What will people remember when you’re gone?
By now it’s probably obvious that all three of these guiding concepts, go hand-in-hand. They’re more powerful when they’re co-dependent. Your purpose, the way you respond to that purpose with your life choices define your legacy.
Legacy is defined as:
“anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor”
I sometimes wonder what it’s going to feel like when we look back with our children and grandchildren and realise that, particularly when it comes to climate change, we had the means to stop it, but lacked the political and personal will to do so.
Imagine you’re a fly on the wall listening to your eulogy. What would it say about your legacy? What would the people closest to you be saying about you and the life you lived? What would they reflect on about your life choices?
When I look back on my life, I believe I created my greatest legacy by starting YLAD Living Soils. Helping others adopt a new farming system, pioneering new knowledge and practices, honouring the Earth. But what I’ve realised is my legacy is embedded in more than what I’ve done. It’s in my thinking and actions. If we live our lives with ourselves at the centre, we create a world centred on ego. We start to believe that we’re separate or superior to everyone and everything around us. We fall into the trap of thinking we can master Nature.
Thankfully, not everybody operates in this ego-system. There’s a lot of us that realise the importance of the eco, and the unity that connects all living species. Your legacy is intimately intertwined with how you respond to the system you’re in and the beliefs you hold to. The patterns of behaviour you engage with, the common fears you hold tight to and see the world through, the expectations you place on the people around you and the way you let these beliefs influence you all contribute to the way you engage with your legacy.
We only have one Earth, and you only have one life.
These are my six beautiful grandchildren. I am choosing their future by the choices I make every day. But I am also choosing my own future by the choices I make.