The Family Anchor

The Family Anchor

       Our third and possibly most important of the four anchors is the family anchor. According to numerous studies, including a study out of Yale University, a good family life contributes more to positive satisfaction and fulfillment than anything else.

For most of us, family is our basic social structure. However, realizing that family is defined differently for different people, in his book The Longevity Factor, Dr. Maroon expands the family anchor to family/social.

A strong family and social structure allows us to fully enjoy our humanity and is the foundation of our humanity. For a life of fulfillment and satisfaction it takes our circle of others to fully see a reflection of ourselves.

Our most basic emotional need includes self worth. Self worth comes from family and friends. The evidence is quite strong that the self worth that comes from family and friends is more important than money and possessions.

In Sunday school class this weekend a close friend shared with me a rather famous quote that hangs in his aunt’s house. The quote “Live well. Love much. Laugh often.” is what we get when we focus on family and friends.

We must focus on and nurture our family and social relationships. They make us better, happier, more satisfied, and even faster. Just like in athletics this aspect of our lives takes continual conditioning and training.

For busy, motivated Iron-individuals balance can be difficult to achieve. However, when we focus on family first balance is more likely to result and lead us toward a very rich life.

Family first,

David.