Celebrating Your Legacy

"Legacy is as public as an architectural monument and as private as a letter written to children or grandchildren. It’s as tangible as a bank check and as intangible as a seemingly casual word of advice. And it’s as life enhancing as the Hemlich maneuver and as life denying as the Holocaust.” says Meg Newhouse, PhD.

My interest is in our personal legacy; in the passion, purpose and commitment that creates an indelible mark on the human landscape when we are no longer here to be part of it. It takes courage and kindness, dedication and fortitude to make that reach that will make a difference. Most people are not born famous and then leave a legacy; they become famous after they achieved success in their world of change. Clara Barton (formed the American Red Cross), Mother Teresa (advocate for the poor and helpless), Jonas Salk (developed Polio vaccine), and Christiaan Barnard (engineered the first heart transplant) all believed that healing others was their mission. They were dedicated to their work and as a result have helped people all over the world in perpetuity.

Here are some more current examples of legacies:

Social entrepreneur and author, Marc Freedman established Civic Ventures to support social change by recognizing the experience of older adults and encouraging personal and professional renewal. Under civic ventures, multiple programs are offered including The Purpose Prize which awards individuals age 60 and over for social innovation and their approach to solving some of the world’s biggest problems. The “experience dividend” has propelled many to create “greater good in the second half of life”


Dr. Gene Cohen, MD, PhD passed away in 2009 but his legacy in the world of creativity and aging was enormous. He was the leading professional to offer research studies and writings (books include The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain and The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life) that fully supported the premise of positive aging as a result of a creative lifestyle. His groundbreaking studies have built a nationwide movement that owes its presence and strength to his work.

Alexandra Scott, born in 1992, was one year old when she was diagnosed with cancer. Unable to conquer the disease, Alex wanted a lemonade stand so she could make money to help fund a cure. Although she passed away at the age of 8, her legacy has encouraged products and events that have raised many millions of dollars for research. Her 3 brothers continue her work through their commitment to her legacy with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

J.A. and Geraldine Reynolds lost their son, Bruce, who was a patrolman for the Port Authority of New York on 9/11. He was an extraordinary charismatic person who loved to garden. Shortly after 9/11, the NYC Parks department delivered daffodils to plant in Reynolds’ community garden in New York City’s Isham Park. Now The Daffodil Project “is the largest volunteer, citizen-driven planting effort in New York City's history, with over 20,000 participants planting 2.5 million flowers since the Fall of 2001.“

Nancy Lublin started Dress for Success in 1996 with three nuns from Spanish Harlem and a $5,000 inheritance from her great-grandfather. Today this worldwide non-profit organization promotes "the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life." Through generous donations of clothes and accessories, financial contributions and paid staff and volunteers, Dress for Success has helped over 500,000 women.

Our lives are a blizzard of experiences and many responses are automatic. The phone rings and we pick it up, we drive the same route daily and never look at street names, and we’re moving from point A to point B and wondering where C is while preparing to get to point G. However what makes us unique and what makes living special is our intention to give meaning to our lives. People have all sorts of gifts and responses to the world around them. Some will leave creative products in art, music and writing as their legacy but most people will leave intangible legacies that are founded on direct social engagement. It can be volunteering at a soup kitchen or hospital, or working on fund raising campaigns for a favorite charity or rescuing stray dogs or cats to find them shelter. It can be helping neighbors or friends who are less fortunate or helping in a community center or school. Involvement can alter lives and begin a legacy. Fred Mandell, PhD, writer, artist and personal catalyst says “Doubt, frustration, and fear are part of life’s journey, but they are not as powerful as passion, commitment and purpose.”

For a legacy to be strong, your passion, purpose and commitment must be strong; waiting for tomorrow is not as effective as doing it today. The time is now to build your legacy so it will represent your life and your spirit of caring. Celebrate yourself. Celebrate your legacy.


"In the power to change yourself is the power to change the world around you."
- Anwar Sadat

Hope, Creativity & Change

Hope is the positive force that propels us forward. With hope, there is an expectation of something we want to happen. We use it everyday; waiting impatiently for a bus to come and hoping it appears in the next minute, caring for a sick friend and hoping that s/he will get better soon, enjoying an indulgence in sweets and hoping to regain will power tomorrow to resume dieting, etc. Mentally we allow ourselves to flex to the possibilities of change. We imagine and create scenarios to fill our needs and desires. Having the mental freedom to conceive and dream of these changes is an integral part of our creative thought processes. We give ourselves permission to dream a little so that we can subconsciously will an event, a person, an experience to change and make a wonderful difference in our lives. Without hope, we’re relegated to the doldrums of life and open to helplessness, despair and depression.

With hope comes change and with change comes innovation. It is a simple flow chart. America captured this symbolically with the election of Barack Obama as our next President. We voted for “Change we can believe in” because we needed a new rudder to guide us safely through the current economic turbulence and other domestic problems. In support of Obama, the well known POP artist Robert Indiana at age 79, designed the sculpture HOPE as a graphic similar to his famous LOVE artwork (with the letter “O” on a diagonal). But what if Barack did not have hope? What if 2 years ago, with little money or endorsements and minimal support by the polls and pundits, Barack despaired and no longer believed that he could gain enough support of voters to be President? Fortunately his campaign mantra, the power of three affirmative words, “Yes, we can!” resonated strongly across the nation and across political divides to bring victory. It was based on hope and not fear, on change and not status quo.

Hope is also a survival tool. In 2002, Laurie Johnson survived a plane crash but lost her husband and young son in the accident. Left with a severely broken leg (femur), Laurie faced a long process of rehabilitation which included multiple surgeries and prolonged use of crutches. With physical and emotional struggles, she hoped that she could get back to her life prior to the accident. Bored with the dismal dull grayness of crutches, she and her sister started to play creatively with change. Their ideas ignited a new business that embraced crutches with fashion and comfort and LemonAid Crutches™ was born. Crutches and arm pads are now available in fun and elegant styles and provide valued comfort as well as visual pleasure.

Hope means replacing the old and choosing something new. It’s an opportunity for the heart and mind to flex together creatively and be an explorer in an unknown land. It’s a voluntary challenge we pursue when convention no longer makes sense and the new road is like a beautiful untouched path of fresh snow.

Martin Luther King, jr. said:

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.