The Moral Compass Chronicles
An audio time capsule centered around morality - encouraging people around the world on the importance of governing one’s life in a morally [and biblically] sound manner!
The Moral Compass Chronicles
Barbershop Talk: Reframing Our Perspective on Contentment
What does true wealth look like? A chance encounter at a barbershop turned into a profound lesson when I overheard a barber say: "Walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of health." This simple yet powerful statement forced me to reconsider how I view success, contentment, and the everyday choices we make.
This episode celebrates crossing 500 downloads (thank you, listeners!) while diving into the transformative power of perspective. I explore how our society has conditioned us to equate material possessions with success, when often the opposite might be true. Those expensive car payments, insurance costs, and maintenance fees that come with vehicle ownership can actually create financial strain rather than reflect abundance. Meanwhile, the ability to walk freely represents a wealth of health that many take for granted until it's gone.
Grace and peace, world. Grace and peace. Welcome to another rendition of the Moral Compass Chronicles. I'm your boy, I'm your man, Eyon Johnson, and I'm grateful to be here yet again with you guys. I want to dive right in. First and foremost I don't know if you know my brothers, my sisters, those who are listening, wherever you may be we have reached and eclipsed 500 downloads. Now, that's major. That's major. I don't know if you know how major that is. I know some people out there got thousands, hundreds and thousands and millions of downloads, but we you and I we have reached and we have eclipsed 500 downloads. There are many subscribers and followers and supporters. Guys, we have reached 500 downloads. So I just want to thank you, man. I love you guys, I appreciate you. You know who you are, you know what you've done. Let's just keep it going. Let's keep it going.
Speaker 1:I know it's been a little while since we've had a rendition here, a chronicle, so to speak, but for good reasons, bro, I have been so busy, I've been doing so many things, my hands have been in so much, and good things, though good things, and I'm so grateful that inspiration is not lacking. I, yo, I have. I'm at a place in my life. I mean, I'm at, I'm at a place in my life where inspiration is not lacking. I, I, I have come to the understanding that God is always speaking. The question is are we always listening? He is always inspiring, he is always revealing to us. There's always revelation for us in these different situations, different circumstances in our lives. Are listening, though? Are we able to discern? And I have been seeking the lord in a way where I'm starting to see and hear him in just about everything, and I? I have an interesting, interesting topic here today because, quite frankly, I um Quite frankly, I have a running list of talking points that I want to hit on with you guys.
Speaker 1:My family and my brother was over here the other day and I told him, you know, I might just set up two microphones for us. We didn't quite get to do it because we had other things to do for us. We didn't quite get to do it because we had other other things to do, and we're gonna have some guests on here and um, but right now it's just me and you. It's, it's it's you and I, all of us together here, and I was in a barber shop the other day, last week sometime and just chilling in a barber shop. For those of you shout out to my brothers, you guys know what the barbershop is like constant conversation, um, no limits for the most part, you know, we don't really got to worry about women. A lot of times there may be children in there, so we're mindful of that. But us as men, we just we get to just speak, we get to enjoy each other's company and we have some good conversations about many different things.
Speaker 1:Now I'm in the barbershop and and one of the brothers in the barbershop yeah, he was, he's a barber. He wasn't cutting anyone's hair at that moment, he was just kind of sitting down in the corner he's on his phone. This gentleman I mean randomly we got five different conversations going on and this guy he's a loud guy randomly just says out loud and I quote walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of health. I'm gonna repeat that. I'm gonna repeat that Health. I'm going to repeat that. I'm going to repeat that and I quote walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of health, and so I want us to just kind of take a second, wherever you are, I want to, I want you to take a minute and just begin to think on that quote.
Speaker 1:I don't know where it came from. For me, that quote came from A 40 something year old Jamaican dude in a barbershop. That's where that quote came from for me. I don't know if any of you have ever heard that saying before. If you've ever heard that quote, if you know where it comes from, feel free to reach out to me and let me know. But for me, in my everyday life, for me, I was in a barbershop one day and I heard a Jamaican dude just say that out loud, randomly, and when he said it, like I said, there was about five different conversations going on. A few people started laughing and everyone just continued on with their day.
