I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Do you want to achieve immortality?
Start by recognizing how your presence in other’s lives has impact. Which of your altruistic actions carry gravitas? Which deliver something of innate value to another that will long outlast your thoughts or accomplishments?
Where do you invest time and energy in something so sublimely simple that will carry a much deeper meaning in the reflections of others?
Take a moment and think back on the 3 most influential people in your life. What elevated them to the top 3 status? Which of their behaviors were so impactful? Why do their actions drive your continued growth? What did they exemplify that you admire so much?
As we take time to contemplate matters of this magnitude, we are quick to separate the values that we hold most precious to ourselves. We take a field of many who have impressed us, inspired us, helped to shape us and put only three at the top of the list. Was there a key moment in your life with that person that you reflect upon and see as being the inciting moment that put them into your top strata of influential relationships? Did they say something, do something, personify something that helped you to rise up to a new level of your own internal being?
History takes such people and puts them into chronicles from which we all may learn from both positive and negative example. In our studies, we come upon such luminaries and we learn from them how they were able to prevail upon the world and thereby leave a mark. But on a more personal level, the most influential people in our lives, could well be people that we know. People who are able to connect with us in unique fashion, influencing our thoughts, stimulating our behavior and helping us to sculpt who we are becoming.
When you take time to prioritize how you will spend your time on planet Earth, I believe it is imperative to separate a portion of your life towards achieving your own immortality. If you start by surveying the people around you and look for where your particular skill set will help another galvanize their life experiences into something greater, then you are taking one step closer to immortality. If you are determined to seek greatness, look within and give of yourself in new and innovative ways.
Because someone out there needs you. Someone out there is hoping you will rise to the challenge of immortality and inspire and help them in ways that can never be measured. Ways that have zero apparent value. Ways that give you sole satisfaction that you are being a person of real value. Ways that allow you to look into a mirror and know that when push came to shove, you were someone who could be counted on. In Yiddish, a mensch is a man with a heart. A person of integrity and honor. It is perhaps the highest of compliments. My father was such a man. To this day, I still have friends who will share out of nowhere something that they spoke to my father about and how his advice or his legal work on their behalf was instrumental in helping them through a significant problem in their lives. Watching his behavior was never lost on me. Walking in his shoes and trying to be of his stature, has always been the goal.
Find your internal compass, look deep within to find your path to immortality. Commit to the path that will take you there and then walk the walk.
It’s that simple.
Happy Tuesday!
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