Green Benches, Legacy Filters & the Don’t Do Practice
There are over 10,000 benches in Central Park, including the iconic green benches with engraved plaques celebrating beginnings and endings, anniversaries, and milestones. Walking past the benches this week, I found myself slowing up to read each one like I used to during the days of the COVID-19 shutdowns. At that time, I was searching for anchors and inspiration. I was deeply questioning my purpose and leadership. This time, I was curious about what the first five months of 2024 would say about how I was moving in alignment with my legacy vision.
…and she will one day say yes…
In memory of Marty - Birder Extraordinaire. Friend. Mentor. Mensch.
Remember: you’re as good as the best thing you’ve ever done.
As I continued to pass the benches through the feeders and around the Great Lawn, I kept wondering what would happen if I filtered my daily decisions - conscious and subconscious - through these statements and intentions.
Peace of mind. Clarity of thought. Eternal happiness.
Dream. Explore. Live. Laugh. Love. Celebrate.
Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart.
With gratitude to the glorious, glorious Central Park. Lovely oasis of beauty and inspiration.
Brave — to our future memories.
How might I live my days differently if I was rooted in love? Or celebration? What would come into focused as misaligned in my calendar if I filtered my decisions through those words? What would my calendar say about how I express my gratitude for the Park? What would my self talk play back about how I think about myself? What would my bank account say about how I cultivate and nourish my happiness?
Legacy: it’s a discipline of the now. It’s a set of intentional actions and decisions about how you’re spending your money and time. It’s a set of intentional choices about what you consume, who you surround yourself with, and more. The benches of Central Park held up a mirror that day, asking: does my day reflect how I want to be remembered or does it reflect how I’m actually living my life in alignment (or misalignment) with my legacy vision?
I’m reminded often in my legacy assignment at The Highland Project about the evolution I witness in our community of Black women redefining the word “legacy” to not be solely about how they’ll be remembered when they are gone, but also defined as a purpose that drives how they are living their lives daily with intention in the here an now.
What does it mean or look like to get in touch with your inner wisdom about your purpose and what matters most to you? How do you begin to create a set of filters for how you make choices around how you spend your time, money, and more in a way that’s aligned to your purpose or legacy?
I offer a practice I learned at the end of 2020 during a Starshine and Clay Virtual Retreat with Octavia Raheem and came back to at the beginning of this year in Tracee Stanley’s book The Luminous Self. That practice - the do and don’t do practice - is rooted in what I now have the language for of legacy filtering.
You can find the practice created and recorded by Tracee Stanley below. This practice may not be what you think it is and will likely stir up emotions for you. Don’t worry, Tracee guides you through ways to care for yourself through the practice.
In Octavia’s seemingly simple words about the practice she asks: “You have a ‘to do’ list, cool. What will you NOT do in order to create space for health, well being, and rest for yourself, family, and community? What will you NOT do is equally important as what you will. What will you NOT do this week, season, month, or even year?”
In still of the space in between the do and not do list,
Gabrielle
