This monday I will be speaking at the Mizell Senior Center here in Palm Springs.  They asked if I would come and speak about one of my workshops I teach called the Ethical Will.  This is one of my favorites to speak on since it is really about leaving a love letter to your family. 

One of the elderly matriarchs at Temple Isaiah passed away this past week.  I had the privilege to spend some time talking with her daughter this morning before service and she told me so many beautiful things that her mother taught her during her lifetime.  She shared that even at the end of her life she was telling her who to call and to make sure the chairs at the cemetery would be dusted off so no one would get dust on their outfits. 

I wondered if Jeanie wrote an ethical will or if just by living a good example of her life is what she left behind for her family.

My dear friend Virginia, one of my students also passed away last week.  I sat through many classes with her as she wrote many essays of her life and her journey.  What a wonderful gift she left behind for her children and grandchildren, actually she even had great great grandchildren!  It will be a treasure for them to read about her journey in her memoir.

But what exactly is the ethical will?  It really is a tool that enables you to address the question, “What do I want my loved ones to know?”

It is not an easy thing to write  because in doing so, one contronts oneself.  It is an inward journey of soul searching to see what are the essential truths you have learned in a lifetime, you look at your failures and consider what are the things that really matter.