Wednesday Wisdom - Who Are You? Part 2: Looking Ahead

WHO ARE YOU?  Part 2:  Looking Ahead  

             

 

Look around me

I can see my life before me

Running rings around the way it used to be

I am older now

I have more than what I wanted

But I wish that I had started long before I did

And there's so much time to make up everywhere you turn

Time we have wasted on the way

So much water moving underneath the bridge

Let the water come and carry us away 

Crosby, Stills, and Nash

    

 

Canadian author Robb Lucy's masterful book, Legacies Aren't Just For Dead People! (in which I'm quoted extensively on pages 163 to 167 - thanks, Robb) offers another wonderful path to discovering who we really are. Robb recommends that we start today - while we're still very much alive - to think about and plan for the legacy we will leave behind when we exit this sphere.

Done right, there is nothing morbid or egotistical about creating our own legacy in advance. Robb highlights this truth in the statement by American philosopher George Santayana: "There is a brisk energizing of the soul when you really face up to your own existence." Robb's book outlines an elegant three-step process for doing this.

1. Focus on how we want to be remembered by those we love the most.

2. Develop a plan that reflects our deepest values and fully utilizes our resources, skills, and talents.

3. Throw ourselves headlong into bringing that plan to life. 

The book is also chock-full of practical suggestions and real-life examples of how to actually get these steps done.

The result? A life of abundance, filled with greater energy, happiness, and self-awareness. Deeper passion and fiercer purpose. More powerful connections with those we love. More fulfillment, more meaning, more fun. Who knew that contemplating - and acting on - our future legacy could make our lives today so much richer?