Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Grace and peace,
world.
Grace and peace.
Welcome to another rendition ofthe Moral Compass Chronicles.
I'm your boy, I'm your man,Eyon Johnson, and I'm grateful
to be here yet again with youguys.
I want to dive right in.
First and foremost I don't knowif you know my brothers, my
sisters, those who are listening, wherever you may be we have
(00:22):
reached and eclipsed 500downloads.
Now, that's major.
That's major.
I don't know if you know howmajor that is.
I know some people out theregot thousands, hundreds and
thousands and millions ofdownloads, but we you and I we
(00:45):
have reached and we haveeclipsed 500 downloads.
There are many subscribers andfollowers and supporters.
Guys, we have reached 500downloads.
So I just want to thank you,man.
I love you guys, I appreciateyou.
You know who you are, you knowwhat you've done.
(01:06):
Let's just keep it going.
Let's keep it going.
I know it's been a little whilesince we've had a rendition here
, a chronicle, so to speak, butfor good reasons, bro, I have
been so busy, I've been doing somany things, my hands have been
in so much, and good things,though good things, and I'm so
grateful that inspiration is notlacking.
(01:28):
I, yo, I have.
I'm at a place in my life.
I mean, I'm at, I'm at a placein my life where inspiration is
not lacking.
I, I, I have come to theunderstanding that God is always
speaking.
The question is are we alwayslistening?
He is always inspiring, he isalways revealing to us.
(01:53):
There's always revelation forus in these different situations
, different circumstances in ourlives.
Are listening, though?
Are we able to discern?
And I have been seeking thelord in a way where I'm starting
to see and hear him in justabout everything, and I?
(02:15):
I have an interesting,interesting topic here today
because, quite frankly, I umQuite frankly, I have a running
list of talking points that Iwant to hit on with you guys.
My family and my brother wasover here the other day and I
(02:38):
told him, you know, I might justset up two microphones for us.
We didn't quite get to do itbecause we had other things to
do for us.
We didn't quite get to do itbecause we had other other
things to do, and we're gonnahave some guests on here and um,
but right now it's just me andyou.
It's, it's it's you and I, allof us together here, and I was
(02:58):
in a barber shop the other day,last week sometime and just
chilling in a barber shop.
For those of you shout out tomy brothers, you guys know what
the barbershop is like constantconversation, um, no limits for
the most part, you know, wedon't really got to worry about
women.
A lot of times there may bechildren in there, so we're
mindful of that.
But us as men, we just we getto just speak, we get to enjoy
(03:21):
each other's company and we havesome good conversations about
many different things.
Now I'm in the barbershop andand one of the brothers in the
barbershop yeah, he was, he's abarber.
He wasn't cutting anyone's hairat that moment, he was just
kind of sitting down in thecorner he's on his phone.
This gentleman I mean randomlywe got five different
conversations going on and thisguy he's a loud guy randomly
(03:44):
just says out loud and I quotewalking is not a sign of poverty
and having a car is not a signof wealth, but walking is a sign
of health.
I'm gonna repeat that.
I'm gonna repeat that Health.
(04:06):
I'm going to repeat that.
I'm going to repeat that and Iquote walking is not a sign of
poverty and having a car is nota sign of wealth, but walking is
a sign of health, and so I wantus to just kind of take a
second, wherever you are, I wantto, I want you to take a minute
and just begin to think on thatquote.
(04:36):
I don't know where it came from.
For me, that quote came from A40 something year old Jamaican
dude in a barbershop.
That's where that quote camefrom for me.
I don't know if any of you haveever heard that saying before.
If you've ever heard that quote, if you know where it comes
from, feel free to reach out tome and let me know.
But for me, in my everyday life, for me, I was in a barbershop
(04:58):
one day and I heard a Jamaicandude just say that out loud,
randomly, and when he said it,like I said, there was about
five different conversationsgoing on.
A few people started laughingand everyone just continued on
with their day.
Yo, I was so inspired in thatmoment and I pulled my phone out
, I wrote that down and and forthe people that know me like
personally, um, some names thatcome to mind my brother, dj
(05:22):
we're constantly havingconversations where I'm sure
inspiration comes from it and orrevelation is like downloaded
in the middle of theconversation.
