Show Transcript

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You, my friend, are about to discover how you can unlock a lifetime of happiness

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all through the power of gratitude.

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That is all inside of today's episode, episode 344. I look forward to seeing you inside.

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Yo, are you ready to flip the script on life? Because those bad days,

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they're just doors to better days.

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And that's exactly what we do here at Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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Your host, Kevin Lowe. He's been flipping the script on his own life,

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turning over 20 years of being completely blind into straight-up inspiration,

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motivation, and encouragement just for you.

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So, kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.

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Today, I'm going to share with you three simple practices to help you cultivate

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this sense of gratitude, even when life is a little bit crazy.

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Now, I don't want you to bail on me after the third one, because I also have

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a bonus exercise that I believe could be a game changer.

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Now, I know everybody says a game changer, and it's not really that big of a deal.

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Well, you can be the judge of that. But what I'm saying is stay tuned till the

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end so you can hear my bonus little exercise to have you cultivating this sense

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of gratitude like you've never experienced before.

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Now, before I get to the three exercises, I guess I first need to explain why is this even important?

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And that is because I feel like gratitude, it's not just a feel-good practice.

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It's honestly this key to unlocking a life of happiness, a life of joy,

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of fulfillment, a life full of gratitude.

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It's a life with better relationships.

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It's a life where you wake up better. It just makes everything a little bit

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easier when you can learn to appreciate the little things, when you can find

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gratitude even in the midst of the storm.

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That is what today is all about, to give you that first step that you need to

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start making a little bit better life for yourself.

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Gratitude exercise number one, we're going to call this the morning minute.

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When you wake up in the morning Before you ever get out of bed Before you ever pick up your phone.

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I want you to immediately stop, and I want you to list three things that you are grateful for.

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This does not have to be complex. No, I literally just want you to think of

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the first three things right when you wake up that you're grateful for.

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It could be as simple as the bed you're sleeping in. It could be as easy as

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the fan that kept you cool. Or maybe you immediately think of your family,

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of your children, your spouse, your job that you're looking forward to going to.

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Whatever it is, I want you to think of three things right away.

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Now, if you are religious like myself, you can turn this into a prayer.

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It's what I do every morning.

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It's right when I wake up, I immediately say a prayer, thanking God for the blessings that I have.

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And I do just as I am explaining. Some days it's super simple.

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It's the fact that I had a bed to sleep in. It's the fact that I have a home.

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Other times it's things that I'm really excited about that day.

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Things that have me getting up at it early in the morning, excited.

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Maybe that's what's on the list that day. But whatever it is,

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I encourage you to start your day with this simple and easy practice,

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the morning minute. Take one minute right when you wake up and list out three

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things that you're grateful for.

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And here's the reason why this is important. If you think of your day as a cup

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and throughout the day, all the stuff that enters your life fills up that cup.

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Well, if we can go ahead and start filling your cup with gratitude,

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well, then it means that there's less room for all the negativity to enter.

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So be sure that each and every morning you start to do this simple morning minute exercise.

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Gratitude exercise number two, I want you to get outside.

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It is so easy for us to find things to be grateful for when we are out in nature.

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So what I'm going to encourage you to do is once a day, take a step outside.

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Maybe go for a little walk A short

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little stroll Something that has you outside Outside of the home Now,

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for those of us who work from our home I get it, I'm one of you And I get that

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it is easy to not go outside at all Except for to maybe let the dog out,

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Other than that, we stay cooped up in our homes, working the day away.

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But it is so vital for us to step outside, to put your feet in the grass,

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to breathe in some fresh air, to stare up at that beautiful,

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amazing sky, to get out in the morning and watch the sunrise,

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or be out in the evening to watch the sunset and to watch the stars start to fill the sky.

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And when you're outside, I want you to begin to notice things that you're thankful for.

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The things that catch your attention. It's the sound of the birds.

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It's the gentle breeze blowing in the cool air signaling that it's fall.

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It's the fluttering of the leaves against the wind.

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It's the little things. These little things that you notice that you're grateful

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for, they all add up for an amazing experience.

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And in terms of what we're doing today is it all helps you to,

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again, to fill that cup full of gratitude, of positivity, of the things that

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you look forward to, the things that you love.

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Gratitude exercise at number three, it's at the end of the day.

