#37 Guide to Practicing Gratitude with Dr. Dae Jones

The information provided in this podcast is educational and not intended to diagnose or treat medical conditions.

Dr. Donnie Wilson struggled for decades to solve her numerous health issues and heal her body. But with focused determination, she healed herself. And in doing so, she discovered the Dr. Donnie stress recovery Protocol. On this show, you're going to hear from doctors, nutritionists, and Experts along with Dr. Donnie, who will give practical advice and wisdom to help heal your body. This is how humans heal.

I'm excited to introduce you to Dr. Day Jones. She's a naturopathic doctor and expert in gratitude, here to teach us all the benefits of gratitude today. Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be with you, Donni.

Aw, it's so good. It's always good to get to catch up and talk with you. Please share what inspired you to do what you do and to help people to understand the benefits of gratitude.

So what inspired me to become a naturopathic doctor was I was working. And it's also kind of what inspired me to do gratitude, too. But the first step in the process was I was really stressed out and I was really unhappy in my life. And I was a really young person. I was in my early 20s, and I was working 80 hours. And I just didn't have any sense of fulfillment and any sense of joy. And I had the opportunity to meet with a naturopathic physician. My mother sent me to one, and you do what your mom tells you to do. And I learned about how we live our lives and how stress can really cause us to be ill. And I was so fortunate to learn that at a very, very early age. And I fell in love with that idea of learning how to balance my life. I was a happier person. My health wasn't bad. Like, I didn't have any, like, severe health issues, but I had a lot of little ones. And if I hadn't taken care of them, they would have turned into much bigger issues and problems. And so that's how I started my journey for naturopathic medicine. And then kind of fast forward. So now I have some tools because I'm a doctor and I'm helping other people and they're getting better and I'm getting busier and I'm taking care of my. My grandmother, and I'm starting to feel stressed out and then I'm starting to get sick because I am putting myself last instead of putting myself first so that I can have energy to show up for all the people and things that are important to me. And my church does meditations and does mindfulness. And I started to get involved with that process and it helped me again to rebalance myself and that in mindfulness practices, which are being in the present moment, oftentimes in the present moment, everything is fine. We're thinking about the past, we're thinking about the future. We're getting anxiety and depression and stressed out and stressed hormones flowing through our bodies. But in the present moment, we're usually just fine. And if we can observe that moment without having judgment about it, then you can find a sense of peace and calm and gratitude can really flow from that place and space of focusing on the present moment and the things that we do have instead of worrying or.

Stressing over the things that we don't have. And so I started to build this process of gratitude and sharing it with all of my practice members to give them a sense of calm and to reduce their stress hormones. And I know that you spend so much time talking to people about how stress is a negative influence on our mind and body that I know that anyone who's listening to you and listening to this, they're falling right in with all the things that you share.

Oh, it's, it's, it's so true.

And I love, I love how you're.

Sharing how you were inspired from your own journey and then felt like you wanted to then share that with your patients.

And I think that's, you know, not.

Something that all practitioners do, you know.

And I, and so I think that.

Alone is really inspiring, just that you were open hearted and wanting so much to help people that you want to share what's helped you.

Yes.

And in terms of stress, I mean, let's touch on that a little bit too. In terms of, as you mentioned, it can have, it's been associated with so many different health issues.

From digestive issues.

To anxiety and depression to heart disease and diabetes and dementia. I mean, it just, the studies are everywhere. And so when we can look at it from that perspective, in some ways, just like you're talking about with being in the present moment, if we, if we look at stress from a kind of a negative viewpoint, it becomes more stressful. We're like, oh my gosh, stress causes these negative things. But when we can in some ways tweak that and have a look at the other side of the coin, so to speak, and almost look at stress from an attitude of gratitude, you know, how can, what can stress show us and teach us is that we can take steps to and do things on a daily Basis to help our bodies.

Be resilient to stress.

Yes.

So that's really, I think, where you're coming from and where I like to encourage people too, is to say, hey, instead of worrying about the past or the future, what can we do in the present moment to help ourselves take care of ourselves? As you said so eloquently, we're not going to be able to take care of the people we love if we're not able to take care of ourselves. Creating a daily practice of self care is so important. But, you know, I'm sure you see this too, that it can be challenging for people to choose that, you know, for some of our, the messages and beliefs we were taught, you know, and conditioned to believe that we're. That that's, you know, not something we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be, you know, that taking care of ourselves is selfish or having time to even. It seems odd, right? Even taking time to feel grateful is selfish. It's like, no, that, that's when sometimes we can start to realize that these beliefs don't really match up. We have to. Right. We have to get to the bottom of it and shift some of those beliefs. But tell us, tell me more what your experience is with those beliefs that stop us from giving ourselves what we need.

Yeah. So it's interesting.

About 12 years ago, my grandmother, Grammy was 96 years old and I had the opportunity to take care of her, to move into her, care of her so she would not have to go to a nursing home. And I love my Grammy and I wouldn't change that opportunity at all. And in moving in with my grandmother, one of the things that happened was those messages from my family. Your grandmother is more important than you. Like, you have to take care of her and you have to do this and other outside influences that she was more important, she was more important. And so in doing that and having a practice and I was teaching nursing students, preparing them for nursing school, I started to really feel resentful and a lot of people don't want to address this. And I think, and what I do in my practice when I work with people is we have to address the emotional issues because those manifest in the body as illnesses. And I was resentful and I was tired. And even though I loved my grandmother, I wasn't showing up for her. And as a result, I started to get sick because I wasn't taking care of myself and my health. And I had an autoimmune condition which I had never had before, a thyroid problem that showed up for me. And it was at that time I had to go all in for all the things that I stand for. And if I am helping other people get better and telling them they have to take care of themselves, then I had to stand for that. And so, because I believe and I always work with people like you, like Dr. Donnie. You've taught me so many things and I'm so grateful for you. And you've helped me professionally and you've helped me personally know that you have to stand for yourself and you have to stand for what's important to you so that you can show up for it. And so with my grandmother, I had to go all in for myself so that I could feel better, so that I could cook for her and I can change her. And she had a stroke and she couldn't. No one, she couldn't be in the house by herself. And which caused me to be in the house all the time unless I had relief for her. So in all the things I was doing, I had to manage that. And so I had to find a place of gratitude, of being the person who was chosen by her to help escort her through the process of her leaving this planet and going to do whatever else she does once she passed away. And so I had to go all in for my health so that I could joyfully see her every morning and I could cook for her and I could care for her, knowing that that is a sacred thing. Any person who's a caregiver for whoever they're being a caregiver for, I believe that's a sacred process and a very intimate process. And so I had to do that in order to be present for her. And the gift was I could have a more joyful life and I could enjoy the experiences of not just taking care of her, but talking to my patients or taking some downtime or going to yoga or whatever it was that I needed for self care. So it became very important.

For me to recognize in the space of gratitude. And another one of my friends and naturopathic doctors, Dr. Marie Rodriguez, was like, she chose you as that sacred experience to go through this with her. And you have to show up in that way and that you have to have gratitude that you have this experience to get to know everything about her and her life and her friends and stuff that I didn't know as a grandchild who just popped in and out of her life. And that's where it becomes important to understand gratitude is an experience that cannot happen without some type of hardship or Some type of issue or problem first. Because if everything was great all the time, we wouldn't actually contrast. Exactly.

That's such a good point. And I think that in terms of gratitude, a lot of times people think that it's, you know, great feeling, grateful for the good stuff. Of course we're grateful for the good stuff that happens and the gifts that show up. But I think you're making a really good point that it's also about noticing the things that at first seem really difficult and stressful. That finding a way to see the gratitude in those experiences really has a shift, profound shift that it creates in us.

Yeah. And I think that this year, one of the reasons I've had this, I created this in 2016 and I made a book, like a booklet, because people are online all the time and I thought it might be nice to like have people come offline for a second because people are getting zoomed out and meetinged out and all of that. However, the reason why I thought about doing this in 2016 is that I had some really good experiences. And the first couple pages talk about how connected I feel with a lot of my classmates from my undergraduate school. And I got a chance to spend time with them, and I always spend time with them. And I feel really loved when I'm around them. And I felt such gratitude for them. And part of the reason why that had happened is that connection point again happened after my grandmother passed away. A couple of my friends are like, you need to come back to homecoming. You need to get loved up. We're all going to be there and this is going to give you an experience. So I have the contrast of a negative experience, or maybe it's a diagnosis that someone has or, you know, something like that. And you feel in that moment like, oh my gosh, there's some despair here, or maybe there's some hopelessness here. I don't know how I'm going to overcome this. And then in those times are the places where gratitude lifts you out of the place to know that you have something, there's something bigger and better for you. And so those teach us, like you said in the beginning of this conversation, that these negative experiences or the symptoms that we have when we're feeling stressed out and where we can't sleep or. Or we're having hot flashes and night sweats or whatever it is that we're having, for all the people that I work with, those are some examples that it's there to teach us that our life is not in balance and that we have to look at that as our teacher and then find gratitude that we have the opportunity to shift our lives so our lives can be better.