Speaker 1:Yo, I was so inspired in that moment and I pulled my phone out, I wrote that down and and for the people that know me like personally, um, some names that come to mind my brother, dj we're constantly having conversations where I'm sure inspiration comes from it and or revelation is like downloaded in the middle of the conversation. Somebody who I can speak about my wife, of course. That happens all the time, me and her having a conversation and something comes to my mind, something inspirational that, or the conversation, something comes from it and something is said and I'm like, bro, I got to write that down. That's where I'm at in my life, especially more so now because we have this podcast and we're speaking to the world. We I'm saying we because it's you and myself we're doing this together. There's constantly inspirational moments, just like that one that happened with me in a barbershop, my sister Ruth in. I mean, for years we've been having conversations and I can't even imagine if I were to ask her, she wouldn't even know the amount of times we're having a conversation and something is said, whether it's her that said it or myself that says it, and I'm like, oh, oh, hold up, I got to write that down. Oh, oh, hold up, I gotta write that down, bro. I gotta write that down because that's powerful. We have a lot of powerful conversations throughout the day.
Speaker 1:What are you taking from these conversations that you are having every single day? I don't know how meaningful your conversations are if you find and this is a little sidebar, this is not, this has nothing to do with that, that quote, and I want to get into that in a second. But here's a little sidebar If you are not constantly having conversations that force you to think and force you to grow and motivate you and inspire you to look things up and inspire you to think, inspire you to consider a different perspective, inspire you to, to, to um, to read quite honestly and seek knowledge, bro, if you're not having those con, those kind of conversations daily, you, you need a different circle, you need to start finding people who are having those type of conversations on a daily basis. There are so many people just talking about nothing all day, doing nothing all day, and then there's so many people who are having productive conversations every single day and meaningful conversations. And I guess that's really a personal thing. What is meaningful conversation to you? Right, if you find that you are not having meaningful conversations every single day with the people that you're surrounded by, I want to encourage you to start surrounding yourself with some different people. To start surrounding yourself with some different people. So this quote, I'm going to read it again Walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of health.
Speaker 1:Now, man, I there has been so much that have that's. That's come up and come about in my mind since, thinking about that, hearing a man say that and thinking about it, I would say that for one, the obvious. Let's talk about the obvious for a second. Walking is not a sign of poverty. Let's talk about the obvious. We can get into the metaphorical soon. We we can get into the double entendre, maybe it's even a triple entendre. We can get into the hidden meanings and the deeper meanings of that quote. But let's take it at face value for just a second. At face value, that is a powerful quote, before we even get into the deeper meanings. That's a powerful quote. That's part of what makes it powerful is that you can look at it at face value and get into the deeper meanings. That's a powerful quote. That's part of what makes it powerful is that you can look at it at face value and get something from it. But then you can start to discuss the deeper meanings that that quote has and holds. But at face value, walking is not a sign of poverty.
Speaker 1:I don't know who needs to hear this, but I know we're in a day and age where we honestly, I can't even say a day and age, because we've been doing this since the car got invented. I remember when the car was I don't remember I wasn't there, but you can look back, watch movies and things of that nature. The wealthy had cars. Right, there was a time where it's like yo, in order to have a car, you had to be wealthy, and that was a sign of you know what, maybe more so, back then, having a car was a sign of wealth. But nowadays, bro, absolutely not, absolutely not. I know some people that work in this city that take the train every single day. We're talking face value here. Right, I know some people that take the train every single day and they're taking a train to a job that pays more than I've ever seen in my life personally. Personally, they are making more money than so. I'm talking about top one to five percent. So, more so now than ever before, walking is not a sign of poverty. If you find yourself walking because you don't have a car, that does not mean you don't have a good job. I mean, if we're talking about poverty and wealth now, we can dive into that.
Speaker 1:What is your view of poverty? What is your view of wealth. A lot of people think health is wealth. Right, and I guess we'll get to the end of that quote in a second. Health is wealth to a lot of people. Love is wealth to a lot of people. Love is wealth to a lot of people. You have a family who you can go home to. You have a family who you love and who loves you. You have your health. You still have your parents in your life. That's wealth to a lot of people. It's not always monetary, so I guess that's we got to ask ourselves that what is wealth? I guess, if we're looking at it from a monetary perspective, walking is not a sign of poverty. You have two feet for a reason. Let's look at this at face value for a second. You have two feet for a reason. 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 go anywhere, that's a sign of wealth to us.
