What’s your legacy?
What comes up for you when you think of legacy? Is it how much money you’ve accumulated? Is it how much you own? Is it what you’ll leave to your family, friends, or strangers?
Have you ever considered your legacy being how you made others feel, who you gave advice to, listened to, or fought for? Has your art brought you meaning? Your healing? Your gifts that you’re meant to share or the lessons that you’ve learned?
Legacy can be left to the living in many different ways, and so often, we think of the material items or tangible things, yet people never forget who you were as a person, how they felt around you, or that quirk that made you, you.
When we think about our life and our death, we can remember it’s not just our own life and death. Our lives are also the lives of everyone we’re in relation with — our families, friends, acquaintances, and communities. We’re all creating each other’s lives and deaths whether we know that or not. Our legacies are not just about us as one person, but as a community, as a whole.
There are many ways we can reflect and get clear on what type of legacy we’d like to leave behind. One pathway is through YU — after three weeks of contemplation, rituals, and community discussions, we reflect on all our insights and learnings to reveal what type of legacy we’d like to express, tell, share or leave behind.
Lastly, a prompt to reflect on: Whose legacy do you admire and why? Feel free to share your responses with me and I’m here if you have any questions or comments.
With reverence to those who’ve paved the way for us and to those who may come after us, may we embrace our impermanent lives while we’re living.
With respect,
Mangda
