Along with celebrating with my children and grandchildren on this Father’s Day, I find myself reminiscing about my father and the one gift he gave me that profoundly shaped my life and made me the man I am today.

A wise soul wrapped in a youthful spirit

If my father were alive today, he would have just celebrated his 130^th birthday three days ago. Despite being an older father—he was almost 50 when I was born—he had a youthful spirit that was infectious. My friends adored him, and I felt so proud to call him dad.

My father was interested in almost every aspect of living, from studying the stars light years away, to the fish and fauna fathoms below the sea. He was interested in such diverse fields as agriculture, eco-tourism (even before there really was such a concept), nutrition, profit-sharing, religion, world peace and more.

Visionary ideas start here

My father’s insatiable curiosity about the world is what I admire most about him. He always encouraged me to be the best me that I could be. Whether my pursuits were academic, athletic, professional or personal, my father was at the ready with one life lesson:  Stay curious, find what you are good at and, most importantly, keep up with it.

Looking back, I realize what my father was really encouraging throughout the years was an interest in the world around me. I can’t think of a greater gift that a father could give his son. It’s priceless.

Connecting the discovery dots

My father also had a deep understanding that being curious is the starting point for all visionary ideas, including his own. This is especially true in the area of phytonutrient research. He believed that individual discoveries are important but stepping back and looking at the big picture, seeing how things fit together to support whole body health, is just as important.

At the age of 80, he wrote a memo about product evolution over the previous three decades. Each time I read it, it reminds me of his big picture approach to optimal health:

“When Nutrilite Food Supplement was first being developed, there was no vitamin industry as such, and no vitamin products. Our product became a ‘vitamin product’ through being swept along by our sales agents and the public news media.

When we started, we were not selling a ‘vitamin product’ but rather a ‘food supplement,’ and except for the ‘vitamin’ label under which it is now sold, it is still a ‘food supplement.’ We should begin once more to talk and think in our own idiom and get back into our own business of food supplements…

We are properly committed to extracts and concentrates of plant and fruit materials. The many new items of discovery in the science of nutrition act as the dots in electrotype which reproduce a picture in printing. The picture is the whole relationship of life to its environment. Instead of these details, we need only to look at the whole concept…”

Pearls of wisdom for every generation

Last month, I was able to participate in a video project at the Founder’s Council Power of 5K run. My father’s advice for staying healthy came to mind: exercise, balance the diet, maintain a positive attitude and stay curious about the world. Taking charge of your life as early as you can is the best approach, but it is never too late to start. You can check out the video below:

The future is in good hands

Today, I celebrate being a proud father of four grown children and grandfather of four grandkids. This year, my oldest grandchild is college-bound and, as I watch her prepare, I feel such hope and optimism for the world. If this bright young woman, her inquisitive younger cousins and their energetic friends are any indication of the untapped power of this generation, the world is certainly in good hands.

I, for one, am excited to watch them develop into our future leaders fully capable of tackling health, environmental and other issues that affect our world. I look forward to some out-of-the-box, creative thinking from these curious young minds. For inspiration, they need only look to my father’s visionary ideas born out of his curiosity about the world.

Here’s to fathers all around the world teaching their kids to stay curious.

Wishing you a day full of love,