Natalie: Hi I'm Natalie Ledwell and this is the inspiration show. Now, today I have a new passion peep video and our special guest for today is a gentleman by the name Mark Black, now Mark is a heart and double lung transplant recipient, he's a 4 time triathlon winner, best in northern, left coach and motivational speaker now Mark was born with a life threatening heart defect and he undergo 2 heart surgery before the age of 1 he battled his condition and his limitations for 22 years quite successfully but at 23 years old, Mark has suddenly faced the biggest challenge of his life share with you because his gonna share it with you in this interview. Now, Mark has inspired thousands of people across America with this true unique story and powerful lessons that help people to live their life in passion and purpose of course this makes him a perfect candidate in our passion peep segment. So guys please enjoy the video and I'll see you soon. Hi Mark welcome to the inspiration show.

Mark: hi Natalie, thanks for having me.

Natalie: it's a pleasure. Now, you not only live your life with passion but you motivated a lot of people to live a life with passion which is why I invite you to the show today as you know I ask all my passion peeps 5 questions. So, let me start with the first question. Now, I know that you know not only you only live a life with passion that you haven't done but you have always done this and you have a very interesting story and a fantastic background could you share that to everyone today?

Mark: Sure. So, I was a try to do it quickly I was kicking hard about my open heart surgery at birth and in the year olds and it was the reality being handle in that condition and when I was about 23 I started to feeling sick and I know there was something not right and on the course of 4 to 5 months I notice a lot of negative changes and I go to the doctor and after running some test I came back with the conclusion that a double heart transplant to save my life essentially and said you may have or to, to have this if we don't find organs to feed you in that time you'll probably not gonna live much further.

Natalie: wow.

Mark: yeah. I like to take it feel like everybody would go through one of those diagnoses whether is batter or cancer or whatever it is there's just little, it's just a serious of breathing like you came to line and do something and take action in that. So my decision is to go ahead he offer us the option of not doing the transplant and sort of living of the time what I have left you may die in hospital rating and I said I'm 23 years and I'm don't want to go home, I'd rather die and operating or anything and we were listed for transplant and I said we because it's a family ordeal and I such a support that I didn't gland for myself was that a move and 2 provinces around here in Canada and a thousand miles away for the transplant because I was and we live there a better part of the year and I don't know what is found and on December 2002, 9 years yesterday and first I was wonderfully different after that.

Natalie: okay. You know what if you often find threads that lead us from where we were to where we are now achieving our goals and passions. So, what are some of those advance or things that happened to you to get you to you know get you having to get that heart transplant to be able to empower people around the world like you do now.

Mark: it was a very fine thread it took about to one conversation one day I was invited at 2004 and I speak at high school graduation ceremony and I was given a 10 minutes and give the best that I could in 10 minutes share a little of my story and some of the lessons that I learn where I went through and at the end a parent of one of the graduates came at me and shake me and thank me and said we hired people in my company to do what you just did all the time and that was an old moment for me because til' then I just realize I can't make a living doing what I love that I can share what I love and turn something that was negative into something positive and so that conversation kinda open my eyes and search began and here we are and years later I'm here again.

Natalie: so this is something that you always wanted to do?

Mark: I would never have said that 10 years ago I wanna be a motivational speaker but I really wanted to teach I was planning to be a public teacher before and because of the medical situation that was most acceptable to infections teaching to school was just not a solutions for me but I look at what I do now and realize that I'm using the same skills and essentially in teaching it's just that in a different way. So, I guess I could say it's just another thing that I can just that I'm used to do it.

Natalie: I know exactly how you feel to that and you the mind movies could be my vehicle, your vehicle I know but teaching people and impairing people is exactly what I wanted to do as well. So, I completely understand. Now my next question is in my experience I know that success doesn't just happen and most successful people have specific habits that they do each day to keep them on track so what are the things that you do to keep you on the daily basis motivated and on track with their goals.

Mark: sure. I mean first love to have a disclaim that I have quite successful because I don't know that it depends on how you find that my life that I know how to be it my family and so that makes my definition for success but you that's different for everybody people and things for me are daily prayer when I let that foul wave that and think that there are things that are really important I didn't realize that I don't have energy to you and do it by myself. So, I kinda stay connected to that to my day to day there is a girl that respect my exercise and some sort of collectivity and in a couple of days I'm not the best and then besides that it's really for me surrounding myself with people and ideas, books and tv shows and all of that stuff like that is positive and affirming and life building and started the opposite, it's so easy in our day today so I feed on mind garbage and when I do that I suffered the consequences and so I learned not to do it anymore and I spend time with ebooks and books.