Somebody who I can speak aboutmy wife, of course.
That happens all the time, meand her having a conversation
and something comes to my mind,something inspirational that, or
(05:43):
the conversation, somethingcomes from it and something is
said and I'm like, bro, I got towrite that down.
That's where I'm at in my life,especially more so now because
we have this podcast and we'respeaking to the world.
We I'm saying we because it'syou and myself we're doing this
together.
There's constantlyinspirational moments, just like
(06:04):
that one that happened with mein a barbershop, my sister Ruth
in.
I mean, for years we've beenhaving conversations and I can't
even imagine if I were to askher, she wouldn't even know the
amount of times we're having aconversation and something is
said, whether it's her that saidit or myself that says it, and
I'm like, oh, oh, hold up, I gotto write that down.
Oh, oh, hold up, I gotta writethat down, bro.
I gotta write that down becausethat's powerful.
(06:26):
We have a lot of powerfulconversations throughout the day
.
What are you taking from theseconversations that you are
having every single day?
I don't know how meaningfulyour conversations are if you
find and this is a littlesidebar, this is not, this has
nothing to do with that, thatquote, and I want to get into
that in a second.
But here's a little sidebar Ifyou are not constantly having
(06:47):
conversations that force you tothink and force you to grow and
motivate you and inspire you tolook things up and inspire you
to think, inspire you toconsider a different perspective
, inspire you to, to, to um, toread quite honestly and seek
(07:13):
knowledge, bro, if you're nothaving those con, those kind of
conversations daily, you, youneed a different circle, you
need to start finding people whoare having those type of
conversations on a daily basis.
There are so many people justtalking about nothing all day,
doing nothing all day, and thenthere's so many people who are
(07:38):
having productive conversationsevery single day and meaningful
conversations.
And I guess that's really apersonal thing.
What is meaningful conversationto you?
Right, if you find that you arenot having meaningful
conversations every single daywith the people that you're
surrounded by, I want toencourage you to start
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surrounding yourself with somedifferent people.
To start surrounding yourselfwith some different people.
So this quote, I'm going toread it again Walking is not a
sign of poverty and having a caris not a sign of wealth, but
walking is a sign of health.
Now, man, I there has been somuch that have that's.
(08:21):
That's come up and come aboutin my mind since, thinking about
that, hearing a man say thatand thinking about it, I would
say that for one, the obvious.
Let's talk about the obviousfor a second.
Walking is not a sign ofpoverty.
Let's talk about the obvious.
We can get into themetaphorical soon.
(08:42):
We we can get into the doubleentendre, maybe it's even a
triple entendre.
We can get into the hiddenmeanings and the deeper meanings
of that quote.
But let's take it at face valuefor just a second.
At face value, that is apowerful quote, before we even
get into the deeper meanings.
That's a powerful quote.
(09:02):
That's part of what makes itpowerful is that you can look at
it at face value and get intothe deeper meanings.
That's a powerful quote.
That's part of what makes itpowerful is that you can look at
it at face value and getsomething from it.
But then you can start todiscuss the deeper meanings that
that quote has and holds.
But at face value, walking isnot a sign of poverty.
I don't know who needs to hearthis, but I know we're in a day
(09:24):
and age where we honestly, Ican't even say a day and age,
because we've been doing thissince the car got invented.
I remember when the car was Idon't remember I wasn't there,
but you can look back, watchmovies and things of that nature
.
The wealthy had cars.
Right, there was a time whereit's like yo, in order to have a
car, you had to be wealthy, andthat was a sign of you know
(09:48):
what, maybe more so, back then,having a car was a sign of
wealth.
But nowadays, bro, absolutelynot, absolutely not.
I know some people that work inthis city that take the train
every single day.
We're talking face value here.
Right, I know some people thattake the train every single day
(10:12):
and they're taking a train to ajob that pays more than I've
ever seen in my life personally.
Personally, they are makingmore money than so.
(10:36):
I'm talking about top one tofive percent.
So, more so now than everbefore, walking is not a sign of
poverty.
If you find yourself walkingbecause you don't have a car,
that does not mean you don'thave a good job.
