I have always believed that:
“A Good Story Touches the Heart; and
a Great Story Changes the Heart™”
Opening Up
So much of what I am trying to do in Estate Planning is to get my clients to open up to me about what is really of value to them. It is often through their telling of their stories that I am able to hear and understand what is valuable. It allows me to hear how they are connected to their family and loved ones. Often their “family” is really a combination of people that they have known and connected with over time, as opposed to people that they are actually related to by blood.
If the clients will open up to me enough to tell me their “stories” and reveal what they really treasure and value, relationally and financially, then we are in a much better position to create a “Customized Protective Estate Plan™” for them.
Stories Teach
An older friend told me a long time ago, that you become a deeper person by reading, hearing or seeing stories of deep meaning. He believed this would help you grow more compassionate, aware and empathetic to others. Then you are better able to know and understand people and be better able to connect with them personally. Our “Personal Relationships” are normally the most important part of our lives.
Lion
There is a movie in theaters now that I highly recommend, “Lion”. I believe it is a Great Story about opening up and family dynamics. It is a story of a 5-year-old Indian boy accidentally separated from his family and ending up 1,200 miles away in a Provence where he didn’t speak the dialect. He couldn’t tell them where he was from or his family’s name. He ended up adopted and raised by an Australian family. In his twenties he started to search for his Indian family and hometown with only the aid of a laptop, Google Earth and a handful of memories.
I do believe that if you do see it, you will be a deeper, more compassionate, stronger person and have more of the needed tenacity in your life. Life places unexpected people and events in front of us. How we connect to those people and respond to those events shape our lives in ways we never anticipated.
All of this is to say do continue to “Look Up”. Do ask questions about what is of value to others and try to connect with them. It will be a rich part of your life.
At the Law Firm of Steven Andrew Jackson, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, we have helped hundreds of families protect themselves and their loved ones, avoid Estate Taxes and Probate Costs, and keep their Estate Plans current with the law through The Customized Protective Estate Planning Solution™.