In all kinds of ways. And I think that it's not just about physical symptoms, but also having gratitude. There are studies that people who have heart disease and who have gratitude journals that they heal faster from their procedures and it boosts our immune system. So in a time where people are feeling like, what can I do? I'm afraid about this virus, it's, you know, what if it takes me out? You know, gratitude is an opportunity. And along with proper, like all the things we teach people, along with proper diet and making sure you're getting enough sleep and exercise, that there has to be a mental, emotional component. Because what I'm known for is treating the whole person right and making sure that they are making themselves a priority so that they can show up for their families and their projects and the books that they want to write and the organizations that they want to serve start. That happens from self care. And I think gratitude is one of those tools that is very easily accessible that then provides us that jumping point of showing up to do what we've come to do in the world because we've taken care of ourselves. Now we have something to give to whatever thing is most important for us at that time.

That's amazing. You know, I mean, I'm hoping listeners are also experiencing that sense of just, you know, wow, the thought that here we are doing things and just trying our best and barely getting by and trying to keep up, and next thing you know, you don't even know how the day went by or the week or the year, and you're just overwhelmed by everything. And that's a very common state. And what you're describing is a path, a way of shifting that, of shifting it to where. What if, you know, here's this. What is the possibility that we could shift our perspective, take care of ourselves even better and everyone else in our lives? It's like, in some ways, I could see where it might seem impossible to someone who maybe hasn't tried that before, hasn't even known it was possible. But that's amazing. And I think that really speaks to the power of a gratitude journal and how cool that you created.

You know, this gratitude journal and guide to practicing gratitude. Is it. Do you have it there you can show? Because I think that the vision, you know, where you can.

So you tell us more about how you guide people through.

Yeah, so I tried to. I tried to think about, you know, how can we do something simple? Because what you said I think is really true. People feel so overwhelmed and there's such a time crunch for people that they're like, I don't have time to do this. And so I create a really, really simple guide where it starts with just a thought and a quote. So perhaps you read the quote and it touches you in a particular way and you're like, that's yes, this is what gratitude can do. This is what Thanksgiving can do. This opens up a possibility for me. And then it creates that experience of if you want to, you could actually write a little bit about how that quote impacts you, or you could be kind of like, I like the quote, but that's not really. I like. I'm more of an action person. And so the second part of each day's activity is usually like a five minute activity that I explain here. Like, for example, one of the first day, we talk about saying thank you. And so thank you is a way of being grateful for someone else's kindness. And not just to say thank you, but to tell someone why, I really appreciated that you picked up the mail for me. Like, maybe it's a neighbor while I was out of town or whatever that is. And that really gives something to someone because you're acknowledging them and you're showing up to talk to them and to share something with them. Or maybe it's through an online medium if you're not able to be in person with someone right now. But that activity, it doesn't take a very long time, but it gives you an opportunity to really think about someone who you would like to say thank you to, that maybe you just haven't gotten around to it because life has been super busy and you send them a text message or you call them, or if you're able to see them, you say something to them. And then that's the activity that you do for the day. So each day of the 30 day guide is broken up in that way so that it really doesn't have to take more than about five, five or 10 minutes. And then if you choose that you want to spend more time with it, or you want to take the quote with you or think about it throughout the day, you always have the option of expanding that and that if you have different activities, there is going to be an activity that really resonates with you and that might be something that you continue to do after the 30 day period of time. So it's set up to be a very easy thing. It's really fun to do in groups like if you have, you know, your friend or accountability partner or maybe you have prayer partners or maybe you do it with your kids. I have people that have, you know, bought the guide and shared it and then everybody's doing it because they're simple activities that they can actually do as well with you. So it's a nice way of not overwhelming you but still giving you a practice that you could say, hey, I didn't, I feel better because I said thank you to someone who I'd been thinking about saying thank you to for weeks and didn't get around to it.

