What Trails Behind
Down my road is a cluster of beautiful wild flowers which makes me smile. While the rest of the verge is flowerless, this little area is full with blossom. I recently discovered they were spread by a woman who, before going for a walk, fills her pocket with seeds and scatters them as she goes. I imagine all around their area there were other pockets of flowers enhancing bits of forgotten land. I owe her this beauty. It is such a simple and thoughtful action which set me to thinking about legacy.
What is legacy?
Is it a need to be remembered or an empire to be built? Is it ego based or so much more? What about our legacy – what are we leaving?
The image of Pig Pen from that famous comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schutz comes to mind. With each step he leaves his cloud of dust. It is the same with us. As everything is energy and each one of us is a ball of moving energy we too leave a trail. We leave dust. Maybe not like Pig Pen but our actions do leave results.
So, what does this mean for those who walk behind us? What energy dusts the trail? Is it of kindness, thoughtfulness, or meanness and selfishness? Every thought, word and deed leaves its own wake.
We affect others by our conduct.
Although we will never know to what extent we could choose to ‘scatter seeds’ and leave the world a better place. Just as my kind neighbour enhancing my road makes me smile, we too can leave beauty behind. Be it a thoughtful action, a well placed word, an arm for support, kind actions hold good memories.
Memories are where legacy lies.
So, choose wisely and remember you also walk in the path of another. How has their energy dusted your path? Do you walk with an open heart or a closed and cynical one?
Awareness is about seeing the bigger picture, the connection between us all and all things. The more seeds planted the greater the smile.
No, legacy is not so much about building an empire but more about what mark you leave behind. For empires may come and go but beauty felt remains forever in the heart.