Speaker 1:Sometimes somebody can easily drop 50 on an uber on a friday night or a saturday night like it's nothing. We're looking at them sometimes like, oh okay, all right, some of us, we look at that uber price, that lyft price, and we see it's like 60. We like, oh man, come on 60, it was just 30 something. Tell me I'm lying. I listen, I don't listen. I know I got some wealthy people listening to this right now, so listen I. But 60 on an uber on a random Friday night to get, especially in New York City.
Speaker 1:You already know you could be traveling two to three miles and it could take 45 minutes to travel three miles during rush hour in Brooklyn. So some of y'all already know. For my White Plains people I know we don't really know too much about that, but like two miles, shout out my Georgia people. Y'all don't know much about that. There's a lot of space down there in Georgia, but in New York City, bro, you could be traveling in an Uber for two miles and it could take you almost an hour depending on where you are, where you're going, and sometimes that Uber price is going to be $60, $70, bro. I don't think anybody likes to see that.
Speaker 1:But there ain't nothing wrong with walking. We're talking face value here. There is no, I don't know who needs to hear this. There's nothing wrong with walking. It's so funny. Me and my brother DJ, we'll like you know we'll be wanting to go somewhere, or take you know. You know, do something, go to the store or whatever it may be. This guy is so quick to walk and that's because there there are health benefits to it that he enjoys. I hate walking. My brother loves to walk, though. Walk and go on hikes and all type of stuff.
Speaker 1:I hate walking. That's not good, right, I'd rather get in a car and drive a few blocks to the store, get there and get back, than to walk. And that does not mean that just because I have a car in my name, I'm wealthy. And somebody else who walks a few blocks everywhere they go walk to the bus, walk to the train, bro, well, because if we, if we compared bank accounts, you know we might be surprised at what yours looks like versus mine 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 we paying three, four, five, something for these car notes. Oftentimes we get killed on insurance, the upkeep of an Audi it's not easy to upkeep an Audi, bro. It's not my joy sitting in the driveway right now, for that very reason it's not easy. It's not easy, bro, it is not easy. Walking is not a sign of poverty, that's face value. And driving a car yo, having a car is certainly not a sign of wealth. It's not a sign of wealth. A lot of times.
Speaker 1:Owning a vehicle, a lot of times people don't even own them. We're financing them, we're financing the vehicles, we're leasing the vehicles, we're in debt. So a lot of people who own vehicles are in debt to a creditor, whether you consider it good debt or bad debt. 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 I put down X amount of dollars and walk out of this dealership with this car? 36 month, 48 month, 60., 72., 84 month? Anybody, anybody, ever had an 84 month conversation? Yo, this is this is this is comedy to me, bro. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. You've been in a dealership having this conversation, bro. Some of y'all right now may be on an 84 month joint. Come on, bro, can've been there because you're trying to make 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 whatever we can to keep those monthly payments lower. Sometimes we're doing whatever we can.
Speaker 1:I remember when I went to get my Honda that was my first car I left the dealership without paying a dime. I didn't put anything down. But you know what? Because of that, my payments were three something a month on that Honda certified used Honda. Three something a month. And you're dealing with insurance and now every single paycheck. You know you have to. All right, I got this car note. Them car notes be eating people alive.
Speaker 1: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. These things come up when you have a car. It's not a sign of wealth.
Speaker 1:But walking is a sign of health. Walking, walking is a sign of health. If I can walk to the store, that means I have the ability to walk to the store. That is wealth in health. That is wealth in health, the fact that we have the ability to walk. There are so many people who do not and we just wake up in the morning. And we wake up in the morning and we expect to be able to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom. No, if we ever woke up and were unable to get up and walk, lord I thank you. If we ever got up in the morning and got out the bed to walk to the bathroom and found, lord, I thank you. If we ever got up in the morning and got out the bed to walk to the bathroom and found that we were unable to, god forbid, some of us wouldn't even know how to react. I don't even know how to. How is one supposed to react to that? God forbid, bro. There are people in this world who that has happened to. That's why we got to be giving God thanks as soon as we wake up in the morning. As soon as I wake up in the morning, I should be giving God thanks for the fact that I'm waking up and the fact that I'm able to get out of the bed and just walk to the bathroom. My legs are working, my limbs are working. I should be giving God thanks for that. I should be. I should be giving God thanks for that. I should be. I should be. And maybe this conversation is for me. Walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of health. You know what this quote screams to me Perspective, capital, p Perspective. How do we look at life? How do we look at life? What is my, what is my outlook on life on a daily basis? You know, you see that that meme, or you know, or whatever you want to call that, it's a picture. I'm sure we're all familiar with it.
Speaker 1:You have two people sitting in a bus. You have two sides of the bus right, the left side and the right side of the bus. You have this bus. Who is driving? This bus is driving on a highway and it's kind of like on a cliff side. You got the two sides of the bus. One side of the bus is facing the rocks and it's dark. Right, you can't, there's no view, you can't see anything. The other side of the bus is looking over the cliff into the horizon. You see, I mean, the scenery is just beautiful. You have a view of everything down there, the sunset, it's, it's beautiful. And the guy who's sitting on the side of the bus, where all you can see is rocks, and on the right side of the bus, the other side of the bus, you see, you see the view, right. So now, what are your thoughts? What, what, what, what am I thinking? Now? My first thought is why, why, in God's name would I be sitting on that side of the bus where I can't see anything? All I'm seeing is darkness and I'm upset, I'm saddened by the darkness. Other side of the bus, where you have the view, the guy sitting on there, big smile on his face, he's enjoying life on there. Big smile on his face, he's enjoying life.
Speaker 1:Number one, these two people, both of these people, number one, neither one of them are driving. Let's talk about that. Neither one of them are driving. 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 than the other, financially, health-wise, relationship-wise. Who knows? The one who's frowning looking at the darkness could be a millionaire. But perspective is everything. Your perspective can change your life. Both of those men had a choice on which side of the bus to sit on and one decided to look at darkness and wallow and the other one decided I'm going to decide with the light on it. I want to see something beautiful. I want to see the beauty in life right now. If I'm given a choice, I'm going to see the good things that life has to offer. I want the positive outlook. I don't want to be on the side with the darkness. I know I may not have the job I want. I know I may not have the wife or the husband yet. I know I may be barren at this time in my life, but I want the positive outlook. That's a choice. I hope somebody's getting this. That outlook, that perspective is a choice. I hope somebody's getting this. That outlook, that perspective is a choice. And every single day that we wake up, each and every one of us is given that option.
Speaker 1:I wanted to get to this scripture the Apostle Paul to the Philippian church.
Speaker 1:I wanted to get to it a little sooner, but let's talk about it. Philippians, chapter four and I have some comparing verses, and some of you already know where I'm headed with this. Paul tells us that he has learned, in whatever state that he is in, to be content. He says I know I both know how to be content, I know how to be a base, rather, and I know how to abound. I know how to be a base, rather, and I know how to abound, everywhere I may be. And in all things, I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need, he says, I have learned.
Speaker 1:Whatever circumstance that I am in, I have learned how to be content with whatever I'm dealing with, and I love the amplified version. I've learned how to be content and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy, regardless of my circumstance. I am not disturbed or uneasy. Regardless of my circumstance, I'm not disturbed or uneasy. I know how to get along and live humbly in difficult times, and I also know how to enjoy abundance. I know how to live in prosperity. I know how to be rich and I know how to be poor. I know how to be wealthy and I know how to live in poverty without my countenance changing. This is a word, this is a word he says.
Speaker 1:He says in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, whether having abundance or being in need, and I'm paraphrasing now, adding some color to the word why? Because I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I have learned how to be content in whatever state that I am in. So if I'm on this bus, let me take a step back. If I have to walk, I know how to be content. If I get to drive and I choose to drive, I know how to be content Because, ultimately, I just want to be in good health. Watch this Whether I'm in good health or not, paul at least, maybe not Eon. Eon hasn't learned how to quite do it yet and mastered it. But the Apostle Paul is saying you know, I've learned how to do it. But the Apostle Paul is saying you know, I've learned. I've learned how to do it.
