What Am I Inheriting?

This exercise enables family members to recall the stories, events, and messages handed down from previous generations by asking themselves questions such as: who are the characters in my family history? What world events comprised the backdrop of their lives? What choices did they make in light of those events? The act of writing down family history intensifies the participants’ sense of what they are “inheriting” in terms of values and legacies beyond financial inheritance and how that informs their own lives.