I mean, if we're talking aboutpoverty and wealth now, we can
dive into that.
What is your view of poverty?
What is your view of wealth.
A lot of people think health iswealth.
(10:56):
Right, and I guess we'll get tothe end of that quote in a
second.
Health is wealth to a lot ofpeople.
Love is wealth to a lot ofpeople.
Love is wealth to a lot ofpeople.
You have a family who you cango home to.
You have a family who you loveand who loves you.
You have your health.
You still have your parents inyour life.
That's wealth to a lot ofpeople.
(11:18):
It's not always monetary, so Iguess that's we got to ask
ourselves that what is wealth?
I guess, if we're looking at itfrom a monetary perspective,
walking is not a sign of poverty.
You have two feet for a reason.
Let's look at this at facevalue for a second.
You have two feet for a reason.
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It's okay to walk to the bus.
It's okay to walk to the train.
It's okay to walk to the train,it's okay listen, nowadays,
being able to call an uber to goanywhere, that's a sign of
wealth to us.
Sometimes somebody can easilydrop 50 on an uber on a friday
night or a saturday night likeit's nothing.
We're looking at them sometimeslike, oh okay, all right, some
(12:03):
of us, we look at that uberprice, that lyft price, and we
see it's like 60.
We like, oh man, come on 60, itwas just 30 something.
Tell me I'm lying.
I listen, I don't listen.
I know I got some wealthypeople listening to this right
now, so listen I.
But 60 on an uber on a randomFriday night to get, especially
(12:25):
in New York City.
You already know you could betraveling two to three miles and
it could take 45 minutes totravel three miles during rush
hour in Brooklyn.
So some of y'all already know.
For my White Plains people Iknow we don't really know too
much about that, but like twomiles, shout out my Georgia
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people.
Y'all don't know much aboutthat.
There's a lot of space downthere in Georgia, but in New
York City, bro, you could betraveling in an Uber for two
miles and it could take youalmost an hour depending on
where you are, where you'regoing, and sometimes that Uber
price is going to be $60, $70,bro.
I don't think anybody likes tosee that.
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But there ain't nothing wrongwith walking.
We're talking face value here.
There is no, I don't know whoneeds to hear this.
There's nothing wrong withwalking.
It's so funny.
Me and my brother DJ, we'lllike you know we'll be wanting
to go somewhere, or take youknow.
You know, do something, go tothe store or whatever it may be.
This guy is so quick to walkand that's because there there
(13:32):
are health benefits to it thathe enjoys.
I hate walking.
My brother loves to walk,though.
Walk and go on hikes and alltype of stuff.
I hate walking.
That's not good, right, I'drather get in a car and drive a
few blocks to the store, getthere and get back, than to walk
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.
And that does not mean thatjust because I have a car in my
name, I'm wealthy.
And somebody else who walks afew blocks everywhere they go
walk to the bus, walk to thetrain, bro, well, because if we,
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if we compared bank accounts,you know we might be surprised
at what yours looks like versusmine or somebody who has a car.
Yo, a lot of times, let me look, can I talk about it for real?
Because I know some people,just like myself, who drive high
end vehicles.
Yo, these people who's walking,they saving a lot of money.
I don't know about you, but wepaying three, four, five,
(14:40):
something for these car notes.
Oftentimes we get killed oninsurance, the upkeep of an Audi
it's not easy to upkeep an Audi, bro.
It's not my joy sitting in thedriveway right now, for that
very reason it's not easy.
It's not easy, bro, it is noteasy.
(15:04):
Walking is not a sign ofpoverty, that's face value.
And driving a car yo, having acar is certainly not a sign of
wealth.
It's not a sign of wealth.
A lot of times.
Owning a vehicle, a lot of timespeople don't even own them.
(15:26):
We're financing them, we'refinancing the vehicles, we're
leasing the vehicles, we're indebt.
So a lot of people who ownvehicles are in debt to a
creditor, whether you considerit good debt or bad debt.
(15:47):
You went to a car dealership.
You want a $20,000, $30,000,$40,000 car.
