Episode 687 - A Well Lived Life

In this week's episode, Phil shares a conversation with a friend who, despite facing many challenges over the past decade, maintains a positive outlook by believing it's a miracle he's even here. Phil reflects on how recognizing the miracle of our existence can help us tackle life's challenges. He recounts his family history to emphasize the importance of valuing and treasuring life. Phil encourages listeners to focus on the positives, be grateful, and embrace the journey.

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Transcript

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, Executive Chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push, and motivational insight to live your best life.

Thanks for joining. Greetings Canada nation. It is Phil here with episode 687 of Monday Morning Mojo. I got into a pretty deep discussion with a new friend just after the new year. Through our conversations, I learned that he's had some challenges on many fronts over the last decade or so, but through it all, he has kept both a wonderful sense of humor and a great personal calm about himself.

He says that the last three months have been his best. Now, during our conversation, I asked him how he had kept his perspective focused in such a positive light. He smiled and said, well, you know, it's a miracle I'm even here. So I need to make the best of each and every day. He went on to share that he was raised by a single mom, never knew his father, and he had been out on his own since he was 17.

Now that was due in part to issues faced by his mother that included both drug and alcohol problems. As I listened to his story, along with some of the health challenges that he's faced, I thought about other folks who had endured hard times and major challenges. Many were eventually successful in pulling through them, but many weren't.

Was it luck? Was it situational circumstances? Was it the influence of a guardian angel or maybe something else? Then I thought back to my friend's comment, the comment, it's a miracle I'm even here. You know, I think recognizing that It is a miracle that each of us and who we are being alive right now, I think that's a big key that's necessary in the mindset that allows us to tackle life's challenges.

This was illustrated to me with some biological basics recently. You know, in order for the you that is you to be here on this earth, you have had to have. Two parents, you've had to have four grandparents, eight great grandparents, 16 second great grandparents, 32 third great grandparents, 64 fourth great grandparents, 128 fifth great grandparents, 256 sixth great grandparents, 512 seventh great grandparents, great grandparents, 1024 eighth great grandparents, and a whopping 2048 ninth great grandparents.

That's over 4, 000 people over the last 350 to 400 years that individually and collectively, of course, had a role. And you being you now, I think back on my childhood, my parents didn't usually talk about or lament any of their personal hardships, although I know they had them, but my grandparents did, they would talk about the challenges of living through the great depression.

I heard stories from them about their parents, my, uh, particularly my paternal great grandparents and the challenges they had of building a life in rural Georgia in the late 19th century. As I sit back and think for a moment, well, my second great grandparents were young children during the U. S. Civil War.

With my third great grandparents trying to shepherd and develop them as young children through those very turbulent times. I can't imagine what that was like. If I go back and think about my sixth great grandparents. Well, they were living in Europe. They were in Scotland and England. The reason I know this, it was one of their children, my fifth great grandfather, who would eventually come to the us. With his two brothers in the mid 1700s. And it was that chap that met my paternal fifth great grandmother on the ship that sailed to the U. S. What about that for happenstance? Think of all the things that had to happen over those 400 years. All the pieces that had to fall into place. Those chance meetings.

The schedules that changed that allowed people to meet. Those unique happenstances. All of that had to happen. And all of those multiple generations that had to all come together in order for me, for you to be here today. So yes, me being who I am, you being who you are, it is in fact an absolute miracle.

And so we have to treat life as such. Something to be valued, to be treasured, to be lived. To its fullest, it's easy to pinpoint troubles. It's easy to pinpoint our faults and our insecurities, and perhaps it's easy sometimes to dwell on them, but to go and to find the good in our lives, the good in others, to look at the positives in the world, to be grateful for those things, to embrace the journey.

Well, that's exactly how each of us should celebrate the amazing history of our ancestry. I was once asked if I was a pessimist, an optimist, or a realist. My response was, well, I'm a realistic optimist. And by that, I believe in the better angels among us. I believe our better days are ahead of us. And I believe that all is going to work out.

Okay. But I am a realist enough to understand it won't be in a linear path. There will be setbacks and there will be days when it's troubling. So here's my challenge to us. The next time you feel like things aren't exactly going your way. I want you to think back on those 10 generations of people that preceded you.

I want you to try to imagine all of the challenges that they dealt with over the course of their lives. The things that they had to live through in order for you to be you. Did their lives go perfect? No. Was it easy? Absolutely not. But because of their persistence, well, you and I live today. So set the example for future generations and how you rise to the occasion.

How you pursue a well lived life and how you show gratitude for all of those who've influenced it. Monday Morning Mojo is a production of Cannon Financial Institute. Executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Managing producer of Monday Morning Mojo is McCall Chamberlain. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner.

Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.