Give Thanks and Create Riches in your Career and Life

Blog Talk Radio.

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of fear, insecurity, self-doubt, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch. The Bitch, or share your stories on our website at sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to the fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back.

818-572-2910. Good day, good day, good day everyone! How are you on this beautiful Tuesday? We are, at least here in the States, we are gearing up for Thanksgiving on Thursday. So I thought it would be very appropriate to talk about giving thanks, being grateful, and how you can create riches as a result of all of that. Um, but before I get into all of it, and I'm sure I won't forget, but in case, I do just want to wish everyone right now a very, very, very happy Thanksgiving, a safe and joyous celebration with your family and friends. Those that are traveling for the holiday or not, anywhere in the world, be safe. I know in the States there's some severe storms coming through. Let's just make it, as we go into overall the holiday season, a very blessed and safe and fun timeframe— time period. You have to forgive me, I'm a little bit doped up. I've been sick for the last several days and have been in bed, but the subject matter is so important to me and it is so appropriate for this this time and this season of the year that I'm going to fight, fight, fight through it, but forgive any sniffles or coughs or anything that you might experience. And if I have an even deeper voice than I typically do, you'll know why. You'll know why. And if I stammer and can't put two words together, you'll also know why. Anyway, so we are going to talk about giving thanks, being grateful, and creating riches in your life. We've had some great shows, some great topics that you can go back and download, whether that's on BlogTalkRadio, SheddingTheBits.com, or Apple Podcasts, or any streaming services. We've talked about— last week we had a whole discussion in regards to writing a book or writing your story because it doesn't necessarily have to be in just book form. So there was a lot of tips and steps that you could be taking in order to share your story and inspire, educate, or move someone else in their own journey. Prior to that, we've talked about shedding the intimidation bit. If that is one of your bitches, is feeling intimidated by other people, other situations, other circumstances, other positions that you might be placed in, that's just a matter of overcoming the fear and really kind of understanding who you are and what you stand for. So we had a deep discussion in regards to that. We talked about shedding the mental health stigma bitch, which I, you know, nowadays it's talks about on a daily basis how important not just our physical health is, even our spiritual health, our financial health, our fitness health, but our mental emotional health, how critical it is. So we spent some time just discussing that. You can go to ShadingTheBitch.com, BlogTalkRadio.com, Apple Podcasts, and like I mentioned, any number of streaming services to find all of that topic that we've talked about, not only over the weeks and months of this year, but in previous years. So feel free, we'd love for you to do that, and we'd also love for you to then join us on Facebook or Twitter or Shedding the Bits pages and give us your feedback, your comments, your questions. It leads into next week being the Tuesday of December, if you can believe it, is our Ask Bernadette episode. So if you're new to listening to the program, our Ask Bernadette episode, or Ask Me Anything, basically I take your questions, stories, or challenges that you might post on Facebook, on Twitter, you might send me an email through BernadetteBoas@sheddingthebitch.com, or or many of you reach out to me on LinkedIn. Just link in with me on Bernadette— @BernadetteBoas and, uh, shoot me a private message about whatever situation you're dealing with, whatever question that you might have, whatever story you might want to tell, and I will respond to you within a very reasonable time frame. I typically do by, you know, the end of that same day and/or the middle of the next day. Then I bring them here on the first Tuesday of each month. You have an opportunity to call in, which you can do anytime. Call 1-818-572-2910 and you can talk to me directly. We can dig even deeper into your question than we can on a response via email, Facebook, or Twitter. And then I— make sure that, you know, we have a lot of tips and advice and sometimes tough love in regards to that input. And it gives an opportunity that, you know, even if it's not a question that you have asked and it's something someone else has asked, you just might have that same question or you might be dealing with that same situation that we talk about on our Ask Bernadette episode. So those are the first Tuesday of each month. So get your questions out there, your stories, your challenges, and we will dig deep into that next Tuesday at noon Eastern time. But today, as I mentioned, we do want to talk about giving thanks and being grateful. Now, I have always held the practice for myself, and I've coached my clients and friends and peers about gratitude journals, about, you know, making note of your gratitude. And, you know, just as, you know, just like anybody else, I've interchangeably said, you know, that I'm grateful or I'm thankful for something. Well, there is a distinction between the two of those, and though it is somewhat small— I don't know if small is the right, the appropriate word— But there is some overlap, but there is some distinctions between being thankful for something and being grateful for something. So I thought that that would be a good angle because we've had this discussion previously in regards to being grateful and how you can leverage gratitude as a really good, you know, business life tool to help you kind of build the business, the life, the career that you want. But here is a different slant on it. So we're going to talk about the difference between being thankful and then being grateful. We're also then going to talk about the different ways and steps that you can take in order to do that. It's not just a matter of, you know, in passing. It's not just a matter of, oh yes, you know, I'm going to pat somebody on the back, or I'm going to send them an email and say thank you, or whatever. There are things that you could be doing to really feel, really embed that gratitude or that thankfulness that you, that you feel. And like, you know, Law of Attraction will talk about, you know, you put out that, those, those emotions, those feelings, and in a true authentic way, and the universe responds in kind. So we'll talk about that. And then how tenet, and what does it bring to your life by being intentionally and consciously aware of your thankfulness and gratitude? There's definitely benefits and ways to transform your life. So, your rich question, which for those of you listening to the first time— for the first time, we give you a question that you can internalize and think about as a pertains to the topic that we will be discussing. And that way, even if you saw coming into this, this episode, you know, you don't relate or it's not something that you, you know, need to be thinking about, well, we'll give you an opportunity to question yourself about that. Maybe there is a little bit more I need to be considering when it comes to gratitude and thankfulness. So your rich question is, how do you use thankfulness and gratitude in your life currently. So how do you use it? And we're going to talk about that as well. Our rich tags, as we call them, that you can use if you would like to comment or ask a question or provide some input via Facebook or Twitter on our Shedding the Bitch pages, you can use #gratitude, #thankfulness, #thankfulness or #shedthebitch. We're going to take a quick break. I'm going to take a sip of water and some OJ, and when we get back, we'll dive into this conversation about gratitude and thankfulness. We'll be right back.

You are listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. We are inspiring individuals around the globe to discover, confront, confront and shed their bitches of fear, insecurity, and negativity so they can create the riches in their career, business, and life they deserve. Be sure to check out Bernadette's book, Shedding the Corporate Bitch: Shifting from Bitch to Rich in Life and Business, available on Amazon and sheddingthebitch.com. We also want to thank our sponsors, North Georgia Tax Solutions, who offers a broad range of tax services for small to corporate size clients. Go to NGTaxSolutions.com to learn more. And Parker House Virtual Services, who provides virtual assistance and social media support for small to medium size businesses. Email Deborah Parker at deborahparker.va@gmail.com for more information. To become a sponsor or advertiser on our program, email us at media-relations@sheddingthebitch.com. Shedding the Bitch Radio airs every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. Be sure to go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitchradio and follow the program for all of the updates and announcements of our guests and show topics. Now let's return to Bernadette and Shedding the Bitch Radio.

Welcome back, everyone. We are talking gratitude and thankfulness today. And as I was, you know, even though we've had this conversation before, as I was even doing more what I'll call research, I guess, I finally paid attention to the fact that there is these slight differences between being grateful and and being thankful. And I found that very intriguing because I really never gave it thought. And trust me when I say no one is going to— there's no grammar or pronunciation or, you know, education person out there that's going to correct you should you use them incorrectly, or you find, you know, you interchange the use of gratitude and thankfulness. But I did think that it was interesting, the distinction between the two, and it really comes down to the fact that— excuse me— that gratitude involves a second party. Gratitude is about a person, or gratitude is given and felt toward someone or something, someone that's done something for you or something that's been given to you. Uh, excuse me, whereas even the formal definition of being thankful is when you are pleased and relieved, or expressing gratitude and relief. And thankfulness, what I found interesting, thankfulness is also doesn't involve a third party, it's internal. So you could be thankful for whatever you have in your life that aren't people or materialistic things. So you're thankful for your health, you're thankful for, you know, your faith, you're thankful for, um, you know, the, the, the sunshine, you're thankful for the fact that you're alive. Um, you're not necessarily grateful for those things, although you can be grateful to God who gave you those things. Who's given you those things. So the distinction is very slight, but at the same time, I find very interesting because now I do, and I came across these distinctions, paid attention to them, I guess, just several days ago. And ever since, I thought to myself, okay, so in my gratitude journal, I'm really going to turn it into more of this thankfulness, gratitude. And we'll— and separate them only for better understanding, not for any higher or lower level of importance between the two. So just something to think about, that as you are, you know, maybe closing your eyes and giving thanks or giving, you know, gratitude, you recognize that there are these things that do involve a second person, another person, you know, doing something for you or giving you something. And then there's these things that you can be thankful for that weren't given to— given to you from anyone, unless you really put that, you know, all of that onto a, you know, divine being such as God, which I do. At the same time, I do recognize that I am thankful, uh, for just you know, for the sunshine, for my breath, for my health, which you would question right now since I'm not feeling very good, but I am because, for instance, my health. I am thankful that I got sick, and when I did, which has been since about Friday night, Saturday, because it has allowed me to slow slow down, get rest, and kind of replenish before all the chaos breaks loose come Thursday morning, because it will, just like it will for you and/or any of you not necessarily celebrating Thanksgiving but going into the holiday season. We all know how hectic life can be, and I'm not even one who goes shopping, you know, during the time period. So I don't even, you know, ever, ever experience that type of stress. Being an ex-retailer for many years, the last thing I even want to consider is going into a store on Thanksgiving Day, which is sad that the stores are now open Thanksgiving Day, but that's for another conversation, and/or Black Friday. I've had enough of those Black Fridays. I've worked enough of those in my lifetime. But I am thankful that I've had this time to kind of rest. If this is the one time I get sick during this, during the winter, during the next, you know, several months, I will be very thankful for that. Now, I am grateful for, for instance, for, uh, I'm grateful for Deborah. So Deborah of Parker House Virtual Services is is online, and she does our social media as well as the production of the radio show. So she's out there, and I mentioned to her right before coming on to the program that I was sick, and I wasn't sure, you know, how short or long or coherent this conversation would be. And she has sent me multiple texts as we've been sitting here talking about, you know, some things I can consider taking in order to feel better. And I appreciate that because I have not heard of goldenseal and this remedy, and I would consider anything that brings— puts back the energy and the clarity into— and the health into my— into my body. So I'm very grateful for her. So in that sense, So, in that sense, I really understand the distinctions between thankfulness and gratitude. But again, I wouldn't get hung up on the distinctions and the difference. I would just advocate to anyone, whether it's this time of year and/or it should be each and every day of the year, just taking some time to recognize what you have in your life— the good, the bad, the ugly. I call them blessings and I call them lessons. I, you know, the highs and the lows, the hardships and the wonders, the, you know, the, the— and hopefully not only the materialistic things but also all the other emotional, spiritual, mental, physical professional things that you also have within your life. Because it is proven— excuse me, excuse me, excuse me— it is proven time and time again that if you're in a rut, if you're stuck, if you're depressed, if you're really struggling to figure out, you know, who you are, what it is you want to be doing, what it is you should be doing, if you are hurting for whatever reason there might be, if you are doubting or questioning anything, putting all that aside for just a few moments and really just reflecting on your— what you're grateful for or thankful for is a huge adrenaline rush. It's almost like they say, you know, when you smile you can't be unhappy. Yes, there's such a thing as a fake smile, but when you are truly smiling, you can't be unhappy. When you're singing, you know, can you feel negative emotions?

Certainly.

But at the same— or dancing. At the same time though, stay with it long enough and all of a sudden you feel your whole body transform and shift. Excuse me. So, just as the Law of Attraction talks about what you put out in the world comes back to you, so as you spend time and take time to be thankful and grateful, just as if you were, you know, taking time to put out positivity and to put out good energy, that is what's going to come back to you. So if you are struggling, if you are doubting, if you are wallowing in any way, shape, or form, taking some time to focus on, you know, gratitude and thankfulness will start to create an energy and create a— I had another term that just popped in my head and went right out— but it will start allowing you to shift and transform and move out of that place. Place that you are currently. So what are some, you know, ways that you can go about doing that? Excuse me, I'm going to take a—

sorry—

quick little sip. What are some things that you could be thinking about in that regard? Well, there is prayer for those of you, you know, who find prayer, whether an integral part of your world or a, you know, every once in a while, prayer helps you to just sit, go quiet, go inward. It takes away the selfishness and kind of lets you let go of all the other influences in your world and allow you to focus on you. But that, in prayer, that is a great place where one can be thinking about what they're grateful for or thankful for. As well as, instead of prayer, you may be thinking, okay, meditation. Going quiet, going still, focusing on your breath, going inward. Meditation oftentimes wants you to go kind of blank. You know, void, and that's fine, you know, kind of let everything go. So you're just sitting within almost your breath. But at the same time, that doesn't mean that your meditation— because my form of meditation is to go void or blank, but yet then to bring in my thankfulness and my, and my gratefulness for the things and the people in my world. Another way to really focus on this is reflection. So I mentioned earlier that we tend to rush through life and go through life, and yes, we're thankful and grateful, but it's very kind of shallow. It's very brief. It's very rushed. And reflection allows you to really sit and think about it, consider what are those things whether it's at this very moment in time or previously, that you are thankful and grateful for. And again, if you are— especially as we get into the season, this is a hard time of year for people. People really struggle this time of year. They are, you know, they— their loneliness gets even more palpable, you know, it gets even more amped up. Their feelings of feeling left out, of missing out, of not being included, really, you know, kind of gets amped this time of year. Because it's meant and it's illustrated as, you know, a time of community and a time of gathering. And yet there's some of us that don't have family or community. And, you know, so for anyone— and those that even do, those that even do still feel that isolation or that not fitting in or not being included. So you can be surrounded by a lot of people and still feel as if you're, you know, alone in the world. So if you feel yourself at any point in time inching your way toward those, those bitches, you know, of emotion, then you just taking time, pausing and reflecting, and recognizing even if you're breathing, that's something to be thankful for. You may feel as if you don't have anything to be grateful for, to be thankful for, to appreciate, uh, to love, and/or to love you. Yet if you're walking on this earth and you are breathing, there's, you know, there's many, many things to be grateful for. You just have to be willing to push through all the pain. So, you know, you still may be, you know, sitting on the couch alone, but then look outside and there's sunshine, or look outside and there's snow, or you look outside and there's bright lights bouncing off the high-rises that surround you, or there's, you know, birds chirping, or, you know, dogs barking. There are things, as hard as it may be at points in your life to see the good, there's many, many things that you could be thankful and grateful for. And if you sit and go quiet and reflect, even for the— for minutes, let alone, you know, for hours or days, you will— if you pay attention, you'll feel yourself, your whole inner being shift. And then if you're, you're appreciative and grateful for that shift, and it feels good to you, and it's something that you want to continue to feel, then it's just a matter of, as much as loneliness can get amped up, you can also amp up that energy around wanting to feel that goodness through, through all the junk and through all the possible pain you might be feeling. Now again, many people, when it comes to, you know, recognizing, reflecting, praying, meditating, They'll also journal their gratitude. So I'm sure, you know, unless you live under a rock, gratitude journals, you know, are all the rage. They always have been, they continue to be, and they're getting even, you know, more, more important in people's lives. As the world is just getting more and more chaotic, we all need a place to kind of bring back the, the things that kind of make us feel alive and make us feel good about ourselves and make us feel loved. And therefore, I was even watching, uh, earlier this morning, uh, it was— what was it? I believe it was on The View. I had it on in the background, and I only had— I didn't even have the volume on. It was just the, the picture. And I happened to look up, and they were profiling, you know, small businesses on Amazon. And the winners, I guess, of some Amazon contest. And one of them was a journaling company that creates these journals, you know, whether fitness or gratitude is where I kind of caught my attention. So it's becoming more and more prevalent and important for people to really want to make note of gratitude, be conscious of it, to become aware of it, to want to kind of honor it. And, and I, you know, and again, you start journaling it, you start taking it out of your head, as we talk a lot about here. Take it out of your head, put it on a piece of paper, and you will start feeling that shift and that transformation. Of course, other ways to allow these two things, these two critical things to help you move is even creating a smile for someone else will create those feelings of thankfulness and gratitude, you know, and/or having a smile brought to you. I, like I said, I'm 6. So I'm hoping that I'm putting two sentences together, but shortly before the program I stepped outside to get some sunshine, just a little bit of fresh air. I'm in my bathrobe and my neighbor happened to be walking down and she saw me and I didn't say hello, I just kind of waved and she had this big smile on her face. And as miserable as I felt, you know, I couldn't help but smile back and kind of came back into the house, sat down, and I was like— I felt gratitude toward her. And, you know, I, I just appreciated that little bit of something that, you know, kind of shifted my state of being. Um, now of course, other things that you can do to even create you know, gratitude and thankfulness is to smile, is to compliment, is to actually consciously, um, uh, intentionally thank someone. And I'm not talking thank someone for the big things in life. I'm even talking about thank the person that is bagging your groceries at the store, or the person bagging your, you know, Black Friday maddening purchases. Thank them for working. Thank them for, you know, giving up their Thanksgiving if you go out on Thanksgiving. Thank them for giving up their Thanksgiving in order to be there for you. You know, thank the person in the restaurant or thank the person, the postman or woman who's delivering mail or picking up your trash. It just creates tons of energy and tons of warmth and tons of appreciation that will shift you out of any state of being. And of course, you know, the best way to be thankful or grateful is to be present, to recognize it as it's happening. You know, many of us— going back to that reflection— many of us you know, are kind of jolted into, uh, being grateful or thankful when something horrible happens to us. Uh, and, you know, all of a sudden it's, you know, that's when people get serious about praying or meditating or whatever you might want to call it. But they also get tuned into what they are thankful or grateful for. Uh, well, why do you have to wait for that to happen instead of being already stuck, already in pain, already hurting, already feeling desperate, already feeling inadequate, already, already, already, why not use it as a preventative measure that you don't want to get there because on a regular daily basis you are you know, you are acknowledging what you're grateful and thankful for. It doesn't have to be in the morning lying in bed like I talk about a lot. It doesn't have to be at church on Sundays or at synagogue. It doesn't have to be when, you know, excuse me, when you're, you know, with a group of people, you know, maybe you're in a Bible study or whatever the case might be. It doesn't have to be anywhere organized. It could be as you're, you know, sitting here even listening to this program, as you're driving in your car, as you're doing your groceries, you know, staying, staying, you know, conscious, keeping it at the surface. We talk about the fact that, you know, truth sits on the surface. You know, truth does sit on the surface if you are looking for those opportunities of recognizing the steps that you're taking and the actions that you're making and the words that you're using and really kind of be in that moment, very present, very aware, then you can witness when people are doing things for you or when you're feeling things so you can be then grateful to that person doing something for you, as simple as bagging your groceries maybe. Or you can be thankful that you're, you know, you were able to, you know, walk to your car, get in your car, go to the grocery store, have money to spend on groceries. This time of year, that's huge. You know, there's a lot— so many opportunities for us to be present and to be very aware of what blessings and even what hardships we've had in our lives, because that's, you know, all of those things are what makes who we are. And I love the quote that goes around quite often. It went around a couple days ago, and I shared it on Facebook, and it touches on, you know, it, you know, not spending so much time, you know, focused on the struggle that you went through, but the fact that you got up from it. That you overcame it, that you fought against it, that you won against it. So it's all, you know, so it's looking for those, those positive things that will help anyone in any type of state of being that's working for you or against you to kind of overcome. And as we go into this season, that is a typical typically focus on gratitude and thankfulness. We should all just, you know, take a moment to, to reflect and to, uh, you know, appreciate. And on that note, I'm going to say that I appreciate and I'm grateful and thankful for each and every one of you and the whole Shedding the Bits community and Deborah and everyone that is in my world and universe, because it's like, it's like times like today where, excuse me, as we go into the season, but more importantly, as I work and fight to overcome this lovely health battle, which I will, it will pass, but it does allow me to also just pause and say thank you and that I appreciate you and that, uh, when you reach out, I am here for you. And when you talk up, I will hear you. And I'll just hope that each and every one of you have a blessed, blessed, blessed and safe and wonderful celebration, whether it's Thanksgiving or just life. As you go forward. And I'll look forward to having you right back here next Tuesday at noon Eastern time for our Ask Bernadette episode. And on that note, have a beautiful, rich week, and I'll talk to you soon. Take care, everybody.

Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.