Redefining Legacy

Your legacy isn’t what you leave behind, it’s what you choose to live now.

Living Legacy work can start at any age, it's about connecting in the now, not after your gone.

Legacy isn’t about writing your eulogy. It's not about death or something you leave behind after you die. For generations, we’ve accepted this version of legacy as a given, something fixed, final, and only relevant at the end. But what if we reimagined legacy, not as something tied to death, but to life?

The problem with traditional legacy

In the 14th century, the word legacy entered the English language primarily as a legal term referring to property or money left to someone in a will. Over time, its meaning broadened to include non-material inheritance: values, reputation, achievements, influence. This is what most people associate with legacy today. It’s about what you leave behind, to whom, how will people remember you, and how to make sure you’re not forgotten (because for many of us, being forgotten is terrifying, more on that another time!). Traditional legacy can become ego-driven, or something that is ignored and then becomes a panic at the death-bed, but it doesn’t have to be either of these. 

Two types of legacy-makers:

1. People who actively work to create their legacy

This form of legacy is sometimes driven by ego, fear of being forgotten, or a need to control how others remember us. We might pursue it to prove we existed, or to ensure we leave behind something of value, a contribution to the world. But the trap lies in becoming consumed with building something, an empire, a brand, a reputation, a family name, in the hope it will last forever, hoping part of us will last forever (see previous article on Die before you die).

2. People who avoid thinking about their legacy

Then there are those who avoid legacy altogether. Maybe they truly don’t care about leaving anything behind, or perhaps, on a deeper level, they’re terrified of their own death and mortality. They ignore it until it becomes impossible to do so: at retirement, upon a serious illness, or when death is imminent, and often by then, it’s too late. This too is driven by fear, but in this case, fear of death fuels the avoidance.

The reason that these types of legacy fail us is because they are static, they are about reaching a final destination and hoping that everything you’ve done has been enough.

...driven by ego, fear of being forgotten, or a need to control how others remember us.

A third alternative: Living Legacy

A Living Legacy is one you create and witness while you're still here. It’s not about what you leave behind, it’s about how you live in the now. Most people don’t want fame; they want to feel their life matters, that they mattered. A Living Legacy is about choosing to live in alignment with your values, your truth, and what makes you proud, so that meaning is created while living, not just in the remembering. True Legacy is about living, not about dying. 

What Living Legacy is not

Living Legacy is not therapy, psychology, or ghostwriting. It’s not a résumé, a list of accomplishments, or a performance. It’s not about fear, fixing the past, or trying to control how others remember you.

Instead, Living Legacy is a heart-centred conversation rooted in presence, meaning, and intentional living. It’s about being witnessed and truly listened to, not judged or diagnosed. It’s the courage to show up authentically and live your story fully, here and now.

What is the purpose of creating a Living Legacy?

The purpose of a Living Legacy is to find greater depth and meaning in your current life, to pause and ask yourself: 

• Am I living in alignment with my values, and sense of meaning and purpose?

• Am I honouring my creative expression, personal growth, and transformation?

• Am I tending to my emotional and spiritual well-being?

• And ultimately, is this the life I truly want to be living?

And, if the answer is no, you can choose to change, not from fear, but with presence and honesty. So rather than arriving to the future and looking back wishing you’d done things differently, when the end does come, whether it’s expected or sudden, you can know you lived your life consciously.

The man who needed to hear his own story

A beautiful example of the power of reflecting on our life stories came through a patient who was seeking clarity about the next chapter of his life. He had recently come through a major health challenge and was in a place of physical recovery, now turning toward emotional and spiritual integration.

What was foremost in his mind wasn’t the illness itself, but a message he felt deeply drawn to share: that we are far more powerful than we think. His GP had encouraged him to consider his health from a more holistic perspective, and to reflect on what might have contributed to the illness, not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and energetically. Though his body had healed, his focus was already on the future and how he could share his message with the world.

What emerged wasn’t just a timeline of events, but a shift in how he related to them. He began to see himself with a new sense of compassion and clarity. He realised the importance of listening to and honouring the journey he had been through. The message he wanted to share was still there, but now it came from a deeper, more grounded place.