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So exercise number one was right when you wake up, the morning minute.

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Then at some point in the day, you take a step outside.

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You start to appreciate nature. You pay attention to the little things.

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And now it's the end of the day. You're getting ready to get into bed.

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Now, I want you to ask yourself, what was good about today?

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I want you to list at least three things.

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That's the bare minimum requirement. I want you to list out three things that

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were really great about today.

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Now, it would be amazing if you had a journal with a notes app on your iPhone,

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something that you could jot this down so that you can go back and look at it

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maybe when days aren't so bright.

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But I want you to come up with at least a bare minimum three things that made today amazing.

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Now, you might be thinking, but it's just an ordinary day. I just did the same thing I do every day.

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Yeah, but when you start to think about life in this terms of gratitude,

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What about the person on your way to work today that let you in?

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You needed to switch lanes and traffic was a nightmare.

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And they gave you that little wave letting you get in front of them.

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That's one thing to write down.

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Maybe it was you hurrying out for lunch and somebody held the door open for

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you. That's another thing.

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Maybe it was you on your drive home today and it was right after a rain shower

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and you happened to catch a rainbow in the sky.

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It's all these little things that we have to begin to train our brain,

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our mind to see the things that we're grateful for.

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And of course, I told you there was a bonus because why not?

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And that is something simple, something super easy, because I want you to start

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to say thank you a little bit more often.

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What do I mean? What I mean is when you wake up in the morning and your husband,

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your wife, they make you a cup of coffee. Why don't you say thank you?

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When you go to work today and somebody, I don't know, does something,

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they say something nice about your outfit today.

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They hold the door open for you. Even the most minuscule, seemingly insignificant

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things, I want you to begin to say thank you.

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This, my friend, is not only going to impact you, but it's going to impact the world around you.

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It all goes back to the cup I talked about back at exercise one.

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The more that you can fill your cup with the good stuff, fill your cup with

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gratitude, the less room there is for negativity.

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Again, your bonus tip is for you to begin to say thank you.

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Yes, I know that you are thinking, yeah, but they already know that I'm appreciative.

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Yeah, maybe, but it helps for you to say it.

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So the next time that somebody holds the door open for you, look them in the eye and say thank you.

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And the next morning that your husband, your wife, They fix you a cup of coffee,

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something maybe unexpected.

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Be sure to give them a hug and say thank you.

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Okay, now that I've given you the tips, let's talk about implementation.

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Because if we really want to have this be an impact on your life,

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it's not something that you can just do once.

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No, you have to train yourself to start to see the good, to begin to see the

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things that you're thankful for in life.

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So, what I'm going to encourage you to do, if this is harder than it should be for you, it's okay.

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You just have to work at it. So, out of the four things that I've given you

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today, I encourage you to choose one of them.

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One of them that you can commit to for the next week.

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Whether it was the morning minute, whether it was taking a step outside,

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the end-of-the-day reflection on the three things that made today amazing,

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or maybe it was saying thank you a whole lot more often.

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Choose one of them and commit to doing it for the next week, every single day.

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After that week is over, try adding a second one.

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Or maybe the one that you tried just didn't feel good for you.

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That's all right. Ditch it and try another one.

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You got four to choose from. Now, hopefully you adopt all four and that becomes

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part of your everyday life.

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But if you're feeling like that's a little bit of an overkill,

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just choose as many work for you.

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And that, my friend, is today's episode. Helping you to get to see life from a different view.

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That's what I'm here to do on the podcast.

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And listen, if I can ever be a help to you, if I can do anything for you,

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you don't ever hesitate to reach out.

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My contact information is inside of the episode show notes.

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It's also available on my website, gritgraceinspiration.com.

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I'm the only one here behind the scenes. So if you reach out,

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it's going to be me who responds to you.

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So with that, my friend, I know this week, if you're here in America, it's Thanksgiving.

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That's why I thought we might as well kick things off with a little bit of gratitude

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to be thankful for the Thanksgiving holiday to come.

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This is a Tuesday episode. I'll see you on Thursday.

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Be sure if you've not already hit that follow button that you are following

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the podcast on your favorite app, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you name it.

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You can find grit, grace, and inspiration there.

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Until our next episode, I guess I'll end with this. Thank you for being here.

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Music.