Guided Autobiography writing, Ethical Will preparation, & so much more!

The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.

Herbert Spencer

 

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

Simone Weil

 

This packrat has learned that what the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved.  In the end, it’s the family stories that are worth the storage.

Ellen Goodman, the Boston Globe

 

When a parent dies, it’s the end.  I always wanted to chronicle the family history with my mother.  She was always interested in that.  I wanted some researchers I’d worked with to talk to my mother, but my mother was a little antsy about it.  I know she would’ve gotten into it.  It would have been okay with my father too.  But I wasn’t forceful, and I didn’t make it happen.  That is one regret I have.  I didn’t get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids.

Robert DeNiro

 

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots and the other is wings.

Hodding Carter

 

We should write because writing brings clarity and passion to the act of living…We should write because writing is good for the soul.

Julia Cameron

 

Tradition is not just what we inherit from the past; it is also what we create and pass on to the future.

Marcia Falk

 

Wisdom comes not by accumulation of more and more experiences but through discerning pattern in the deeper mystery of what is already there.

Mary Catherine Bateson

 

And the challenge to keep growing and changing even while forging an identity, to stay true to the present moment, even while nurturing a sense of continuity with the past and the future – is that not the core of authentic living?Marcia Falk

 

In the presence of compassionate non-judgmental listening, miracles happen.

Marianne Williamson

 

Each of us yearns for a sense of belonging to family, ancestors, history.

Rachel Freed

 

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their rightful names.

Chinese proverb

 

The more we know about our families, the more we know about ourselves, and the more freedom we have to determine how we want to live.

Monica McGoldrick

 

May you embrace all the rich legacies of your heritage.

Unknown

 

One’s self is rooted, among other things, in one’s history and one’s heritage.

Pierre Sauvage

 

After a certain number of years, our face becomes our biography.

Cynthia Ozick

 

Knowing who you are provides insulation against the onslaughts of a random universe.

Barbara Kessel

 

You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.

Florida Scott-Maxwell

 

We must be sure to tell our children about the goodness of people, to express again and again…that our individual acts of kindness make a difference.

Annie Roiphe

 

In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.

From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

 

May God keep you safe ‘til the word of your life is fully spoken.

Irish blessing

 

We transmit our wisdom to future generations.  This process not only seeds the future, but crowns an elder’s life with worth and nobility.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

 

The best lives and stories are made up of minute particulars that somehow are also universal and of use to others as well as oneself.

Barbara Myerhoff

 

Give of yourself …No one has ever become poor from giving.

Anne Frank

 

Hope for a sustainable future depends on reshaping the life cycle – not the individual life cycle alone, but the overlapping and intersecting cycles of individuals and generations, reaffirming both the past and the future, not only in families but in the institutions we build and share.

Mary Catherine Bateson

 

Stories are for people what water is for plants.

Linda Hoga

The story of a life is a priceless legacy.

Linda Spence.

 

Harvest the meaning of life and pass it down to the next generation through stories.

Joan Borysenko

 

May the blessings of your legacy live beyond your given days.

Unknown

 

Not to reveal yourself to another is never to believe the real you is worth loving.

Gail Whiting

 

Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we chose to say or do matters, matters cosmically.

Madeleine L’Engle

 

The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.

Muriel Rukeyser

 

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily.

Sally Koch

 

A tale, like life itself, isn’t finished until it is heard by someone with an understanding heart.

Rosario Ferre’

 

Healing the past helps structure the present, which then becomes the hope for the future.

Denise Linn

 

Everything you are and possess today, whether good or bad, will pass down to those who come after you.

Paul J. Meyer (New York Times bestselling author)

 

A legacy is like a safe-deposit box filled with valuables.  It is only natural that the owner of the box would tell the recipient what is in it, how everything works and why it is so important, before turning over the key.

Paul J. Meyer

 

It is up to the recipient of the box to choose what he or she will do with the key and the valuables inside.  All the responsibility, however, does not rest on the shoulders of the one receiving the legacy – the one giving it is equally responsible.

by Paul J. Meyer in Unlocking your Legacy

 

If we are to leave legacies of wisdom and love and generosity …we must carry a deep commitment to our life dreams …and we must make sure that our dreams have heart and meaning.

Angeles Arrien

 

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson