EP 29 Visceral Gratitude

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It was just such a beautiful authenticity of really, really just wanting to be there. It's gonna make me cry a little bit here.

You're gonna make me cry too. We'll make it through. It's okay.

Thanks. Hello, friends. You are listening to the All Things good for you podcast. I'm your host, Brian Bowen, founder of.

Integrative Health, Inc. And I'm Amy Christensen, your co host and creator of Amy Christense Wellness Coaching.

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And remember, stay open minded and integrated. Amy. Oh my God, we're back.

Oh, my God, Brian, we're back.

What the heck? I feel like it's been a million years. I'm so excited.

We have missed each other so much. Really.

I've missed this, you, this whole process. I don't even care if anybody's listening to us at this point. I just enjoy the whole experience. So no, it's not true. I care. I love you guys, whoever's listening out there, but it really, I just really miss all of this. I miss, I miss it all. So I'm glad, I'm glad to be.

Back here with you, you know, and it's just going to lead us right into it because we do miss it. Like I've learned I was. It's a lot, like, it's a lot of time and process and preparing and trying to match our schedules and get up early and, you know, make it all fit in together. But I think our weekly ish meetings where we focus on kind of opening and expanding our understanding of things, pushing ourselves to learn deeper on a subject. It just became like a weekly practice of embedderment and appreciation. And of course we have like a social connection because you and I can kind of talk about things and we do often see things very similar. But I think we also glean different experiences from each other. It became a consistent, uplifting moment that we kind of got used to, and we missed it while I was away. So, you know, I have to say I'm very grateful for our time where we get to hang out and learn to grow and push each other a little bit, and the fact that we get to maybe inspire or share or intrigue somebody else to. You know, obviously our purpose is to just open those ideas and get people getting curious about ways they can better their health and their life. And it's such a wonderful thing. What a great way to use technology to reach however many people you can reach. I mean, obviously there's podcasts that reach millions of people, and what a nice opportunity to make such great social connections and inspire people.

Beautifully said. Beautifully said. Yeah. I mean, the experience and the tying in today. Today's topic is about gratefulness and finding gratefulness and a new depth of gratefulness and a visceral feel of gratitude. I should say gratitude, but gratefulness and gratitude. And, you know, everything you said, like, I'm just sitting here kind of closing my eyes, and this sounds esoteric, but just kind of feeling it more, you know, just feeling like, not just hearing the words, but. But feeling your words and the energy behind your words and what that really means. And, you know, to be here, like, talking on the mic and talking to you has just a richness to it at a whole new kind of new level for me that I'm just trying to feel more and just understand a whole new depth of gratitude and gratefulness that is so important in our lives. And, you know, I think we, you know, we honor and appreciate that. But I think that there's also. We, you know, take advantage of it a little bit to some degree. We're pretty lucky where we are in the world and have, you know, these opportunities, even the small ones, that we might not recognize as just grateful opportunities. You know, I just. We just need to start highlighting these more, right? Just recognizing every little thing and really paying attention and. And celebrating that well.

And so it's been that we took a little break from the podcast, and there's a good reason behind it. One, both your and I's lives were kind of blowing up in a lot of ways, in a good way, but also for you, in a very challenging way that highlights it. And, you know, not every day, thank God or spirit or whatever you want to say. But mine is thank God that we don't have to be reminded every day to the extent that you do or that you experienced. But we do take the small things for granted and then we realize, well, goodness, something that we take for granted every day, that's a small thing, may not be such a small thing. It can be quite life impacting and big. And I'll let you kind of jump in if you want to and share with folks kind of what you are experiencing and just that recognition of when you have the. When you have something and it seems little and then it's taken away or the threat of losing that thing and you actually experience the feeling of that thing being lost or gone or different or changed and not available in the same way. It is an absence. Your brain gets the grief process. There's something that our brains are used to having as a consistency and that fear of that thing being taken or gone creates an extra awareness that drives a bond even further for having that thing or person or situation. And we can talk some more into that, but I'll hand that over to you. And just your experience of what you guys have gone through and honestly, the recognition that we all experienced through what you guys were going through, I think has created appreciation, gratitude in our lives separately. Just, you know, looking and seeing what you guys were going through.

Oh, that's very sweet. Yeah, I think in previous, some previous podcasts I think we alluded to some stuff, you know, happening. But you know, recently in my world, my wife, the end of last year was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor on her pancreas. So it's a rare pancreatic tumor, pancreatic cancer. And the, you know, the additional diagnosis obviously was just shock and you know, I didn't even know how to deal with those emotions of. There was such a roller coaster ride of a process. And I mean, my wife, obviously at a whole other level than, than just me, but just, you know, going through, you know, the shock of it and then what does this mean? And then, you know, not understanding the depths of it and then, you know, you go through fear mode and then we have kids and you know, your brain starts to take you to some heavy places and you know, trying to get control of that and then reframe and stay positive and all this stuff. But anyway, so she was diagnosed with this at the end of last year. And then you have to go through, which unfortunately so many people, you know, on this planet have to go through of the unknown of what that diagnosis means, you know, at what level. So you don't know, you know, when you are moving through the stages, you know, when you're going to get news on, you know, how bad is it? You know, what that, you know, expectations are, what the diagnosis is overall. And so, you know, luckily.

Such a hard time. Yeah, I mean I was, I. It was such a difficult time during COVID You could just coming out of the end of that, just in the medical world of getting appointments and that clarity, I feel like you guys had all this information dumped on you, but then kind of like we're kind of left wait a long process of waiting to figure it out because of the delay of things. So it kind of added that extra stress to the process.

Yeah, there's definitely that. The anxiousness and frustration of the hurry and wait. The hurry and wait game. And so it's definitely was a, a marathon to get through this. And so she's still, she's still very much healing right now. But to long story short, so she, you know, got this diagnosis and then obviously we're going through our process of everything. And where this whole subject of gratitude ties in through this whole process, even from the beginning, the level of appreciation, concern, outreach, help just in every possible way from co workers and friends and family and community has just been outstanding and just amazing. That I'll get into in a minute and kind of why I wanted to really talk about this. But so moving through this process, she had to have a couple procedures first because this neuroendocrine tumor was on the tail of the pancreas, but it was larger than a softball. So it's been growing for years. So they tend to be slower growing tumors and not as aggressive metastasizers, but obviously can wreak, wreak havoc and very serious. And so it caused issues with her spleen and had these like varices on her spleen. So she had to have a procedure to cut the blood flow off that so there wouldn't be any possible kind of ruptures or aneurysms around around that. And so, you know, you go through that process and then, you know, to watch my kids and see kind of where they're at and how they are or are not processing, it's just, you know, and behaving and stuff was just an experience that I don't want anybody to ever go through. And they, they're doing such a good job right now. And again, so grateful to have them like step up and step into. Into this.

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Because it's gotta be, you know, so hard, you know, for them at so many levels in a different way than me. And so, anyway, so we're going through this process. So she had that and then about. It's been a month, and when her big surgery was, so they had to go in and take out the tumor, take out her spleen, take out the tail of the pancreas, and then 4 inches of her colon. So she has just a massive incision. And, you know, it was a four and a half hour surgery. And then she ended up getting an infection. And then that's led to a bunch of stuff. And so, you know, there's just so much to it. But to get to the good stuff, because that's the sad stuff, but she's on the other side of it. She's healing. But the gratitude piece, for me, I thought I understood, like, you know, I'm like, of course I'm grateful for this. Of course I'm grateful to be born where we're born. Of course I'm grateful for the opportunities I have and. And the privileges. And it's easy to say those things, I think, but I feel like I've learned gratitude at a level that I've never experienced it in my life. And so there are these, like, different depths of really understanding. So I like to think about, you know, when I say it at a visceral level, like, I would say that I felt it at a head level and like a mindfulness level, but I feel it at a whole different level. And it is because of you. It is because of, unfortunately, this experience, but people stepping into this space to be there and to help and for her to come through it and to have the nurses and the doctors, but not just to have people performing these procedures or saying, hi, can we lend a hand? But there was a certain, you know, especially with friends and co workers and our community, there is just such a beautiful authenticity of really, really just wanting to be there. It's gonna make me cry a little bit here.

You're gonna make me cry too. We'll make it through. It's okay.

Thanks. But it is something that, you know, you have people love you in your life, and you have, you know, situations that come up where you need a helping hand and to really not even know. Like, there's a moment where you're just.

You're. You're.

You don't even know what's happening emotionally because there's so much going on inside your head and your thoughts when serious situations like this arise that it's. It's really hard to even get your bearings. And, you know, people would ask, like, what do you need? And I'm like, I don't even know. I really don't even know. And for me to be there for her when you can't do anything except just be there and try to take the stress off by, you know, doing other things, you feel really, really helpless and vulnerable, and you have so much hope that things are going to turn out, and there's still all this other stuff of anger and frustration and why her? She's, like the healthiest person, and it's a good person. And there's so many, you know, other people and circumstances in the world. It's just, you know, your brain goes through a thousand different things. But to see and to feel the care and love and have other people, like, really authentically being there and was just amazing.

Well, you guys have made such a great impact on people's lives. And it's not to just not to belittle anybody who doesn't have a huge social network or you don't have to just be a good person to have care and support. But you and Amy are, like, above and beyond good people, I feel like. And now I'm going to cry, and you talk about the size of the tumor, and Amy is like, I'm pretty sure I could bench press her. She is just this tiny, sweet, incredibly glowing person. And she was already so, you know, I just. I can't imagine her having to go through. She was incredible health. She's in great shape. And I, you know, I think everybody was just shocked and on that level. But then to just know how much you guys give and the contact that you make with just like, you kept it all together, too. Brian. I mean, everybody could tell that there were certain moments where you were more stress than other. But I've never seen somebody go through what you guys went through and watch how you managed your feelings and your emotions and helping take care of everything that you were having to deal with. And that's an example of just not only who you are in character, but who you make as a daily practice, how you keep your focus on the type of person you want to be and who you are for everybody. So we love you guys, and I think you guys probably have that times 10, because it's what you give and it's what you do for yourselves. But it's what you give to other people too.

Oh, it's very sweet. It's very, very sweet.

Oh, I know. You're making me cry.

Well, the. And that's the thing too. I mean, there's everybody, you know, has their own kind of place where they're at with their emotional intelligence and, and their experience of their emotions and stuff. And I'm not, you know, I would say you could. Like, I just feel like I really shifted into a whole different space of even being able to accept that gratitude that, that accept gratitude at a new. At this other level and to accept a helping hand and to accept the love that was coming for others and to be able to recognize that and, you know, give that love back or express that. And there it was just, it's just so much. And so we, we all have this other, like, level of everything we can shift to in life, right? And for me, you know, now to feel this, it's just such a goodness. And I will say that like, that gratitude, when I just think about the feeling of it and just, it's just so yummy and it just feels like vulnerable and safe at the same time. But I really now am just super inspired to want to give even more. Right. And to want to step into that because I'm so appreciative for the community and the support that we received. And I can only imagine that there's so many people who don't have that same thing, you know, who might not have, you know, the support in the community and stuff around them. So I'm so, so, so, so grateful that everybody, you and. And all the people around us have been in our lives through this process. And it really has meant more than I would could ever have imagined. I thought, you know, it's just one of those things. We'll shoulder through this, we'll power through. We got this. But it really has made it so much more. Not easy by any means, but just so much better to have everything around everybody around us and, and really helped take so much stress off. So I can't express it enough, but I feel it in a different way. And then I guess that's the biggest point I want to get across is it's not like this just in my head space and I know like in personal development and gratitude journals and the discussion of gratitude journals is out there and there's tons of science about the benefits and what happens in the brain and, and all this and all this. And I, I gotta say, I know like that and so I'll. I'll make comments about, you know, and recognize moments of. Of gratitude and gratefulness from even the small things from, like when somebody places an order, you know, of ouch ointment, I'm like, oh, yes, I celebrate that, and I'm grateful for that. But recognizing those small things and, and feeling it at this other. In this other space is just amazing. And when we get. We talked a long time ago about kind of from that one book. Sorry, my brain is a little scrambled right now after talking about this, when we talked about, like, the Saboteurs and the Sages, you know, gratitude is really feels so much like a sage power. I mean, it's got to be right. And, and so it helps us step out of that are kind of ego selves and all the components of our brain, of all the noise and all the conditioning of certain things. And it just feels so natural and authentic to be in that space of gratitude and everything else. Like, when I would stop and be talking to somebody and just think about how grateful I am that you're in my life and in my wife's life and being supportive, like, it really helped a lot of the fear and some of this other stuff just drop away. Even if it was for a moment.

Right.

Even if it was for a moment. To have that moment was so precious. And, you know, it has a compounding effect. And I think that it's a foundation that we need to recognize the greatest, how great and. And how important that feeling is, that emotion, that space to us as human beings and our evolution of goodness. And it just breeds such goodness. I want to be better. Right. And I just think we need to step into it a lot more and recognize opportunities of gratefulness and gratitude and really try to feel it. And what does that feel like inside of you when you're grateful? How does everything else feel? Like, does you feel stuff drop away that was stressful? Do you feel less fear? Do you feel grounded? Do you feel calm? Like, let's put a visceral feeling and really experience what it really feels like.

Yeah. And.

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I can really appreciate what you're saying as far as, like, we can get in our headspace and we can Logically understand. And we make these recognitions and then the difference of that in a visceral, like you feel it deep in your gut or in your soul or in your fiber of your being. It. We all have those moments, right? And it can be little. It doesn't have to be as big and as traumatic as what you guys have gone through. It can be the loss of something or even just like, how do you. Let's say you're driving in your car. And most of us are aware of the potential of an accident, but it's very different than a near miss or even an accident that you walk away from and how you can look at that. And I think it does speak to your character and Amy's character is like, people can go through something like that and come out with a very different outlook. Some people will come out of things like that. And I'm not criticizing in it because we all have our different perspectives and those fear moments of what we recognize. And people can come out of and be bitter or be more afraid and kind of live in that realm of fear or anger and resentment, or they can come out with the appreciation. And it's like, how can. How can we. How can we help spread the. The recognition of it? Doesn't you guys have a big realm of people in your life that even if you just have one or two people or one person in your life that you're grateful for, that there's a person there that cares, the person that you can depend on. I mean, it goes back to our basic instincts of connection. And we are not born and put on this earth. However, for whatever reasons we are social creatures, we need other beings to help us survive. You know, we've talked about this. Like, babies thrive, they will have less health and possibly even so much so that they don't survive if they're not held and hugged and given a certain amount of physical touch. But then they're also watching eye dilation and face recognition. As infants, they can tell if a parent or a caregiver is supportive or approval. And that gives them the social contents of safe and protection. And if they don't have that or if they misinterpret that, that stimulates a fear mentality in them. So we're geared to recognize social constructs of safety and approval and having your quote unquote tribe and your family. And I think when you go through moments like that of loss or fear of losing something, and then you not only recognize your individual context of gratitude for what you have, but then you have that social outpouring of connection. It just reinforces those base needs. And we've talked about in the future, coming up, having some discussions about men and feelings. I look, we're kind of coming out of this space where men can't cry and men can't have feelings, but I do think men in general still have some struggles with that.

Just broke the mold. I just did it.

You did, you did. And I think you're one of the strongest examples of a good man that I know. And you are very emotionally expressive and kind. You're not like breaking down, but you're very in touch with how you feel. But you still have a hard time with it. I think all of us do at some level, but men in particular. And then I just wanted to touch on like that, that point of where you were saying that it's hard to even accept the outpouring. It's not that you didn't want it or appreciate it, but it is sometimes difficult to allow somebody else to do something for us. And yet that's a gift back to them. Like allowing somebody to do something, anything, buy you a cup of coffee, help provide dinner, drive a kid somewhere, you know, just be there to listen. That is helping the person that's receiving it, but it's also helping the person that's giving it.

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But.

But to step into it and to realize how much you didn't know you needed it and to receive it was just amazing. And again, you're right. I think that you could feel again the level of appreciation and authenticity coming from individuals and people in our lives to be able to give it.

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It's awesome. And unfortunately, you know, crisis, you know, you see people, not unfortunate, but you see people, people step up in crisis. And I guess, you know, sometimes you don't know what you. You got till it's gone or you, you know, have to have these crises, you know, to recognize, you know, these things which we shouldn't have to have. And so that leads me into just thinking like, you know, again, what are some practices and things that we can do or mindfulness to live in a state of gratitude, you know, more consistently. And I know some people in my life that like, live at that high level of this. They're so just like, they're just recognizing you can just feel it pouring from them. They're just grateful about everything, and that's the space they operate from. And, you know, I feel like I've always would dip my toe in, but I certainly didn't live from that space like some of the individuals I'm thinking of. And then again to feel it at this kind of new level. You know, I definitely have been spending more time in my meditations and, like, thinking about my day and the people that I get to spend time with in my day and how grateful they are, whether it's treating patients and thinking about those patients individually and the things I love about them and how honored I am to be able to get to put my hands on them and to be able to help in any way I can and to walk into the office and see your face and Melissa's face and Amy's face and, you know, Stella's just everybody's face and how lucky I am to have such good people in the same environment, sharing the same energy and experiences and. And stuff. So I've been thinking about that a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot more. But I also don't want it to be like a vacation where you go on a vacation and this sounds. Hopefully, you know, it sounds lame in a way, but, you know, when you go on a vacation and you. You experience a third world country at a whole nother level, and you come back and you think you're so grateful for all those things you have, and then you have these ideas of things you're going to change, and then three months later it kind of fades away. I want to step in and stay in this space. And how can a. Why is it important for people who are listening to feel a sense of gratitude and gratefulness and understand what it really feels like and let that compound effect happen, and how can it be how important it is in our lives? But how can we live in this space and not just go on those vacations, experience something, come back, and, you know, three months later it unfortunately, you know, can fade away a little bit, I think.

I mean, I think there's some. We do live where we live and the life that we're living in. And there is some level that we just get back into routine and then we talk about, okay, how do we make a daily practice of recognizing. I think that's why we need experiences. That's why we need daily practices. But it's also why we need, you know, quarterly, once a month, a couple times a year, and I think different levels of expectation of experiences where we put ourselves in a place of gratitude or helping or change of environment so that our brain is seeking and recognizing novelty in man. For me, well, just new experiences so you can recognize where you are in life and what you have. I, I look at like people make fun of me and people go camping. You know, it's like, why would you work so hard and frankly spend so much money on living homeless for a weekend and beat yourself up? Because you. And sometimes I do, I go, if I go on a backpack packing trip and you're back, back up for three days and nowhere and you're sleeping in a tent and it could be cold, it could be super hot, it could be dangerous and yeah, it's hard on the body. And there's this moment of appreciation when you come back down for a really good meal, a hot shower in your comfortable bed. Recognizing how our bodies are amazing and can and can take care of us in those moments. And the gratitude of that feeling of, wow, I can survive at least for a few days. I don't know, there are people who can do it for a lot longer, but I can survive on these little minimal things. It does make you have gratitude and appreciation for what we have, the comforts of every day. And I think some of us need that and that's the way we get it. Other people, like you were saying, your daughter's getting ready to go to a third world country, right. And to do some, some education work and to experience what it's like for people who live differently. Now, I do have to take a step back on that because sometimes I think we look at those things and we look pitifully or sad for these people. But I think what most people find when they go to these more simple, less monetarily supported places, that the social connection and the bond between the people and the appreciation for what they do have is so much higher. That yes, why we want to do things to help make their life safer or more comfortable and provide some things for them to maybe improve in the ways that they need to. We walk away, those people come away back home and they realize, man, those people gave us a gift. Seeing their value and how they have gratitude for the littlest things and their connection and their social setting gives us a gift of appreciation that we don't get when we're here and we're busy and we have everything as a convenience and there's no, you know, fear of loss necessarily. When groceries run out, you walk down the street and heck, now you can just have it delivered to your door. I think we seek out those experiences because we're wanting to understand the gratitude and the gratefulness for what we have. Whether it's materialistic or social built or spiritual built, people give them. They really forget how great we are and how much potential we have for goodness. And I think that's why we here talk about a daily gratitude journal or daily practices or making a habit of connecting and speaking kindness to other people. We're in one of, I mean, I think we're in one of the greatest countries in the world with some of the greatest things that we could ever have as humans. But as to your point, when all of the fancy stuff and the easy way of living and the things that money can buy have gone away, it's really your connection with your closest human beings that make looking to get out.

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Drive make life great.

I, I totally agree and I think that's why, you know, when you say gratitude journal and I mean, I think some of the things that I was hearing that, you know, really ring true is stepping out of your comfort zone in many ways. So whether it is getting out of your routine and your environment. So like for you, you know, obviously camping is not stepping. It's a comfort zone. I should say it's not uncomfortable place for you, but getting out of the routine and all of the safety nets of our life and, and whether that's volunteering somewhere, whether that's traveling abroad, whether that is, I don't know, create your own list. But definitely like changing it up to experience different things so, you know, we have a different clarity and perspective. But I think again, exposure to many different environments, whether it's in your city, whether it's in your state, whether it's in your country, I think is really, really important. And really looking at that and spending time and thinking about the experience of it, the emotions, what does it mean? How do you feel when you're in this other place and you know, really diving in deep into what, what your experience is. And then with that gratitude journal, you know, again get it. Stepping out of all the. I'm just grateful I have a roof over my head. Like that's awesome. It's great to be, you know, have gratitude about that. But Spending time thinking about the people in your lives and going much further beyond the surface and understanding like I can, you know, I'm picturing somebody in my mind now, what do they, how have they been involved in my life and what do I appreciate about them and how have they been impactful and what are their qualities that you really love and their qualities that they bring into this world that you feel like are important and you know, so forth, so forth. So, you know, stepping into that space at that level, that's one thing I'm going to start doing for sure. So. And if it's on paper in my brain, I know it's, you know, when you put it on paper, it kind of takes it to another level. So I will challenge myself to do that.

Well, I think it's a good thing to do do and I think, you know, teaching our children to recognize the value of what we have, like you're doing with your teenager, you know, that's a big thing. But we can do it every day. We can, you know, talk with our children. We can show them by example. Of course our kids learn for first and foremost by what they are seeing and witnessing. Not that they're being told, but what they see family experiencing and appreciating. Whether it's a social connection or little things that your family does or friends and just what our whole world has to offer. Looking for those ways to create gratitude and appreciation. The lack of. And on that note about kids, anytime that we have we are doing without something, we usually will have more gratitude for it. So I always like to put a little nod towards it's okay to let children experience loss and pain and lack of things through possible discipline or waiting. And that builds gratitude. It builds an appreciation in their minds at a younger age. And the more we can have our world growing up with these feelings of appreciation and gratitude, what better society connections and personal fulfillment can we create in our world going forward? We look at some of the big, big world things, but then we sometimes lose the micro things that we can be doing in our daily life. And you know, maybe it's not a gratitude journal for some people, it's meditation. Maybe it's leaving, you know, honest, caring, thank you notes to the people in your life or a stranger. Like the pay it forward thing that everybody's doing. What's the, There's a catchphrase that everybody's putting on their car. Is it pay it forward? Is it pay it forward or.

Yeah, it used to be, but I don't know. Is there a New thing that people are putting in their car. I mean, I'll tell you what my son puts them. I'll tell you what my son puts on my car. A 12 year old. What he puts on draws on your dust in your car is very.

I don't think we want to know. I bet we all know he went.

Through drawing the butt phase to the penis phase to.

That's hilarious. I mean you have to find the funny things, right? Like, I'm grateful for his humor.

I'm grateful for his humor.

Your son is funny. I can, I mean, has he ordered any large purchases from where did he.

Order all the paper from the 10,000 boxes from the United States Postal Service? No, he hasn't done that lately. And many other things.

Oh, he's hilarious. Anyway. But my point being is that we could find big ways and small ways and I think we have to find that throughout the year and just looking around your world and seeing who you can help and allow to help you allow somebody to do something nice for you and then get better at expressing ourselves verbally to people. And I need it a lot too. You know, I get, I constantly will find myself starting to have like a hissy fed or no choice Tourette's about situations. And then I realized, oh my goodness, that is such a ridiculous thing to be upset about. You might want to turn that around and recognize how good life is because you have this simple thing, you know.

Yeah, I just want to tap back into something you said. Sorry. And again, I just want to, you know, I didn't even know this would come up this much. But accepting the gifts that other people are giving you really, you know, is, is important and super impactful and like I didn't recognize how much, how hard that was or how much that was. But that I think really helped open up that doorway for me to allow, to feel this other level of gratitude, you know, because just, you know, and I think how many people aren't open to that, you know, to accepting those, those gifts and stuff that people really want to, to, to give and to be a part of your world. So I think it's huge. And again, that compounding effect of just that feeling it over and over like that's I think what helps us step into this as a, as a long term experience and staying and holding, holding the space for gratitude.

Right?

Like how do we hold the space for it? I sound so esoteric right now. But again in the compounding effect of that is it just breeds goodness. It just breeds like it just is so Yummy. And the world needs so much more.

Of it, you know, And I think, like you said, just creating a practice of recognition. And I don't think you would have made it through as well as you did with everything that you had, you guys had on your plate if you hadn't made a daily practice of thinking about how you feel, keeping up with your health, looking out long term, believing in good situations, and staying positive. I don't think that you would have done quite as well as you did, at least, if you hadn't. So we're not trying to belittle anything or trying to make it seem simple, but truly just taking a few minutes every day to implement whoever's advice you want to take. But the things that we talk about, all things good for you is all geared about how to create good health, mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and start finding little ways to take these things in. It's not fluff and buff. It's not just something kind of pretty that you put on the shelf or whatever. It's something that if you just get up and you do these things a little bit every day, it really does make a big impact in the long term. And I think gratitude goes the same way, you know, when. As far as gifts goes, you know, if I was, you know, asked to do something recently that was seemingly easy, but not. I mean, it's something that I do, but I. It was a risk for me to push myself to make and create something for somebody and give that as a gift. Not only did that make me feel honored, but it also created, like, the. The things that. Just making and doing the gift part was big for me. But then giving that gift was still a risk. It was still scary. A little bit like, oh, I hope it's good. I hope they like it. And having the gratitude come back was so fulfilling and inspiring.

So just so everybody knows what she's talking about, unless you're talking about something different. My wife had seen, had this image of a painting that, you know, was something that was inspiring to her about conquering, you know, this cancer and about moving beyond to the other side of things. And so I asked Amy, who is an amazing painter, if she could paint this. And she did a amazing job, and it's so beautiful. And so when my wife came home from the hospital, this was hanging on the wall, you know, in our house. And is there, as, you know, a reminder and a totem and this. This beautiful thing. She's moved on and has kicked this thing in the butt. So Amy did a amazing job and it was so, you know, so honored that she did it and so grateful that it was able to be hanging on the wall for when she came home, just to be like, okay, this is. We're the next space, we're the next level. So you did an outstanding job. And she loves, loves, loves it.

Well, thank you. And I, yeah, I was just, you know, I didn't mean to like pull my, my stuff into it, but I just. That that ability to create or give something, whether you purchase it or you make it, that honor of gift giving is such a. A long term thing. I mean, it's. I mean, my artwork is obviously something big. I mean, for you guys to one ask me and me push myself to make something like that and then to know that you guys enjoy it and just the connection and the value that I have through that. But doing something for somebody that it's just. You don't recognize what you allow somebody to have by letting them do what they do, to give. And it is, it is a continuous thing for this, obviously. I mean, the idea that you guys enjoy that painting and that it brings Amy happiness through something that was so challenging is rewarding. Long, lifelong. That's not a feeling that ever goes away.

It's gonna be hanging in her house for life. You're gonna be right there.

Thank you.

So, gratitude through gifts. Yeah, sorry, Amy, but gratitude through gifts, gratitude through words, gratitude through spontaneous acts of kindness, gratitude from just mentally or meditatively thinking about somebody and honoring those things and importance in their life, like we will always honor, that is so critical. So I challenge everybody this month, the rest of this month, we're halfway through, to see if you can find another level of gratitude. So even though you practice gratitude, or maybe this is something newer that you haven't spent as much time in to get out of the headspace of it and think back, think forward, think about experiences. Just how can you step into it and see if you can find that other level and see if you can go a little bit deeper, feel it a little more viscerally. And then how can you share that gift in life as well? And how can that emanate from you and show up in the world? And how can you show up in a space of gratitude? And because you know what? That's good for you and it's good for the world. And I love it.

We need a lot of.

I love all of you guys.

Yeah, well, we love you guys. We love you, Brian, and we love Amy and thanks for sharing your personal experience and just thanks for always encouraging us through everything you do. Appreciate you.

You're amazing. Thank you so much. Well, thank you guys. Step into gratitude. Find gratitude. Thank you Amy for talking about this. I feel like we could redo this and I feel like all of a sudden like I mean I'm still processing stuff still too. So hopefully I find even another level and I want to continue to to explore and just make this a key point in my world life with all of you. So thank you.

Thank you guys everybody. Have a wonderful day and till our next one, hopefully will be next week.

Share with your friends and family. Pass it on. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, bye bye.

Bye Amy.

Hey friends, thank you for tuning in to the All Things Good for you podcast. Please note any information, experiences, ideas or opinions discussed today are for educational and thought provoking purposes only and not intended as medical advice. If anything piqued your curiosity, please consult with your doctor or personal medical professional. And if you're enjoying All Things Good for your podcast, hop on over and leave us a five star review so we can continue delving in and providing great content. Thanks again and we hope you are inspired to stay informed and responsible along your journey health and wellness journey.

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