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I mean that's so cool. And we'll definitely provide information about how people can get your gratitude guide. And I wanted to mention that I, in some of reviewing the research about gratitude, I saw that it.

There'S some studies that say that it, you know, first of all that you can, you can experience gratitude just in your own mind. You can say it verbally, you could write it down, but you don't. There's nothing that says you have to, you know, do any of that in order to get the benefit. You know, you can, so you can really. I like when there's an activity that you can do in your own way, like you're like you do in your guide, like you're saying, hey, this is something you might just think about. It might be something you write about or it might be something you actually say to people. And as you experiment, say through the 30 days of your guide, you might find what works best for you.

Right?

I mean, tell me more. But is that, it's interesting to me that the research says that all of those methods are beneficial.

Yeah. One of the things I love about the, about how the mind works, you know, oftentimes, and I know you've talked about this so many times and in the things that you've written and the things that you've shared, that people think of stress as like an emotional thing and don't recognize that it releases chemical in chemicals in the body that then create a physical reaction over time. And one of the cool things about the mind is, is that if you just sit in your own space of feeling grateful, and there's a lot of research from HeartMath, which is I love them, and they talk about how it really can change your.

Health just by being with yourself. And then if you then share the experience, you choose to, you don't have to, but if you choose to share the experience with someone else, then in your brain it releases these loving chemicals, these endorphins. And you experience it because you had an act of kindness and gratitude for someone. And the person who receives the kind act, their endorphins also get released. So now their chemicals of, you know, kindness and love start floating around in their body as well. And the thing that's even more amazing is if someone witnesses the experience of the kind act, they then can also get endorphins releasing in their bodies. So to just really understand that just doing something for yourself can change your health. But again, if you show up by example and you help someone else now you're improving your health, you're showing up and helping them improve their health. And then if someone hears the story, recognizes it, sees it, then it's actually impacting them as well. So it goes back to what I talk about all the time, that when you put yourself first. And I will say that women are particularly bad at this.

Or have been conditioned more that we can't put ourselves first. And so I will say a special shout out to women that as we put ourselves first, first, it's not a selfish thing. It creates the stamina that you need to be able to show up for all the other people that are important in your life. And gratitude is one way of doing that. And doing that in five minutes may feel safer for you than going and saying, I'm going to spend a day at the spa, or I'm going to spend the money to go to the spa, or I'm going to spend an hour at the gym or getting a massage, or depending on what's available and open for people right now, a lot of times People feel guilty, and women in particular for doing those kinds of things. So if that's not where you are, start with just a little bit of gratitude and gratitude just for yourself. And notice how it changes your perspective, gives you more energy, gives you five more minutes to do something for your health, to remember to eat in a healthier way, to remember to exercise a little bit more. So it really plays into one of the tools that we use in naturopathic medicine. So we have to think about all of the tools that we use together and it's one of the tools that can help you then get to one of the other tools. It may seem a little outside of your reach when you're feeling a little bit better and you have a little bit more energy. And so it builds on itself. And that's what I want people to understand. And when I work with all the people that I work with, it's why I put a component in about. I'm not going to say meditation because people, sometimes that's too big a start. But gratitude seems to be a really nice place to start for self care and emotional support and kind of mental relaxation of the stresses that show up in life.

I love that. I love that.

I think I agree with you that it can be a great starting place that feels doable and then it creates an expansion that gives you space to take next steps.

I love how you were talking about, of course, the main stress hormone of cortisol and how.

That'S what causes a lot of the negative health effects of stress. And at the same time how the studies on gratitude have been shown to reduce cortisol and reduce stress. And of course when cortisol comes down, then blood pressure decreases, blood sugar levels decrease. Of course this is if they were too high. It's more like it's bringing it back to optimal. Bring your cortisol to optimal, bring your blood pressure, your blood sugar to optimal.

It's really a long list of what has been studied for gratitude, from decreasing anxiety and depression to helping the brain to heal, even maybe if you want to share some of those effects that you've seen too.

Yeah, I think that a lot of people. So I often work with people just like with similar symptoms of what you're talking about. So whether it's weight issues that they're having or they're having blood pressure or cholesterol or blood sugars, which I do a lot, women who have hot flashes and night sweats, insomnia, not being able.

