Releasing That Which No Longer Serves Us… And Honoring What Does

“We are a continuum. Just as we reach back to our ancestors for our fundamental values, so we, as guardians of that legacy, must reach ahead to our children and their children. And we do so with a sense of sacredness in that reaching.” 

-Paul Tsongas

I am celebrating a milestone birthday today. Leading up to it, I have been reflecting on my life journey. What struck me about this reflection was the amount of energy I have expended to release limiting patterns in my life; thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that I attributed in large part to my parents, grandparents, and ancestors long before them. At various points, those patterns no longer served me and letting go of them allowed me to evolve and experience periods of true flourishing. So far, so good!

But I think I may have missed something in all of that letting go. While cathartic, I think I may have forgotten to honor the life journeys of my parents, grandparents, and ancestors in my haste to forge my own path. I was reminded of this when I stumbled across a quote: 

“Whatever you are is because of what your ancestors have done.”

—Li Lu

Indeed.

For a number of reasons—most of which are curious to me—I know very little about my ancestors. I have some awareness of where they came from as well as when they arrived in Minnesota, where I grew up. I know they were farmers and carpenters. I am told they worked hard and worshiped harder. And I have inferred their beliefs and assumptions based on my childhood experiences, many of which I have been keen to shed. 

But recently, I have become acutely aware that my relationship with my ancestors has been more about letting go than appreciating what their journeys enabled me to do in life. And so here I am on this milestone birthday, thinking about continuum—about honoring those who came before me as well as those who will hopefully follow.

To celebrate my birthday, I am embarking on a 170-mile Camino across Costa Rica. When I made the decision to go, I imagined it would be another opportunity to let go of those things that no longer serve me, but I now realize I will also be quietly reconnecting with my ancestors. It is time for gratitude and to honor them by reexamining some of my beliefs and assumptions from a more holistic lens. I am curious what I will discover; what I will retrieve as well as shed. I wonder how these discoveries will change how I live and work.

As you reflect on your own ancestral legacies and your growth as a parent/ leader/ friend/ neighbor, what limiting patterns have you shed? How have you honored the values, beliefs, and assumptions that brought you here? What are your rituals to release and celebrate? And how will the values, beliefs, and assumptions you hold today shape the life journeys of future generations?

What goes and what stays is now up to us. We are the boundary spanners—between the past and the present. Let’s sit in the continuum with intention.

In Eudaimonia- Lisa