Look at the pictures. Watch the videos. Those images and scenes from your past tell stories. They remind you of times, of feelings, of experiences.
Play the songs. Those old songs from different seasons of your life. Sing along. The lyrics are embedded in your brain.
Recall the days, the weeks, the months, the years, the decades. How did those seasons bring joy? How did they provide pain? How did they shape you into the person you are now?
As I wrote Things We’ve Handed Down: Twelve Letters I Leave for You, I focused on books that impacted my life and the lessons I learned from those books. But I also included stories. Some recent; some from long ago, but all stories that influenced me.
If you wrote a book about lessons learned from books, what books would you select? What lessons would you choose to include? What songs would you add? What stories would you tell?
I don’t always make great decisions. But as I was writing this book and processing the many lessons from my many years, I knew I needed to talk to someone. Not the counselors I had previously talked to. Not the many friends I frequently talk to. Not the family members who know me so well. But I needed new eyes to see me and new ears to hear these old stories as I was putting them on paper. So, I spoke with someone I had not talked to before.
And that’s my suggestion here. That’s my suggestion for you.
Find someone to talk to. Not just anyone. The right person. Contact them. Set up an appointment. Bring them those pictures and songs and stories. Hand to them what has been handed down to you.
Then keep with you what you’ve learned—until it’s time to hand it down.
The books I would choose to include are books that have reminded me to slow down such as the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. They have offered the advice to practice the art of noticing. Of slowing down. Not just looking, but seeing. Not just hearing, but listening. In a world that is all consuming–from the tasks in our planner to the thoughts racing through our mind, it can become easy to fall into the deception that “we must never stop, but keep pushing onward.” The lesson I’m learning now and would want to share is, “What happens if you refuse to rush through.”
This blog post encourages readers to reflect on the legacy, wisdom, and values they’ve inherited from family, mentors, and communities, and to consider how these “handed-down” qualities shape their own lives. It emphasises the importance of appreciating and passing on positive influences, values, and lessons to future generations.
I like to read, arguably I have read a good number of books in my life, but I don’t know if I could pick out the ones that have helped define who I am. I used to read a lot of poems though, not only read, but I competed in speaking competitions in the category of poetry. One year I used a piece I don’t remember the name of about a girl grieving the death of her sister, my sister hadn’t died but I was grieving the loss of her. There’s another poem that is traditionally read at retirement ceremonies from the Navy; I cried through the entire thing when my dad retired. In the way only a child who grew up with a parent serving our country could, I understood every line. There are probably others, and books that would explain is some ways who I am, what’s been handed down to me. And if I am lucky maybe something I say or do while going through life will pass some meaning to someone else, and they will pass it on too.
Reflecting on the media that we take in is so valuable. It often shapes our thinking and challenges our thinking. There have been so many videos, books, and pieces of art that I have taken the time to ponder over and over again and it feels like every time I spend time pondering those things I find new layers. Sometimes I will watch a movie with a powerful message several times over and I notice something that the director wanted to communicate that I hadn’t noticed before. If I come back to a song or a piece of visual art with fresh eyes I notice something I hadn’t previously noticed. I could spend so much time in deep thought about art and literature that carries profound social commentary and words of wisdom.
There are many books, songs, and moments in my life that I can say have impacted me. All of which I still think about today, and when they are brought up or something triggers a memory, I get that same feeling that I did when I first read, listened to, or experienced them. I hope to be able to look back on them and pass them down to friends and family. The books, songs, and memories throughout my life all range in emotion and value; no matter what, there are the same and new ones that I find to continue to shape me and my story. A good example would be reading Emotionally Healthy Spirituality this semester and it helped me not only to heal but to learn more than I expected. Songs of nostalgia and new songs to immediately put into playlists bring such a good feeling to my body and soul.
I love how you related songs and lyrics to parts of our lives. There are so many songs that run through my head on a day to day basis, and so many different life scenarios that do the same.
I love to read. As I think about all of the books that I have read in those that have impacted me the most I would have to say that “everybody always “has to be one of the most impactful books that I’ve read. This book talks a lot about loving those who are hard to love in different perspectives of how that looks in the Christian life. This book really changed my perspective on how those that are hard to love also struggle within themselves to love themselves. This book has shown me no matter what a person has done to me or to those around me, Lord has called me to love them. Bob Goff uses an example of a story of a witch doctor who mutilates a little boy in his African tribe. by the end of the story, the witch doctor is tried, convicted, and imprisoned. But through this process, he finds Jesus. That is what it means to love Everybody Always.