I woke up this morning thinking about my life and the first question that came to my mind is WHAT LEGACY AM I LIVING BEHIND?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it it best that, “The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.”
When we hear legacy what normally comes to our mind is what we live behind when we passed away. How positive we touch other people's lives when we are no more.
I couldn't give any answer to myself when this question came to my mind. Like seriously it was an unexpected question that really got my wheels turning.
Normally when someone pass away, what we focus on are the things he/she owned, what he did and how his impacted in his community and the country as a whole. This becomes that person's legacy.
What if the most important gift we can give our descendants is not a tangible item, but a piece of ourselves?
I thought back to when I was a kid. My dad told me I should try my possible best to take my education serious so I can take acre of him in his old age where he can't go to farm again.
My dad didn't get the opportunity to go to school for one or two reasons which he refused to tell me. Am glad he didn't declined me in my education. Sometimes he calls me on phone to advice me not to repeat the mistake that he did that didn't make him successful. And I have also taken some lessons from it. His story sometimes makes me emotional.
I have realized that before one can live a good legacy behind the person must try his possible best to focus and take time to listen. It’s so easy to hurry through life, but it's over too quickly because there so much learn.
Looking at what I have taken from my dad story and other people and also what I have learned from my own experiences it has given m a powerful strategy to become who I want to be and what I hope to leave behind.
Knowing the legacy I want to leave behind helps me stay focused on what I’m doing in the present so that my goals are in line with that legacy. It gives me a sense of purpose in choosing what I am giving my energy to.
Planning the legacy you are leaving behind connects you to those whose lives you touch, and who you want your life to touch too and that continues generations to come.
I encourage you to take some time and really look at the things you carry on from past generations. See what you need to leave behind, as well as, what you want to carry forward.
WHAT IS YOUR LEGACY?