To sleep.

Those are really big issues that people have. And the root of many of those issues is cortisol.

Yeah.

So what ends up happening is, you know, when they balance cortisol, when we're able to balance our cortisol, we feel better because we're not having our body just being inundated with hormonal imbalance. So basically, most of the women and men that I work with, but I work with women more, don't realize that they're having a hormonal imbalance.

So when they start having, you know.

Participating in gratitude, and after a few weeks, their digestive symptoms are better, and they're really surprised about that. Well, cortisol is playing a role in preventing our digestive system from doing its normal, everyday, optimal processing, like you said. And so spending time with gratitude, breathing, meditation, those other pieces reduce the cortisol, and then a lot of digestive issues begin to start to shift. Now, I'm not saying that it's 100% gone because there are other tools we have to use, but it starts to shift that process. People that have anxiety report that they start to have less anxiety because of what you said before. Like, cortisol actually plays a role in that. People that sleep have sleep disturbances because their minds are already racing, you know, about all the things that they're worried or concerned that they don't have. Gratitude then reminds them and balances all the things that they actually have instead of focusing on the things that they don't have. So then when the mind's not racing as much, sleep becomes an easier thing to come by.

A lot of people.

When I speak about women in hot flashes and night sweats, they assume that those are the female hormones. But really, it's often an imbalance in our cortisol levels that then create those. And so I have women that are too young for perimenopause thinking they're in perimenopause and thinking that it's their female hormones, when really it's the amount of stress that they are under which is creating that. So when we then start to shift out of that cortisol response all the time by feeling gratitude, then they're sleeping better. They're not getting hot flashes, they're not having night sweats, they're not having them as often. So there are so many different research studies. And then I just keep bringing this up because I. People feel so uncertain about COVID and as we're going into the winter, and people are not going to be able to be able to be outside as much that the immune system. There are so many studies that show the immune system is strengthened. And for people who have autoimmune problems, it is regulated because people get worried, particularly with autoimmune issues. They don't want it to be strengthened because it's already over compensating. So it then becomes balanced, another hormonal balance. When you think about gratitude, and there are studies that show that this is what happens by practicing gratitude. And so the stronger your immune system is or the more balanced it is, the more you would be able to cope even if you do have exposure or if you do have the virus. And that the likelihood that you're going to go to the really negative places of being in the hospital and having to go through all that process begin to be reduced when your immune system can support you even though you have had exposure. And that we shouldn't downplay pneumonia and the flu because those things are also happening now. And we can't forget about those things as well. But they can be balanced through gratitude. The immune system is such a vital part of our day to day lives that we really have to think about this could be a one way that you're strengthening it and with all the other things that you do, this is a way for you to strengthen it as well. So I feel like when people and you talked about blood sugars, because I do so much with people with high blood sugars, cortisol, again, huge component of that. So when you have gratitude and you're balancing more now you're feeling better now you're having more energy now you're able to get off the couch, now you're able to play with your grandkids or your kids or finish whatever that course is that you wanted to take or you know, so it shifts people's lives in so many ways by just giving them more clarity, more energy and more balance.

That's amazing. It really is. And through this you've really had me also thinking about my mom, who's 78.

Years old and she had a stroke two weeks ago. And she, she's recovering and she's, she's coming out of rehab probably tomorrow. But what we, she and I've been talking about is, and what I've been talking about with her doctors is that.

The stroke really was caused by stress and not, not taking care of herself, not taking time to take care of herself in simple ways like even just getting good healthy food for herself or take, you know, and certainly I don't, I presume she wasn't practicing gratitude. She had recently moved her home and she was Stressed about packing and unpacking and everything that was involved in that. And I just share that because.

If any of you couldn't learn from my mom's experience, which was that if you find yourself in a situation where you're. Sometimes we're so stressed and we don't even realize how stressed we are. We don't even. We perceive that there's no other possibility. And so if you find yourself in that situation to really. Or put it in your mind as a note that if in the future you find yourself so stressed just trying to get through, you know, sometimes we say to ourselves, I just have to get through this period of time and then I'll get to relax. You know. And the thing is, is that exactly when stress can do something like cause a stroke like it did to my mom. And she just messaged me last night and said, you know, she's more motivated than ever to be, you know, taking her supplements and making sure she gets her exercise and her healthy foods because she, on the other side of the stroke, she's able to see. And in some ways I'll ask her, but I'm thinking that she could even potentially say that she feels grateful.

For learning this lesson, for learning that if we don't take good care of ourselves, that's when we could even. It could even be something that could risk our lives. And it's that profound, you know, so just to share that it's, you know, that it's, you know, that stress can have that effect and then gratitude can have. That can be kind of the antidote to stress. Right.

So healing. So first of all, please send love to your mom and know that she will be my thoughts and prayers that she continues her healing process.

And I'm happy to say that she has you to if she chooses to listen. Because sometimes our parents.

Don'T want to listen to the children, even though we have expertise that they don't have. I'm just speaking for myself.

Very true. Is very, you know, and I think it's so common, right. That it's sometimes hard to find a voice we can listen to. But, yeah, thank you for your wishes and I'm going to send her your book, your gratitude guide, because I feel like it gives me goosebumps just the thought of if everybody went through your 30 day gratitude process, what kind of changes could happen for people and in the world in general. And so I just want to thank you for creating it. I mean, that must have taken you a lot of time and energy. And I know you did it out of love.

And yet still. Thank you for creating it and for coming here to share about it today. And as really an awesome gift you're.

Giving.

I will say that I had to pull it out and use it this year in 2020 for myself.

Good.

That means you've tested it. Yeah.

So it is something that, you know, when I first created it, I just was feeling. I created in November, actually, in 2016. And so there are 30 days in November. And I was like, you know, each day I'm gonna. You really spend some time really thinking about this. And it has improved, I hope, like, over the years as we have made changes to it. And I have a cute little story. So one of my friends from college, her mother is an editor, and so I sent it to her to have her go over it for me. And as she finished it and sent it back, she said, you know, I used one of the lessons that you had in the book. I didn't, you know, you know, because I was editing, and she's going over over and over and over again, and she was like, thank you very much. I wouldn't have, like, used it otherwise. And so those things and those comments always bring me so much joy because everybody has a different thing that will really speak to them or really touch them. And the point of what I try to do is really think about all different types of ways of connecting and interacting that are short and simple, that could be part of a process that you could continue to take on and continue to use, like, over and over and over again. And so in this year, I had. There were some difficult things that I went through. A lot of people have difficult things that they had to go through or disappointments that they had to deal with. And that just remembering that we could just take a few moments, which is what I did. And I was like, okay, this is a good time for this. Like, now is a good time for this, for people to just know that there's small things that they can do that will give them.

I'm just thinking with wrapping up what would be. Guide us through one little gratitude exercise that people could do in this moment.

So one of my favorite gratitude exercises, actually, is if you have, like, a little. A glass. It doesn't even have to be like a glass, a bowl, a vase, or anything like that. Just take a few minutes and just write the things that you're grateful for and then drop them, you know, in the vase. And if you want to be fancy, you can use different colors. You know, you could. You can kind of like, make it as fun and creative as you want. And then in a time or a moment or a day when things are not going so great, then you just like dig into the vase and then you open one of those things and then you read what you're grateful for. So it can kind of touch on two things that we talked about. It's easy to be grateful when things are going well. And if things are going well, just write down a whole bunch of the things that are going well and just drop them in that vase. And sometimes it's harder to feel gratitude when you are down. And so this is a note that you've written to yourself or like the family can. You can do it as a family too. And then you pull it out and you're like, oh, yes, that's true. I have this.

And it kind of remind you so you can connect with that feeling again. Right. So you can kind of light it back up again and you can feel gratitude from there. Oh, I love that.

Yeah. So there are all kinds of little.

Things like that that I give people.

Opportunities to do every day and that.

I am grateful that I have had.

Time to talk to you and to be able to see your beautiful face and thank you for everything that you do to teach people in very simple ways that there are things that they can do to improve their health and they can feel empowered about their health.

I know that that is so important.

To me and all the people that.

I work with all over the country.

To help them to know that particularly in this time, you can be empowered and you can be inspired and that your health is the most important thing. So having a mentor or coach, like what we do with all of our practice members, is really sometimes very important to just know that you don't have to do all of this on your own and. And that helping you set up a plan, which is what I do with people so that they have actionable steps that they can do over time, I think is so important right now. I think people need to feel empowered. They need to know that there are things that they can do. They need to know that they can have gratitude. Even though it seems like everything is kind of topsy turvy in this world. And so I am always here to provide that, whether it's this book or.