Speaker 1:Not to let my current situation constantly dictate how I feel and what I'm doing and what my countenance is like on an every single day basis. A lot of times that's where we struggle, based on my situation right now. Yesterday I could be up and today I lose a few trades. Today I lost a few bets. Today I didn't make enough sales. Today, I didn't get a good grade on my exam.
Speaker 1:Yesterday, everything was good. It was all good just yesterday, but today not so much. And yesterday my mood was up. Yesterday I wanted to hang out with everybody and be friendly, but today, now, because things aren't so good today, I'm hiding in a room. Perspective, perspective. Whatever state I'm in, I need to learn how to be content.
Speaker 1:So walking is not a sign of poverty and having a car is not a sign of wealth, but walking is a sign of wealth. But walking is a sign of health, man, that is the positive outlook on either situation. That is me learning how, as a matter of fact, that is me being able to focus on what truly matters In any given situation the bigger picture. How can I focus on the bigger picture In any situation? I know there's different situations and different circumstances that we're facing. This is where I would cue the organist to start playing down, get the altar call, or something. I know we're faced with different situations, man, and different circumstances, and everybody is different and every situation is different. But I believe the encouragement can remain the same. I do believe it can. I do believe it can. That's something I think we can all start to try to work toward, because I know we've all probably been in places in our lives where we find ourselves getting too high when things are good, maybe even too low when things are bad.
Speaker 1:I have a sister shout out, my sister Kayla. I always tell her I admire her ability to never get too high when things are good and never get too low when things are bad. She has that gift. She has that gift. I think we ought to try to exercise that and be intentional about it.
Speaker 1:I know that I am used to having a car. But if I have to walk, let me not look at the walking as a negative. The same way I can look at the walking as a negative, the same way I can look at the car as a positive. I can find the positives in the car. I tend to focus more on the positives of having the car. I don't worry about the fact that 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 and regret have about having the car just because I know eventually I'll need new tires.
Speaker 1:I'm in, I'm enjoying the perks that the car brings. Right, I focus more on that. I get to pull up with the gang and we get to, you know, ride out somewhere and I get to do a little road trips and, you know, I get to move around from point A to point B faster and more efficiently. And you know, at my own, you know at my own leisure right, we focus on that. How about I start to focus on the positives of walking? What are the, what are the benefits of walking, what are the positives of being able to walk's what we got to do and we got to be more intentional about that. We got to be more intentional.
Speaker 1:Hey, man, I don't know why that gentleman in the barbershop randomly blurted this out. I don't know if he was reading it somewhere or he just had a thought and wanted to say it out loud, 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 could say and and even had to say. But you know, I look up and here we are already, and so I just want to encourage somebody, man, I want to encourage somebody to learn how to be content, and I want to encourage myself. Learn how to be content regardless of the circumstance. Learn how to find the good. We talk about pessimists versus optimists versus pessimists and I always like to say I'm a realist, which is like a combination of both.
Speaker 1:But let's try to learn how to look at situations with a more optimistic light, a more optimistic outlook. They say your attitude determines your latitude. Your attitude determines your latitude. So, based on what my perspective is about a given situation, you know what that could be the difference on whether or not I'm able to get myself out of this situation. My mindset on whether or not I'm able to get myself out of this situation, my mindset If I believe that there is a fix to this problem, that means I am going to continue looking for a way to fix it. If I tell myself, yo, there's no fixing this, there's no way out of this one, I will more than likely be stuck in that situation forever. Woo.
Speaker 1:So let's learn how to be content through the good times and the bad times, whether I'm walking or I'm driving. Let's learn how to be content and remain positive. I know it's tough, I know it's not easy, but let's start to make an intentional effort every single day to look at the positives. Let's make sure we're sitting on the right side of the bus. Right. Look for that light, look for the side that's showing the sunlight, the horizon. You know the view of the mountains and the trees and the birds, and you know you can see the city skyline. Choose that side of the bus because it's really your choice. It's up to you, based on your choice. Oftentimes that's what determines. You know whether or not you're able to have a positive outlook based on what you can see. All right, I love you guys. Man, this has been another rendition of the moral compass chronicles. Many more to come, many more to come, man. I have so much for you guys, so many guests planned and I'm excited to get to everything. Man, so much love until next time. God bless y'all.