/21\/creating-your-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating your legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was doing a workshop at a youth shelter I volunteer at and the topic for the day was Values.\u00a0 One of the exercises was borrowed from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<\/em>: write your obituary.\u00a0 The purpose of this exercise is to give you an opportunity to think about how you want to be remembered and to get you to think about whether or not the way you\u2019re living your life today reflects that vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, this was a great exercise!\u00a0 It really helped me to start thinking about what I could do RIGHT NOW to make my future legacy a reality.\u00a0 If I wanted to be remembered for giving back to the community but wasn\u2019t currently volunteering, when did I plan to start?\u00a0 The truth of the matter is that we don\u2019t know when our time on this earthly plane will expire, so when do we start creating our legacy?\u00a0 If we really think about it, we are creating our legacy every day, the question is, \u201cis it the legacy we truly want to leave?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t often give much thought to our legacy.\u00a0 We might have some vague ideas about how we want to be remembered by our loved ones; however I wonder how many of us think about whether the life we are currently living reflects that desire?\u00a0 We want to be remembered as kind, loving and generous but is that how we treat the people we encounter on a daily basis?\u00a0 Was giving the finger to the driver that cut you off an act of love?\u00a0 What about the homeless person who you walked past, trying to avoid eye contact with them? \u00a0Was that an act of generosity or kindness?<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling guilty about our weak moments isn\u2019t going to help us build our legacy.\u00a0 What we need to do is simply be more mindful of our actions.\u00a0 Considering what we want our legacy to be provides us with an opportunity to give some serious thought to our values.\u00a0 What\u2019s important to us and the way we live our lives?\u00a0 When we have a clear picture of what we hold dear, what the foundation of our lives is, we gain perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n

The perspective we obtain provides us with clarity which we can use to guide our actions.\u00a0 When we are clear on our values, decision making becomes a little easier.\u00a0 If the end result doesn\u2019t support our values, then it\u2019s easy to say no.\u00a0 When we are unsure about what\u2019s important to us, it can be easier to act according to what\u2019s best for others whether or not it\u2019s in our best interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legacies are important to a lot of us.\u00a0 It\u2019s the mark we leave behind long after we\u2019re gone.\u00a0 If leaving behind a long lasting legacy is something we desire, shouldn\u2019t we spend more time on its creation?\u00a0 I believe that we should do at least one thing every day that helps you to be the person you want to be remembered as.\u00a0 Instead of becoming frustrated with strangers or loved ones, treat them with patience and kindness.\u00a0 I\u2019m reminded of a Gandhi quote that I love:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words;
\nKeep your words positive because your words become your behavior;
\n<\/span><\/span><\/em>Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits;
\nKeep your habits positive because your habits become your values;
\nKeep your values positive because your values become your destiny.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I would add, keep your destiny positive, because your destiny becomes your legacy.<\/em>\u00a0 May we all leave behind the legacy that our hearts\u2019 desire. \u2665<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was doing a workshop at a youth shelter I volunteer at and the topic for the day was Values.\u00a0 One of the exercises was borrowed from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: write your obituary.\u00a0 The purpose of this exercise is to give you an opportunity to think about how you want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[382,401,402,403,404],"class_list":["post-762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughtoftheday","tag-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people","tag-gain-perspective","tag-generosity","tag-kindness","tag-obituary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}