You don't have $20,000 to$30,000 to $40,000 to buy the
car, and so you say, hey, can Iput down X amount of dollars and
walk out of this dealershipwith this car?
(16:08):
36 month, 48 month, 60.
, 72.
, 84 month?
Anybody, anybody, ever had an84 month conversation?
Yo, this is this is this iscomedy to me, bro.
(16:31):
If you've been there, you knowwhat I'm talking about.
You've been in a dealershiphaving this conversation, bro.
Some of y'all right now may beon an 84 month joint.
Come on, bro, can've been therebecause you're trying to make
(16:51):
the payments as low as possible.
I don't know who I'm talking to.
I'm just speaking truth.
Right now we're doing whateverwe can to keep those monthly
payments lower.
Sometimes we're doing whateverwe can.
I remember when I went to get myHonda that was my first car I
left the dealership withoutpaying a dime.
I didn't put anything down.
(17:11):
But you know what?
Because of that, my paymentswere three something a month on
that Honda certified used Honda.
Three something a month.
And you're dealing withinsurance and now every single
paycheck.
You know you have to.
All right, I got this car note.
(17:31):
Them car notes be eating peoplealive.
So just because you have a car,that is not a sign of wealth.
It's not a sign of wealth.
One accident, one misstep,something happens, hit a pothole
All of a sudden.
I need new shocks.
I got a cracked rim.
Now that's gonna cost me 1200.
(17:53):
These things come up when youhave a car.
It's not a sign of wealth.
But walking is a sign of health.
Walking, walking is a sign ofhealth.
If I can walk to the store,that means I have the ability to
walk to the store.
That is wealth in health.
(18:16):
That is wealth in health, thefact that we have the ability to
walk.
There are so many people who donot and we just wake up in the
morning.
And we wake up in the morningand we expect to be able to get
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out of bed and walk to thebathroom.
No, if we ever woke up and wereunable to get up and walk, lord
I thank you.
If we ever got up in themorning and got out the bed to
walk to the bathroom and found,lord, I thank you.
If we ever got up in themorning and got out the bed to
walk to the bathroom and foundthat we were unable to, god
forbid, some of us wouldn't evenknow how to react.
I don't even know how to.
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How is one supposed to react tothat?
God forbid, bro.
There are people in this worldwho that has happened to.
That's why we got to be givingGod thanks as soon as we wake up
in the morning.
As soon as I wake up in themorning, I should be giving God
thanks for the fact that I'mwaking up and the fact that I'm
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able to get out of the bed andjust walk to the bathroom.
My legs are working, my limbsare working.
I should be giving God thanksfor that.
I should be.
I should be giving God thanksfor that.
I should be.
I should be.
And maybe this conversation isfor me.
Walking is not a sign ofpoverty and having a car is not
(19:42):
a sign of wealth, but walking isa sign of health.
You know what this quotescreams to me Perspective,
capital, p Perspective.
How do we look at life?
How do we look at life?
(20:08):
What is my, what is my outlookon life on a daily basis?
You know, you see that thatmeme, or you know, or whatever
you want to call that, it's apicture.
I'm sure we're all familiarwith it.
(20:28):
You have two people sitting in abus.
You have two sides of the busright, the left side and the
right side of the bus.
You have this bus.
Who is driving?
This bus is driving on ahighway and it's kind of like on
a cliff side.
You got the two sides of thebus.
One side of the bus is facingthe rocks and it's dark.
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Right, you can't, there's noview, you can't see anything.
The other side of the bus islooking over the cliff into the
horizon.
You see, I mean, the scenery isjust beautiful.
You have a view of everythingdown there, the sunset, it's,
it's beautiful.
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And the guy who's sitting onthe side of the bus, where all
you can see is rocks, and on theright side of the bus, the
other side of the bus, you see,you see the view, right.
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So now, what are your thoughts?
What, what, what, what am Ithinking?
Now?
My first thought is why, why,in God's name would I be sitting
on that side of the bus where Ican't see anything?
All I'm seeing is darkness andI'm upset, I'm saddened by the
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darkness.
Other side of the bus, whereyou have the view, the guy
sitting on there, big smile onhis face, he's enjoying life on
there.
Big smile on his face, he'senjoying life.
