What would you do?

Good morning, everybody. Lee Brower here. Welcome to this week's edition of Meaningful Monday. I am grateful to be here, and I am glad to be here. Recently, a friend of mine, a good colleague, Steve Kreisberg, was telling me that he was reading a book by Earl Nightingale called Your Success Starts Here. He said, Lee, I was reading it, and all of a sudden it started talking about rivers, and he said, I thought of you.

And sure enough, I went and got the book, And as I got into one chapter, it did start talking about the rivers. But what caught my attention that I want to share with you, I mean, it was a great, great, great sharing.

So, but what caught my attention was, he said, here's four questions that he'd like to ask us. And so here are the four questions that he asked. If you could completely change places with another person in the world, would you do it? And who would that person be? Think about it. I want you to be thinking about these questions now. If you could completely change places with any other person in the world, would you do it? And who would that person be?

Number two, if you could work at any profession you choose, would that work be different from the work you're now doing? Okay, number three, if you could live in any part of the country, would you move from where you're living now? And then number four, if you could go back to age 12 and live your life from that point over again, would you do it? Now, that's the one that got me, because my first reaction is this, heck yes.

But then I started thinking about it and I go, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no. I like where I'm at. I like the journey. I like the learning. There's a lot of things that, you know, you often say knowing what I know now, what might I do differently to make it even better? No question I could do that, but the learning wouldn't be the same. The people in my life probably wouldn't be the same. The experiences I've had

that I've learned so much from wouldn't be the same. No, wouldn't do it. It then talked about studies. Studies indicate that the great majority of people, even though they have a certain amount of dissatisfaction with their present lives and don't seem to be as happy as they might be, most people would answer no to all four questions.

Now, this brought me back to another statement, and then it linked to an experience that we had with our son, Nick, while he was in the midst of his toughest times living with cancer. And that was a quote by a lady by the name of Regina Brett. And she threw out this statement. She said, if we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

Well, there was a moment when Nick was going through the toughest times and, you know, he had it for four years before he passed. But in the midst of it, there was a point in time when he was getting radiation therapy and it was on his face, but it also scarred his neck up to where he had blisters going down his throat. And so then the stomach was empty so that they couldn't swallow, so they're feeding him through a tube.

But then the acid from the stomach would come up and irritate those, and it was in pain. At the same time, a good friend of ours, Eric, who had gone through a terrific accident and had been paralyzed from his waist down a few years earlier, but what an amazing stud he is. I don't know how to say it any better. He lived in gratitude no matter what. He was always looking how he can make other people's lives better.

He was inspiring and I'm so glad that Nick got to meet him and he got to meet Nick, but his wife contracted cervical cancer and very quickly she passed away and we were and he was left with two kids two daughters that he was you know that he was taking care of I think I think it was two two or three and we were all sitting there Nick and Lori and I we were thinking about that and then I remembered Brett's quote so I put it out there if we all threw our problems

in a pile and saw everyone else's we'd grab ours back and then it went quiet and i saw nick, contemplating that and he says i wouldn't bring mine back. Now, the emotion there was pretty high. We could certainly understand why he would say that. Totally. Totally agree with it, really. And I kind of repented, felt bad that I even brought it up. But it was quiet. And then all of a sudden he said, unless it meant that somebody else had to take mine.

You know, the quote by Regina Brett and the questions of Earl Nightingale both delve into the concept of contentment with one's life and the human tendency that we have to compare one's circumstances with those of others. And I think they simulate reflection on whether we truly desire change or if upon reflection we find a deeper appreciation for our own unique journey, in other words, we can be grateful in.

So my challenge for us this week, for you and me, is to consider our burdens in light of this example. Can we find the strength and the generosity to say, I would take mine back?

Can we live in gratitude? I think when we can stop and pause and reflect on the many blessings and experiences that we have, that we will grow faster and we'll also be a greater influence for others. So this week's tradition for me, I'm going to grab my rock every morning. Every morning, I'm going to start each day with a moment of gratitude where I just stop and think, can I have the same courage that Nick had in his darkest hours? Can I have the same, can I be in gratitude?

No matter what our situations are. I believe, and I commit to you, that if you will do that, you'll start to see blessings and you'll be strengthened, strengthened by whatever circumstances that you're in. So accept the challenge. Have a meaningful week. I look forward to talking to you next week. Live life deliberately. Bye-bye.