The speaker argues "be yourself" fails when your current self doesn't match your goals. Drawing on his father's final weeks with leukemia, he shows how choosing your attitude matters more than circumstances, and that hardship is when you work hardest on mindset.
Just like that whole argument, like, be yourself. I'm like, there's a lot of people who shouldn't be themselves. They really shouldn't. Because who they are being is not serving their actual aspiration. And so sometimes we have to acknowledge that is who I being serving my aspiration or not. You don't have aliveness. You are generating a certain level of it, period. It's hard when you are sick. It's hard when you're fatigued. It's hard when things aren't going right. But those are the times you need to work it a little bit more. You have to realize I spent a lot of years of my life in hospice. I've been with a lot of people in their last weeks and days, including my own father. My dad's example of going through acute myeloid leukemia of his last weeks alive. He chose a good attitude. He consciously willed play and a good attitude when his body was being ravaged with leukemia. He wasn't always perfect and he lost his self control tons of times. He forgot his influence tons of times. But I can show you, even at the end, you can choose your attitude. You can choose a sense of aliveness even as you're about to lose it. It's not too late for you to enjoy this life. It's not too late for you to feel it again. Step in the presence and the awe of the gift of life. It's not too late.