Natalie: you know it's interesting I've done quite a few of these videos now and nearly every single person has included exercise and have a constant in there daily routine. You'll definitely attract everyone that's fantastic. Now you're actually really qualified to answer this next question coz' I have many emails from people who they ask how can I say positive when everything around them seems to be very negative or working against them, now I know that you have an experience for this now what is your advice you can give people today?

Mark: A couple of things, the first things is I think do whatever you need to do to take a step back to take a perspective and if we're surrounded with the crazies and the problem, it's very easy to come for our self and live in that little world and feel very overwhelming and when you can step back and you could and a kind some of birds went through the concern of things in their perspective and when I was going through I spend 6 months in hospital for waiting. So for 6 months I live where suddenly a room and the first weeks it really destroyed me mentally and then I began to shift my perspective and me what I was dealing with into the outside world and putting it in their perspective and I look around, that despite I was going through there were lots of good things as well didn't do a single through just support me when a lot of people into a very hard things and that was me and wrong in the side the more I was able to get perspective the more I was able to get gratitude to the things that I did have and when I was able to do that, the situation came a lot more and easy to deal with and I think the other thing is to take responsibility to the things that you can't do something about and going to the things that you can't I have been unfortunate to but I think the program about the autonomous is serve roundness and surrounded with prayer and in this idea that god grant me this ring and things I cannot change of course change the things I can and the wisdom knows the difference and every time I can hear that I could live that everyday a 100% because so many of us spend things we have no power at all and there will be no time left this are the things that I can do it for working in a reality with that energy and life becomes a lot easier.

Natalie: absolutely. I've got my sort of question that is not on the list. We've got one more to go after here. But how many other people do you know that is headed to a long heart transplant.

Mark: I know a sort of it, I know a few. It was very surgery in fact a year I was transplanted in 2002 here in Canada, in 2001 when I was they told me that they have one done and that your 4 in Canada but it happens from time to time I guess so I can't handle people such in that internet have the same certainly.

Natalie: alright, I've got one last question I've got for you. Now I know maybe it's maybe difficult to narrow it down into one thing but if there is one thing you can tell to people that are listening today that they can implement today that would facilitate a change in their life what would that one thing be?

Mark: actually pretty easy, it's simple and it's easy and that is to take responsibility to your life. I think it's very easy to find reason and someone is telling me excuses for why we don't want for water living a life to where we live and as far as they maybe and the bottom line is your responsible for you and your responsible for the things that you do for your life and the quicker you get responsibility for that you quickly have things for results that's gonna happen and I need to do something about that. One of my sayings is to be is up to me, in other words don't sit around the world to end you and you're using your whole what you want go out and make it happen and all successful people is up to me and figure out what they want to happen and you know people around them is didn't fall into last a full responsibility to what they wanted to make it happen. So, if you don't like the life that you have or the results you're getting, go and do something about it.

Natalie: awesome. Great answer. Now suppose what everyone is wondering now you have a transplant in 2002 but how is your health now. Like how is life with you after the transplant?

Mark: I've been incredibly blessed after the transplant I've ran to marathons it wasn't even my physical when you ran them and I married my wife with 3 beautiful and healthy children and getting a life made and ten years ago I hope it's maybe possible and it's been a wonderful journey and I think what's really important and the biggest thing I've learned from my experiences that I don't any of that for granted I never dated and I wake up and I breath and healthy and it's a good day.

Natalie: Awesome. Oh Mark thank you so much for being with us today it's been a fantastic interview and you like I said it's an insights we don't have an perspective on and I really appreciate your time today.

Mark: well thanks for having me Natalie.

Natalie: if anyone want to find more about you, where can we send them?

Mark: sure. The quick and easiest place is markblack.ca that's America so that's markblack.ca the website and find me on facebook.

Natalie: so, guys you can also click on the banner on the side there and go through mark's website if you wanna find out some more about him. No worries and so guys remember we've got another video coming out in a few days, but in the mean time remember to live large, choose courageously and love without limits. We'll see you soon.