The Ripple Effect – A Legacy
I have just finished reading Dr. Irvin D Yalom’s latest book, “Staring at the Sun”,a beautiful and courageous book which provides a superbly comforting and enriching perspective on our ultimate fear of death. Stating that we all live with the wound of mortality, Dr. Yalom encourages us to fully consummate our lives and by doing so, avoid the regret of an unlived life. I like this book immensely and I recommend it to you.
Dr. Yalom is highly regarded as both a psychiatrist and therapist. (www.irvinyalom.com)
In this book Dr. Yalom encourages us to embrace our fate in order to fully consummate our lives, thus avoiding the regret of an unlived life.
He introduces and explains the idea of “The Ripple Effect,” the effect that we all have on each other, and how that effect ripples out throughout our social network. Dr. Yalom, focussing on the positive, suggests that, when people are struggling with the impermanence of life, it often helps them to think about the positive effects that they have had on others; the kindness, energy and love they show to others (and indeed, have been shown) which continues to ripple out beyond their immediate social circle in ways that they often don’t even realise, creating wavelets that burgeon out far past their own seeing.
By taking up the Ripple Effect, from our words and deeds, we can create our own positive legacies, passing them down from one generation to the next. Knowing we could have a far reaching positive effect in the World often helps us to mitigate our fears surrounding the transient nature of life.
Live Mindfully
Jacqueline