Number one, these two people,both of these people, number one
, neither one of them aredriving.
Let's talk about that.
Neither one of them are driving.
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We're talking about perspective.
They're both on a bus.
Who knows their circumstance?
Who knows their situation?
Nobody.
One could be more wealthy thanthe other, financially,
health-wise, relationship-wise.
Who knows?
The one who's frowning lookingat the darkness could be a
(22:45):
millionaire.
But perspective is everything.
Your perspective can changeyour life.
Both of those men had a choiceon which side of the bus to sit
on and one decided to look atdarkness and wallow and the
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other one decided I'm going todecide with the light on it.
I want to see somethingbeautiful.
I want to see the beauty inlife right now.
If I'm given a choice, I'mgoing to see the good things
that life has to offer.
I want the positive outlook.
I don't want to be on the sidewith the darkness.
I know I may not have the job Iwant.
(23:28):
I know I may not have the wifeor the husband yet.
I know I may be barren at thistime in my life, but I want the
positive outlook.
That's a choice.
I hope somebody's getting this.
That outlook, that perspectiveis a choice.
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I hope somebody's getting this.
That outlook, that perspectiveis a choice.
And every single day that wewake up, each and every one of
us is given that option.
I wanted to get to thisscripture the Apostle Paul to
the Philippian church.
I wanted to get to it a littlesooner, but let's talk about it.
(24:09):
Philippians, chapter four and Ihave some comparing verses, and
some of you already know whereI'm headed with this.
Paul tells us that he haslearned, in whatever state that
he is in, to be content.
He says I know I both know howto be content, I know how to be
(24:41):
a base, rather, and I know howto abound.
I know how to be a base, rather, and I know how to abound,
everywhere I may be.
And in all things, I'minstructed both to be full and
to be hungry, both to abound andto suffer need, he says, I have
(25:05):
learned.
Whatever circumstance that I amin, I have learned how to be
content with whatever I'mdealing with, and I love the
amplified version.
I've learned how to be contentand self-sufficient through
Christ, satisfied to the pointwhere I am not disturbed or
uneasy, regardless of mycircumstance.
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I am not disturbed or uneasy.
Regardless of my circumstance,I'm not disturbed or uneasy.
I know how to get along andlive humbly in difficult times,
and I also know how to enjoyabundance.
I know how to live inprosperity.
I know how to be rich and Iknow how to be poor.
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I know how to be wealthy and Iknow how to live in poverty
without my countenance changing.
This is a word, this is a wordhe says.
He says in any and everycircumstance, I have learned the
secret.
I have learned the secret ofbeing filled and going hungry,
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whether having abundance orbeing in need, and I'm
paraphrasing now, adding somecolor to the word why?
Because I can do all thingsthrough Christ, who strengthens
me.
I have learned how to becontent in whatever state that I
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am in.
So if I'm on this bus, let metake a step back.
If I have to walk, I know howto be content.
If I get to drive and I chooseto drive, I know how to be
content Because, ultimately, Ijust want to be in good health.
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Watch this Whether I'm in goodhealth or not, paul at least,
maybe not Eon.
Eon hasn't learned how to quitedo it yet and mastered it.
But the Apostle Paul is sayingyou know, I've learned how to do
it.
But the Apostle Paul is sayingyou know, I've learned.
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I've learned how to do it.
Not to let my current situationconstantly dictate how I feel
and what I'm doing and what mycountenance is like on an every
single day basis.
A lot of times that's where westruggle, based on my situation
right now.
Yesterday I could be up andtoday I lose a few trades.
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Today I lost a few bets.
Today I didn't make enoughsales.
Today, I didn't get a goodgrade on my exam.
Yesterday, everything was good.
It was all good just yesterday,but today not so much.
And yesterday my mood was up.
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Yesterday I wanted to hang outwith everybody and be friendly,
but today, now, because thingsaren't so good today, I'm hiding
in a room.
Perspective, perspective.
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Whatever state I'm in, I needto learn how to be content.
So walking is not a sign ofpoverty and having a car is not
a sign of wealth, but walking isa sign of wealth.
(28:58):
But walking is a sign of health, man, that is the positive
outlook on either situation.
