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The Power of Legacy Journaling

July 7, 2022 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

Merle R. Saferstein

The wisdom that comes with living is a gift to share. Unlike journaling we do for ourselves, legacy journaling is written for the benefit of others. A legacy journal can be a record of one’s spiritual values, life lessons, messages from the heart, reflections, and more. Legacy journaling provides the beneficiary with insight into someone else’s thoughts and feelings. It serves as a first-person account of one’s journey and contains a peek into one’s soul and life. It is possible that a journal we write for ourselves might eventually morph into a legacy journal.

The idea to create a legacy journal first came to me about twenty years ago when I began to rethink what to do with my collection of then 350 journals. Prior to that, I was convinced I would leave these volumes to my children. However, as time passed, it became clear to me that I was writing for myself—for my eyes only. In every volume, there was something I would never want anyone in my life to see. That’s when I knew it would be a mistake to leave my journals to my children.

Once I made the decision not to bequeath my journals to them, I came up with an alternative plan—the legacy journal project. At first, I intended to sort through the pages of my journals and find meaningful excerpts to share with my loved ones and eventually with a broader audience. By doing this, I would be sharing the essence of who I am as well as my life’s journey. Somewhere along the way, this became Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 1 and within the next year, Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 2.

Imagine my collection of journals as a tapestry. Initially, I identified approximately seventy topics which encompass the individual threads of my life. I untangled them, so each subject was as a single strand apart from the rest. I took excerpts from my journals which dated between 1974–2016. When I completed that phase of the project, which took me fourteen years, each subject was roughly 75–450 single-spaced pages. I then whittled it down to eleven topics per volume.

In Volume 1, some of the topics include journaling, on being a woman, marriage, parenting, my career as a Holocaust educator, and spirituality. After careful editing, I chose to include the excerpts that best captured my thoughts, feelings, conversations, encounters, memories, dreams, travel adventures, as well as my life lessons, values and beliefs, and my hopes and dreams.

Legacy journaling enriches our lives by providing:

An opportunity to impart wisdom.
New insights into a specific moment in time.
Deeper understanding of important people in our lives.
Historical documentation that can be passed on to future generations.
Preservation of important times and places.
Clarification of what you value and believe in.
A recollection of family history.
The sharing of that which has been important to you.
An opportunity to reflect.
A basis for an ethical will.
An appreciation for what you’ve accomplished.
A means to determine what matters to you.
A way to share your essence.
A record of thoughts, feelings, accomplishments, challenges, gratitude, heritage, treasured moments, and advice.
Meaning and purpose.
Reinforcement of the important parts of one’s life.
Something for others to cherish.

Sharing your story can be sacred work. Legacy writing is what we wish to be known about us. When I initially began this project, I hadn’t thought about the impact this would have on me as I walked back in my life. In some ways, it has been a life review.

Legacy Journaling Tips

It’s important to identify your intended audience for your legacy journal first. Deciding this will help you choose what is relevant to include.

Identify the themes you want to share. Then take excerpts/passages based on those themes as you read through your journals.

Edit and synthesize the text. Keep on refining until you have the product you want to pass on to your intended recipients.

When it comes to the creative process, remember to keep in mind that there’s not one “right way” to approach legacy journaling.

Different forms of legacy journaling

Journal entries might be used with the following legacy projects and can be considered different forms of legacy journaling.

Legacy love letters: Commemorate special occasions such as graduations, birthdays, weddings, religious rites of passage, and other special days with a legacy love letter. Share important sentiments, memories, wishes, stories, and values in a memorable and loving way. By doing so, you honor the individual.

Ethical wills: An ethical will, which links people to their future generations, is a spiritual document—the essence of one’s life lessons, values and beliefs, and hopes and dreams. It addresses people’s universal needs to be remembered, to know that they matter, and to pass along messages for future generations. The ethical will, which is to be read as a hopeful, positive piece, is intended to be written for future generations to learn from and cherish.

Journals: Write a journal specifically for someone. For example, one might begin a journal when a grandchild is born and continue writing in it for that grandchild throughout his/her life.

Memoirs and autobiographies: Writing about one’s life as a memoir or an autobiography is a way to share our personal story.

Above all else, a legacy journal in any form is a gift to the person who writes it as well as a gift to those who are fortunate enough to receive it.

About the Author

Merle R. Saferstein is an educator, speaker, and author. She has been journaling for 48 years and has amassed a collection of 380 journals. Curated excerpts from her journals form the basis for her legacy journal, Living and Leaving My Legacy, vol 1.

After 26 years as a Holocaust educator where she helped hundreds of Holocaust survivors leave their legacy, she retired and created Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Through classes, workshops, and lectures, she has guided thousands of people in sacred legacy work, writing, and journaling for wellness and healing.

Her short story collection, Room 732, pays homage to the historic Hollywood Beach Hotel. Merle lives in Miami, Florida with her husband of fifty-five years and has two children and two granddaughters.

LIVING AND LEAVING MY LEGACY, Merle R. Saferstein

Living and Leaving My Legacy gives a rare glimpse into the daily life and deepest thoughts of a truly incredible woman. Merle has generously shared advice with me for my entire life—and now she is sharing it with anyone who reads this book. Her lessons on love, friendship, parenting, spirituality, and so much more will help anyone live a more fulfilling life.
—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Meta, Founder of Lean In & Option B

Merle’s love of teaching, living, and loving shine through in this legacy journal. Her devotion to living a self-aware life is captured word-by-word, journal entry after journal entry.
—Lynda Monk, Director, The International Association for Journal Writing

Life-changing! Genuine! Filled with universal truths! Saferstein’s conversational narrative draws you in while at the same time inspiring you to deeply reflect on your own life. This is Saferstein’s genius!
—Reizel Larrea-Alvarez, Emmy Award-Winning Journalist

Imagine having a written record of your life—your thoughts, feelings, lessons learned, conversations, encounters, memories, dreams, travel adventures, and more. In Living and Leaving My Legacy, Merle R. Saferstein shares carefully curated excerpts from her journals. Each is a sampling of her life: the good and bad, the easy and difficult, the ups and downs. At the end of each chapter, she includes journal prompts that can inspire readers and deepen their life journey.

After 26 years as a Holocaust educator where she helped hundreds of Holocaust survivors leave their legacy, she retired and created Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Through classes, workshops, and lectures, she has guided thousands of people in sacred legacy work, writing, and journaling for wellness and healing.

Her short story collection, Room 732, pays homage to the historic Hollywood Beach Hotel. Merle lives in Miami, Florida with her husband of fifty-five years and has two children and two granddaughters.

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