Ethical Will

This Mother's Day, each of us -- with our unique and complicated relationships with our mothers -- has the privilege and the obligation to articulate our honoring and revering in a legacy letter.

Whether you're the original creator of a legacy gift or you volunteer to be but a tiny cog in a great project, you can make a difference in others' lives.

We are always in some kind of transition of our ideas, in our personal lives, in our relationships, in the seasons of the year and in our country's public life and the world.

Given our material world, it's hard to remember that the holidays are our cultures' ways of expressing the holy. No matter what faith you profess, these days, like all days, are an opportunity to express our spirituality, our seeking the divine in and beyond our world.

In a world fraught with violence and destruction, we need more than ever... beauty. Of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. How can we pass forward to future generations what we perceive and experience as beautiful?

Ethical wills are about values, not valuables. But what about the category of "stuff" you can't take with you -- of value or not?

How do we individually echo the larger changes happening today in nature (earthquakes and tsunamis) and our political worlds (revolutions throughout N...

Courage, a value that we've seen practiced and heard much about at home and around the world in 2011, is what we'll concentrate on in our legacy writing this month.

The legacy of civility, beyond our personal hopes for our families and loved ones, is imperative in our own country and the world.

Writing legacy letters (spiritual, ethical wills) is a response to the deep human yearning in us to articulate and preserve who we most authentically are and by what values we have lived.

As women, our mothers remain not just with us, but in us. Our connection with mothers is stronger than memory, a kind of permeation that goes beyond anything verbal.

Names function as a compass connecting us to our families and communities. Stories about how and why we were given our names give substance and significance to our names.

Consider common statements used in our culture: "Time is money." "Time marches on." "Time is precious, don't waste it." "Time flies." We're less attuned to: "Take time to smell the roses."

Legacy writing addresses our need to belong, to be known, to be remembered, to have our lives make a difference, to know we're blessed and to bless others, and to celebrate life.

All of us yearn to be blessed; all of us need to be held securely in the love left so often unexpressed by our families and friends.

As 2010 begins, may your writing be a source of insight and wisdom for you, and a gift of blessing for those who come after you.

Older adults are developing new values and new perspectives: redefining self, relationships, and fundamental existential questions like time, space, life, and death.

Ethical wills are about values, not valuables. But what about the category of stuff -- of value or not?

People are more open about sex and death than about money, which may be our last taboo. Though challenging, let's look at the relationship of money, values and legacy.