Topics for Your Legacy Film
Your life legacy has many facets. There are some many details to your great life that when you start to think about all of them, you can become overwhelmed. It’s a good idea to start to outline all of the major areas that you want to talk about. As time goes on, more ideas will come to you and you can revise your list. Don’t feel like you have to remember everything about your life before your filming. Remember, you can always add to your legacy video later.
A great aid for you in this section would be your Legacy Storybook (link here). This is a guide that can help you work through different areas of your life. It will also ask thought-provoking questions which will help you gather great material for your film.
Here are some suggestions for different areas in your life you will want to share to future generations. Take notes as thoughts come to you in each area. You may also get a notebook or a basic journal to keep a log of thoughts. Our Gift Your Legacy journal (link here) is also a great guide to use separately or to use with the Legacy Storybook. The GYL journal makes a nice piece of memorabilia for a family member. I still cherish running into notes from my father, in his handwriting, about various things he was working on at various stages of his life.
Family History
This is always a good one to start with. Take jot down some notes on what you would like to talk about regarding your family line,. Include stories of places you lived and where your family came from. This is also a good place to talk about the good times and challenging times in your family’s history.
Living and Loving
What are some of the things about you that you love and have loved throughout your life. Think about things like hobbies, music, authors, stories/books/movies, travel, etc. Why have these things meant so much to you? Why do you love the mountains? Why does certain music touch you so deeply? Who taught you that hobby that you love and why do you enjoy it so?
Why is it important to pass down these passions to your family?
My Purpose
What is and has been your purpose in life? What are the roles that you have played in this life (dad, teacher, caregiver)? Why was/is it important to faithfully fulfill these roles?
Beyond the “practical” roles that you have played, what is the reason God put you here on this earth? Realize that your purpose is based in your deep seated values that you honor and is played out in the roles you have fulfilled throughout your life. For instance, you may say that as a father (the practical role) you have done your best to live a life of honesty and integrity to demonstrate this to all that you have had a relationship (ultimate purpose of the practical role as father).
This is a difficult section. So start by listing the roles you have played and the reason why you have done your best to fulfill these roles in your life. List the value or values connected to the practical roles you have played.
From here, think of the overall purpose of your life. While being a father might be your “practical” role, the ultimate purpose might be to demonstrate to your family the values of love, commitment and faithfulness.
List:
- Role in Life
- Reason for Role
- Values attached to the role and values you want to pass on
- Conclude with a statement of the purpose for which you have lived.
- Repeat this process with each role you have played.
A great summary would be take take this information and make a one or two sentence statement about your purpose that you played in your life (i.e. I was put on this earth to demonstrate the meaning of love, commitment and faithfulness to my family as a father, husband and Christian).
This statement will be powerful when passing down to future generations.
Your Wisdom and Faith
This section ties nicely into the previous about your purpose. What wisdom have you gained over your lifetime from both good and bad experiences? How was your faith tested and how was it strengthened? What perspectives did you learn in life from various experiences?
This section might be the most important of all. We call it, “What do you NEED to tell them?” What you tell future generations in this part of your legacy video will be the most important thing they will ever hear out of you. It will also be the most precious information from your heart.
Think about episodes/stories in your life that lead to the wisdom gained and faith tested. List the stories by name here and a few notes on what you gained from that experience. You can expand and organize your thoughts later for tell these stories in your legacy film.
Story Title:
Wisdom, Perspective or Faith Tested
Story Title:
Wisdom, Perspective or Faith Tested