SLIDE 1 Legacies of the Heart: Living a Life That Matters
Presented by Meg Newhouse, Ph.D.
mnewhouse@gmail.com www.megnewhouse.com www.passionandpurpose.com
SLIDE 2 FLOW
Introduction: What and Why Legacies Received
Exercise, Dyads and Large-group Discussion
Living and Choosing “from the Heart”
Presentation and discussion
Leaving Legacies (as parents, teachers/mentors,
conscious elders, public and private, tangible and intangible; ripples)
Brief presentation Examples (some focus on personal tangible legacies)
SLIDE 3 FLOW (continued)
Legacies Still to Leave
Visualization, Journaling, Debrief Coda: Potential Role of Conscious Elders
Discussion: Clarification, Issues, Exploring
Anything you want to discuss, plus perhaps: How can we best apply this approach to our personal and
professional lives?
Potential role of conscious elders
Closing
SLIDE 4
Images of Legacy
SLIDE 5
Questions for Exercise 1
Imagine or visualize a legacy––any way you understand it––from someone who cared about you.
What was it? Who gave it to you? How has it impacted your life, then and now? What have you done with it?
SLIDE 6 Dimensions of Legacy
Polarity Continuum Polarity Macro Micro Intentional Unintentional Intangible Tangible Being Doing Public Private/Personal Love-based (heart/soul, higher self) Fear-based (survival instincts/values) Positive Mixed Negative
SLIDE 7
Suggested follow-up from Exercise 1
Repeat for negative or mixed legacies. Draft/write a letter of thanks and/or
forgiveness to someone who has left you an important legacy.
More than one? Living or not Send it or not
SLIDE 8 Living and Choosing from the Heart
Main concept and thesis: the more + the more = +
legacies, with caveat. Compass Life purpose/calling, forgiveness. Examples.
Examples of Qs for Reflection (from Ch. 3):
How do you know when you are living from your heart? As best you know, What is your (life) purpose (or
purposes, callings?) Essence? Special gifts?
Choosing (Ch. 4): Passing on, Interrupting,
Transforming Legacies (Keren example)
SLIDE 9 Leaving Legacies
Importance of intentionality Chapters in book:
Parents/teachers/mentors Public legacies – from middle-schoolers to deathbed;
Encore.org
Personal tangible legacies (“internal wealth”) Ripples/dispersing seeds.
Narrow focus to personal, tangible, non-monetary
legacies “of the heart.”
Popcorn examples
SLIDE 10 Personal Tangible Legacies
Heirlooms (e.g., furniture, jewelry, rare books) with attached
notes explaining history and significance.
Hand-made crafts of all kinds, furniture, and artistic
creations, also with explanations.
Scrapbooks, photo books, memoirs, family histories,
genealogies, letters, etc.
Recordings, CDs, videos/movies (with commentary) Family recipes and food/holiday traditions Ethical wills and legacy letters
SLIDE 11
Personal Tangible Legacies
Example: Daudi’s book on the Hadza
SLIDE 12
Personal Tangible Legacies
Examples: Paternal grandfather’s books, poems; maternal great-grandmother’s diary
SLIDE 13
Personal Tangible Legacies
Example: Family Photo Books
SLIDE 14
Personal Tangible Legacies
Example: Collage Gift
SLIDE 15
Personal Tangible Legacies
Example: Quilt for Granddaughter
SLIDE 16
Personal Tangible Legacies
Multi-generation Family Cookbook
SLIDE 17 Personal Tangible Legacies
From Joyce Pearson’s Hands Legacy Project. Pearson.joyce@gmail.com
SLIDE 18 Ethical Wills and Legacy Letters
What are they? Why document your “internal wealth”? Discussion: examples and issues with ethical wills
and, more generally, with leaving tangible personal legacies (as time permits)
Have you been saved? Not in the theological but in the computer sense. Have you downloaded your life for future generations?
- Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
SLIDE 19
Legacies Left and Still to Leave
For journaling after the Visualization:
What legacy(ies) were you thanked for? What is one tangible legacy you still want to leave with
them? One step you could take next week?
What, if anything, is standing in the way?
Suggested homework: Write your own obituary or eulogy.
SLIDE 20 Coda: Legacy as a Hallmark of Conscious Aging
Adult development theory
“from success to significance,” “summing up,” giving
back, etc.
Sage-ing (Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
Inner work: Life review, healing, making amends,
forgiveness, legacy, mentoring, stewardship.
Conscious Elders Network
Marries inner work with outer work in the world, with big
vision of what is possible, working with younger generations
Reclaim traditional role of wise elders
SLIDE 21 General Discussion
Clarifications, Issues, Exploration: Anything you want to discuss, including perhaps: How can we best apply this approach to our personal and
professional lives?
Lengthening the lens: 7-generation perspective and the
role of conscious elders.
SLIDE 22 Last Words––Yours and Mine
What is one significant take-away – insight, action? Thank You! Request: if you like the book, please publicize it in your
networks, write a review on Amazon, and offer your ideas for publicizing.
Wisdom is a living stream, not an icon preserved in a museum. Only when we find the spring of wisdom in our own life can it flow to future generations –Thich Nhat Hanh
