Disney’s Soul Hits You Deep

Last evening, as I was preparing dinner, I turned on my favorite Disney movie, at least of the modern era, Soul. If you’ve never seen the movie, I highly recommend it as the main character, Joe Gardner, goes on a pursuit of living his “Spark” and his life’s purpose, playing jazz music.

Although Soul is a children’s movie, there are endless life lessons in the movie–and maybe even some Higher Power influence truths about your Pursuit of your “Spark”, life’s purpose, and authentic life.

As I was watching/listening to the movie a quote jumped out at me,

“I’m just afraid that if I died today, my life would have amounted to nothing.”

- Joe Gardner

In a conversation with his mother, Joe shares his fear, which obviously has a tremendous impact on her and leads to an important change in their relationship. I sat with the quote as I cooked up the ground beef for the dish I was making, and I thought to my Self how would I feel if I died today? Would I share Joe’s sentiment?

Thankfully, I do not feel my life would have amounted to nothing. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been holding the pen for my life’s story for many years now and have been able to pursue and do the things I’ve been most passionate about—have a beautiful, loving, and close family, design my career the way I wanted to, experience different versions of my Self, meet amazing and interesting people, and hopefully make a positive impact on the lives of my clients, peers, and people I have never even met.

I’m thankful not to have the same weight on my shoulders that Joe Gardner carried at that moment (spoiler alert: he does not end the movie with it).

Sure, if today were my last day, there are things I would not have had a chance to accomplish, and I am working hard to turn those goals into reality sooner rather than later–these Daily Notes play an essential role in that work, but I wouldn’t be devastated or feel like my life amounted to nothing. Truthfully, the only devastation I would feel would be from missing out on what the future holds for Ang, Roman, Leo, and Silas, which keeps me focused on maximizing my time with them.

If you were to put your Self in Joe Gardner’s shoes, how would you feel?

What needs to change to allow you not to have the same feeling as him?

Why are you waiting?

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC