Week Forty: Legacies of Kindness

Walking across Central Park this morning, I revisited a conversation I had with a colleague yesterday about the legacies we leave behind in our lives. My mind moved, this morning, to the distinction between the final legacy of a life lived – children, professional accomplishments, contributions to society – and the small, moment-to-moment legacies we leave behind each day. These legacies emerge from our everyday interactions with other people, as when I say good morning to the doorman as I leave for work each day, or when I meet people in the park who have become part of my morning’s experience. These moments are nothing dramatic, nor are they particularly impacting. Added together, though, they create the tone of the day and color the legacy I’ve left behind as I’ve moved through the world.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to pay attention to the legacies you generate in your daily activities and interactions with others, and to consider increasing your legacies of kindness. This doesn’t mean having to do huge favors or actions on behalf of others. It does mean taking a moment to decide what quality you want to bring to any interaction you encounter as you go through your day, and what might support leaving a legacy of kindness when you have moved on from one experience to the next.

Remember that there are no right or wrong ways to do these experiments. They offer an opportunity for you to be curious about what you might learn or experience as you engage creating legacies of kindness during the day. You might also find yourself wondering about what other kinds of legacies you’d like to leave behind as you move through your world.

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