Sometimes the most important audience for our story is ourselves. That’s where true clarity often begins.

It is when you meet yourself, that your true authentic life begins.

The healing power of being witnessed

Living Legacy work isn’t just about documenting a life, it’s about telling the whole truth of your story –  maybe for the first time – and being met with presence, not judgment.

This work often begins with a simple invitation: tell me your story. And when you do, when you speak the unspeakable, name the turning points, revisit the moments you’ve never shared, you often hear it yourself for the first time. That alone can be transformational. In speaking it aloud, you begin to integrate it. And often, that’s what brings clarity, it’s not a vision board, a brand, or a plan, but the courage to face what’s been hidden, and the relief of no longer carrying it alone. There may be tears, yes, but also laughter, peace, and more often than not a cathartic release. Your story doesn’t have to be neat and tidy, in fact the messier the better, your story just has to be honest. 

You don’t need to be dying to be heard. The earlier you begin, the more fully alive you become.

A window into the subconscious

Much of what shapes us lives below the conscious surface of our awareness, layered in memory, in the body’s tissues, and hidden in the subconscious lives of our dreams. By speaking, writing, drawing, or even humming our story, we bypass the analytical mind and access deeper truths. This is where legacy work becomes more than a mental exercise, it becomes somatic and spiritual integration. 

That’s why Living Legacy work intentionally moves beyond conscious thought and into deeper layers of the self. Through words, images, sound, or silence, we access what the analytical mind can’t reach. Most often it’s not about understanding the story, but honouring that it happened.

I’ve seen this again and again, at the end of life, when people are offered the space to share their story and are simply listened to, without interruption or advice. I have heard them say, “I’ve never told anyone that before,” or, “I hadn’t remembered that story in years,” or, “I feel so much better now.”What brought peace wasn’t an attempt to fix the past, but instead allowing someone to be fully seen in it. Living Legacy work offers this same kind of presence, only we begin earlier, while there’s still time to live differently.

True legacy is about living, not about dying. 

An invitation to begin your Living Legacy

You might be thinking: I’m not qualified for legacy work. I haven’t done enough. My life isn’t interesting. But that is a myth. Living Legacy work isn’t about fame, achievement, or arriving at some perfect, polished version of yourself. It’s not a résumé of your life. It’s a deeply personal practice of witnessing your own story, without judgment, without comparison, and without needing to be at the end of life.

You already have a legacy. It’s unfolding with every choice you make, whether consciously or not. And you don’t need to wait for illness, retirement, or regret to begin reflecting on what it all means. You don’t need to be dying to be heard. In fact, the earlier you begin, the more fully alive you become.

Three practical ways to begin your Living Legacy today

1. Share a story that changed you

At dinner, on a walk, with a friend. Don’t wait for the right time, start small, start now.

2. Write a legacy letter to someone you love and send it

Tell them what they mean to you, and what you hope stays with them long after you’re gone.

3. Ask yourself: What would I want remembered from today?

Legacy is built moment by moment. Choose one moment from your day that mattered to you, write it down.

After completing Living Legacy work people often report feeling more alive and aligned, more at peace with their choices. There’s emotional release, deeper self-understanding, and less regret. You may even create something tangible, a story, a letter, a recording, that carries your impact forward now, not just in memoriam.

This work can be transformative if you allow it to be. It's a deep, emotional release that can feel like shedding a weight you've carried for years. Living Legacy work is not about finishing; it’s about beginning. It’s about the courage to pause and reflect, to gather your experiences and listen deeply to your own life; perhaps for the fist time. It’s about giving voice to what has shaped you and your life, and letting someone else hold that story with you. Not in order to fix it, not as a performance, but simply to honour that it happened. Because the only legacy that truly matters, is the one you live with your whole heart, while you’re still here.

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This article is authored by Nicole Sultana, who holds a Post Graduate Degree in Spiritual Care, a Post Graduate Certificate in Business (Marketing), and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports & Exercise. In addition, she is a Certified Therapeutic Sound Practitioner and a Death Doula. Nicole is the founder of Sound Consciousness, a company that offers wellbeing strategies and therapeutic sound practices to help individuals achieve peak performance in their professional lives, sporting endeavours, relationships, and personal aspirations.

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