That is me learning how, as amatter of fact, that is me being
able to focus on what trulymatters In any given situation
the bigger picture.
How can I focus on the biggerpicture In any situation?
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I know there's differentsituations and different
circumstances that we're facing.
This is where I would cue theorganist to start playing down,
get the altar call, or something.
I know we're faced withdifferent situations, man, and
different circumstances, andeverybody is different and every
(29:48):
situation is different.
But I believe the encouragementcan remain the same.
I do believe it can.
I do believe it can.
(30:10):
That's something I think we canall start to try to work toward
, because I know we've allprobably been in places in our
lives where we find ourselvesgetting too high when things are
good, maybe even too low whenthings are bad.
I have a sister shout out, mysister Kayla.
I always tell her I admire herability to never get too high
when things are good and neverget too low when things are bad.
She has that gift.
(30:30):
She has that gift.
I think we ought to try toexercise that and be intentional
about it.
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I know that I am used to havinga car.
But if I have to walk, let menot look at the walking as a
negative.
The same way I can look at thewalking as a negative, the same
way I can look at the car as apositive.
I can find the positives in thecar.
I tend to focus more on thepositives of having the car.
I don't worry about the factthat I'm going to need new
brakes eventually.
Until I need new brakes, right,I'm not living in a constant
state of of fear and and andregret have about having the car
(31:18):
just because I know eventuallyI'll need new tires.
I'm in, I'm enjoying the perksthat the car brings.
Right, I focus more on that.
I get to pull up with the gangand we get to, you know, ride
out somewhere and I get to do alittle road trips and, you know,
I get to move around from pointA to point B faster and more
efficiently.
And you know, at my own, youknow at my own leisure right, we
(31:41):
focus on that.
How about I start to focus onthe positives of walking?
What are the, what are thebenefits of walking, what are
the positives of being able towalk's what we got to do and we
got to be more intentional aboutthat.
We got to be more intentional.
(32:02):
Hey, man, I don't know why thatgentleman in the barbershop
randomly blurted this out.
I don't know if he was readingit somewhere or he just had a
thought and wanted to say it outloud, but it really got my
brain moving a little bit, man,and um, there's a lot more,
there's a lot more that I couldsay and and even had to say.
But you know, I look up andhere we are already, and so I
(32:26):
just want to encourage somebody,man, I want to encourage
somebody to learn how to becontent, and I want to encourage
myself.
Learn how to be contentregardless of the circumstance.
Learn how to find the good.
We talk about pessimists versusoptimists versus pessimists and
I always like to say I'm arealist, which is like a
(32:47):
combination of both.
But let's try to learn how tolook at situations with a more
optimistic light, a moreoptimistic outlook.
They say your attitudedetermines your latitude.
(33:07):
Your attitude determines yourlatitude.
So, based on what myperspective is about a given
situation, you know what thatcould be the difference on
(33:30):
whether or not I'm able to getmyself out of this situation.
My mindset on whether or notI'm able to get myself out of
this situation, my mindset If Ibelieve that there is a fix to
this problem, that means I amgoing to continue looking for a
way to fix it.
If I tell myself, yo, there'sno fixing this, there's no way
out of this one, I will morethan likely be stuck in that
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situation forever.
Woo.
So let's learn how to be contentthrough the good times and the
bad times, whether I'm walkingor I'm driving.
Let's learn how to be contentand remain positive.
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I know it's tough, I know it'snot easy, but let's start to
make an intentional effort everysingle day to look at the
positives.
Let's make sure we're sittingon the right side of the bus.
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Right.
Look for that light, look forthe side that's showing the
sunlight, the horizon.
You know the view of themountains and the trees and the
birds, and you know you can seethe city skyline.
Choose that side of the busbecause it's really your choice.
It's up to you, based on yourchoice.
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Oftentimes that's whatdetermines.
You know whether or not you'reable to have a positive outlook
based on what you can see.
All right, I love you guys.
Man, this has been anotherrendition of the moral compass
chronicles.
Many more to come, many more tocome, man.
I have so much for you guys, somany guests planned and I'm
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excited to get to everything.
Man, so much love until nexttime.
God bless y'all.