“People attend, remember, and are transformed by stories…
Mary Pipher from Writing to Change the World
Stories have a profound impact on our lives. On one level, our identity is the summation of our stories. When our aging parents enter the last phase of life, they experience a new and compelling interest in recalling the most important stories of their lives, deciphering the meaning, and determining what role they will play in how they will be remembered.
Taking time to learn how to gently and respectfully facilitate life review conversations will prove invaluable to adult children after they’re parents are gone. In this regard, adult children take on the role of Legacy Coach™, a concept I created almost twenty years ago while writing How to Say it to Seniors. These links offer more details about what it means to be a Legacy Coach™:
Legacy Coach: Uncovering the Secret Stuff™
The Talk of Life: Organic Legacy, Out Loud
Refining Our Role as Legacy Coaches™
( I am creating a new course for becoming a certified Legacy Coach™ that I will be offering next year. It will provide inspiring and practical strategies that utilize psychology, art, and technology to help older adults discover, define and develop their organic legacy)
- Life review is a relational process that mobilizes stories to uncover and identify which values, lessons and dreams go into legacy.
- Create safe venues for the telling of these stories, settings that facilitate conversations, insights, and continuity.
- The sharing of stories goes beyond crafting a legacy. It also fosters transformative moments of acceptance, forgiveness, and healing.
I’m so pleased to hear about your upcoming training on becoming a legacy coach and am definitely interested in taking part. How To Say It To Seniors is a book I came across in my job at the Vancouver Public Library and it literally saved my sanity. I’ve recommended it to countless friends and patrons who’ve told me how much it helps.
I’ve been enjoying your art, thank you for that also.
I sent an email to myself with subject line as the St Teresa of Avila quote you sent. So when I look at my inbox I always read the quote. Helps me as Covid hit my mother’s care home yesterday.
Take care, thank you for your efforts.