Thursday, December 02, 2004

Legacy Matters

The Experience Designer made a great find, called Legacy Matters. Interesting tagline to the category of 'personal legacy archives': "Because your life counts and what you leave behind is the evidence of the life you lived. Why not tell it your way." I'm still not totally sure how this stuff ties into lifestylism, but the connection seems to be through reflection, the idea that a reflective life will be more balanced and meaningful. There's also something compelling about leaving a legacy -- it implies that you've made choices you're proud of and lived your life to its fullest.

5 comments:

Garth said...

A friend of mine in a challenge he gave to some college students said he had recently had been given some timely advice from an elderly man that he had met. The man said that he had wished he had done three things more often: the first was that he wished he had taken more risks in life & love, the second was that he had taken the time to reflect more on the life he was living, and finally that he would have lived his life in a way that would leave a legacy for his grandchildren. Advice like that is not to be ignored...risk, reflect & leave a legacy!

G

Jeremy said...

Phil, you'd have a fantastic start on your site if you just pasted in the excellent comments you've made here!

Sadly, I stopped writing in my journal after starting up my blogs. It's too bad, because I know I've missed the process of reflecting on the more personal or difficult things in my life. I can just see my daughters reading some version of my blog 15 years from now and saying, "yeah, but how did you feel?"

Jeremy said...

Great reflective exercise, Christopher. I've heard the "write your own obituary" version, but yours is more postitive (less morbid?)

We often seem to fixate on what we should be doing right now, or in the very immediate future. Perhaps those thought experiments help us see the larger patterns in our lives (and desired lives?)

Jeremy said...

"risk, reflect & leave a legacy!"

Powerful comment, Garth. I love it. I think that people used to associate leaving a legacy with large inheritances and maybe some measure of fame, but maybe we're crafting more meaningful measures of legacy?

Jeremy said...

Thanks for swinging by, Jille. Your entire site had my brain churning -- so many great ideas in there. It's not really in my focus area, but kept me reading anyway.