Everyone is encouraged to write a last will and testament. But lately, there has been a great deal of interest in the ethical will, a document that passes along something more important than property and tangible assets. An ethical will can be a summary of what you hold sacred. It can be a manual for living, a ‘moral compass’ for your children and theirs, an ultimate act of generativity. Here are a few things we plan to tell ours:

• Never stop learning. It will bring you more than knowledge. Learning will keep you curious and engaged in life. It will open your heart as well as your mind. It will bring you friends. It will bring you joy.

• Take nothing for granted, not your spouse or partner, your children, your parents, your job, your health, your political system, the planet. Whatever you value needs tending. Attention must be paid.

• Give freely: acknowledgment, eye contact, forgiveness, kindness, laughter, thanks, touch, and yourself.

• Everyday, put yourself in another’s shoes; listen better; keep the peace; move your body; enjoy food; work well; play much; sleep enough; ask nicely; save something; tell the truth; cultivate stillness.

• Don’t look back in anger or regret. Everything is a lesson. Learn it and move on.