When I left the Institute of Cultural Affairs after thirty years of service I felt that I had my whole life ahead of me. When my marriage of 23 years ended, I knew that I needed to discover who I was as an individual. When I said a final goodbye to my daughter after 35 years, I kept focused on assuring a continuity of love for her two daughters. Somehow this upcoming loss and departure feel different.
Perhaps it is the age at which I am making this transition that the stakes seem high. Perhaps it is residual self-doubt about myself as an artist that makes the future seem uncertain even though I know I will be spending hours in the studio every day. Perhaps, after all of my losses and leavings, it is time to consider my legacy to planet earth. What, if any, mark will I leave?
I invite your reflections on life transitions. How have you celebrated and coped with them?
I invite your reflections on leaving a legacy of love. How are you approaching it? What has been helpful in your process?
Below are two pieces of wisdom I’m currently contemplating.
Sept 9, 2011
Know What
Matters
To start purposefully creating your legacy, think about the
following three questions. I've used these questions myself and have given them
to my clients to think about and answer. They will rock you to your core.
Answer them honestly to create a legacy that matters and endures.
1)
Twenty-five
years after my death, what, if anything, will those beyond my family remember
me for?
2)
If I had to
give everything I own to a cause (not a person), what would that cause be?
3)
If I could
snap my fingers and acquire an experience or talent, it would be ___________
because ___________ .
While on the surface these questions may sound simple, when it
comes time to answer them you'll realize that each question requires much
thought. In fact, most people have to think about the questions for days before
really knowing the answers.
Remember, it's not what we leave FOR others that matters; it's
what we leave IN them that matters most. Possessions and wealth do not a true
legacy make. It's about leaving behind the essence of your Authentic Soul.
That's what the world needs from you. So serve others by leaving behind the
best and most beautiful parts of you. Today and every day, create your legacy.
Craig Lucas: Leaving Your Artistic Legacy
The
following is from a commencement address Craig Lucas delivered to the graduates of
the Boston University College of Fine Arts in 2008.
By all means, earn accolades, find fame and fortune, and when the
world falls at your feet, just don't let them tell you what to do next. Just
don't let them make you do the same new thing over and over. The world is full
of artists who literally painted themselves into a corner. No one should have
to write the same play twice.
Learn that most magical of words, the one that will open the most
doors, command the most respect, and free you from the tyrant within and
without:
No.
If all we do as artists is make people feel, that alone can
subvert some of the cynicism and indifference being peddled.
By feel, I don't mean that warm glow audiences get when they're
told how smart they are and everything is fine just as it is; that warmth is
nothing more than the fever accompanying the disease that is killing them.
That's called pandering and people will pay an awful lot for that; and so will
you. You really can ask more of yourself and your audience.
That's the hope I want for you.
We began, as artists, tens of thousands of years ago, by putting
our hands to the walls of the caves and leaving a handprint: "I was here!
This is what it was like! These arrows, these animals, this blood."
That is still our job.
