sheds what’s no longer useful
and leaves it behind them.
Are you not greater than they?”
~ Jason Versey
In my mind, December is always a month of musing about the past. I purposely am writing this article for the December 2020 Beyond Mastery newsletter on November 2 (before the Presidential Election). Webster’s dictionary defines legacy as, “Anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.”
From the Facebook post of a friend, our legacy is like footprints in the sand.
When I was the Community Director for the March of Dimes, “Plan-Do-Review” was an essential part of the success of each fundraising event: What worked well? Is there anything we already know we would change? While everything is still fresh, what do you want/need to put into place now for the next time?
Learning from the past is one of the things humans are both most capable of — and sometimes least likely to do. But learning from the past and letting go of what is not not useful is vital. Learn from Lenny the Lizard. Lenny is an alter-ego, lifelong companion, and business partner of Kathy Dempsey — the result of a life-changing conversation with David Mann, a colleague, when his pet lizard died because it didn’t shed its skin. “Keep Shedding: Embrace Change/Get Results” is now the logo on their webpage.
I just watched My Octopus Teacher, an NPR documentary on Netflix about Craig Foster. Burned out from years of working on arduous nature films, needing a reset, Foster returned to the underwater kelp forests off the southwest tip of Cape Town. Worthy of note, he was diving without a wetsuit or oxygen tank — every day for a year — into waters as cold as 46 degrees!
Both the expressions of the man, Craig Foster, and the communications of the octopus speak volumes: relationship is life changing.
The first tentative touch of the octopus. The fright when Foster drops his camera. The second chance and the curious coming closer. Witnessing the attack of the catshark, and concern over the severed arm. The welcome recovery!
Life has its ups and its downs. We can learn from it all.
When Foster discovers that his octopus teacher has mated, it is a mixed blessing. The end is near: females octopuses die after they reproduce. Foster watches her waste away as her eggs hatch….
And later his son finds a tiny octopus! Could it be?
Life has its ups and its downs. We can learn from it all.
About his book, Distinctive Footprints Of Life: where are you heading towards?, Ernest Agyemang Yeboah writes, “We are not just here to live, but to live and leave distinctive footprints behind. We must not just leave footprints; we must let our footprints be lasting and distinctive!”
As Yeboah says, “It doesn’t matter how bitter or better the past has been, what we can do with the bitter or better past today is what matters.”
This is the last month of the year 2020. It has been a year of challenges.
Life has its ups and its downs. We can learn from it all.
Let’s make it the year of the lizard: Embrace change and keep shedding!