Like an online course or like a one on one.

And I know that that's what you're doing with your podcast and with all the articles that you write and the programs that you create so people don't have to be Alone, you just have to feel like you can connect with someone who understands what's going on with you and that they can support you and help you find a plan so you don't have to do it by yourself. And so I'm grateful for everything that you do to let people know they don't have to be alone and in the process of health and healing.

It's so true. And as naturopathic doctors, that's, I mean, that's what we're taught to do. But it's also, I think, what inspired us, if I could speak for you, to become a naturopathic doctor, you know, to be able to help guide people in their health. And I love how you talk about action steps, because I do, I feel like, you know, my role, I tell people the reason they hire me is so that I can guide them with the steps, you know, and the strategy that you're not supposed to be able to come up with all of that on your own. And to choose to work with a practitioner who can help guide you with expertise, that is, is part of the self care, is the part of recognizing that I deserve this care. I deserve to have support and help with my health.

And then that, that's, you know, that that's available for you to choose and that we're here for you.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much again, days. I agree with you. It's so fun to get to chat with you. Let's do this again soon.

Absolutely.

And thank you for sharing here today. Of course.

And the one thing I did want to say is that when we were in school.

For me it's been 18 years.

The only way you had to really connect with people at that time was really one on one visits. And that now what I just want to offer is that there are so many different ways that you can connect. Like you have a podcast and I have a website and then you have like I do Facebook lives every once in a while for cooking as well as for gratitude, because those are the things that, that I'm known for so people don't have to be alone. And there are different ways that we can help and guide you, like the online classes and the events and the workshops and summits that you do. So I do just want people to know that you can reach out and you can send an email or you can go to the website or you can participate in some of the different programs that are being offered. And I try to make sure that people know when we're doing the things that we're doing. And invite them to join in like whenever they can. So I think that's also helpful now when people aren't able to do as much one on one or don't feel safe doing, you know, one on one work.

So it's such a good point. I mean.

The ability to do virtual connections, you know, just like you and I are here, but you know, video phone, Facebook and other platforms where we.

Can do videos and so on.

It's to be able to know that you don't have to be. Even though you're trying to create, maybe have your own safe space in terms of avoiding virus, you don't have to avoid human connection and support at the same time.

And I'm definitely going to be sharing.

Links to your website, but you could also say verbally tell us your, you know, the best way to find you online.

Yeah, so the best way to find me online is actually go to my website, which is healthydays.com and it's D A E S because my name is Dr. Day. So it's healthydays.com and I'm on Instagram and I see you on Instagram, so I know that you're there too. And Facebook, we do Facebook lives. Probably like once a week or once every two weeks I'll do something on some particular topic, which again, just Healthy days. Yeah. So there are absolute ways to kind of get in contact. And I do have video courses and other things. But if you go to healthy days, you can see where all that stuff is.

So.

Yes, absolutely. And I do individual consults too, virtually. Just like. Just like you do.

Yeah, yeah.

That's the thing. We can, you know, it doesn't. Just because we're virtual doesn't have to stop people from getting care from wherever. That's the thing. You don't even have to be a mile away. You could be anywhere and be accessing this support, whether it's, you know, free resources or.

I have a ton of those or.

Program or one on one. So that's wonderful. Thank you for mentioning that. Because I do think that for some people that is a new concept. It is new, you know, of like, oh my gosh. And of course we want to be mindful of like computer use and phone use. But at the same time, if you're going to be on your phone or computer, might as well be accessing information that's going to be supportive of your health.

Exactly. And if you don't want to be. That's why I said, I think I said this before we started taping I created the book as a guide just because people are on the computer so much that people might want to get off of the computer. And if you do want to get off of the computer, then old school, old fashioned like pen and paper. Pen and paper.

I love it.

Wow.

I guess we have known each other a lot of years. You're reminding me because I graduated from Bastyr 20 years ago, so you and I must have known each other at least that long. That's amazing. Yeah, I feel grateful for that. I feel grateful for knowing you for that many years and getting to do naturopathic medicine in parallel with you.

So thank you so much again for joining me.

Thanks for listening to How Humans Heal. If you liked this episode, leave a rating and a review. And for more resources, visit drdani.com.