#9: Choosing Gratitude: Daily Practices with Lori Saitz "Zen Rabbit"

#9: Choosing Gratitude: Daily Practices with Lori Saitz "Zen Rabbit"

Choosing Gratitude: Daily Practices

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me - Stories of Hope, Gratitude, and Resilience, we are thrilled to welcome Lori Saitz, founder of Zen Rabbit, corporate consultant, and podcast host. Lori shares her profound insights on the transformative power of gratitude and how it has reshaped not only her life but also the lives of countless high-performing professionals. Her wisdom has deeply influenced my own journey and continues to inspire me long after our recording.

Lori's unique approach to gratitude goes beyond the ordinary. She empowers executives and teams to integrate gratitude into their daily routines, building stronger, more resilient workplace cultures. With proven strategies that enhance personal fulfillment, reduce stress, and increase productivity, Lori helps listeners embrace gratitude as a tool for professional growth and mental well-being.

This episode is packed with actionable steps and mindset shifts you can implement immediately to transform your life. Whether you're seeking more gratitude, hope, or resilience, this conversation is designed to provide inspiration and practical guidance for your journey.

Tune in to discover:

  • How gratitude can be a daily choice that shapes your mindset and outcomes.
  • Practical gratitude practices to incorporate into your busy life.
  • The science-backed benefits of gratitude on mental health and professional success.
  • Real-life examples of how gratitude can help you find joy in the everyday, no matter the challenges you face.

Whether you're seeking more peace, purpose, or personal growth, this conversation will equip you with the tools to transform your mindset and elevate your life through gratitude.

Connect with Lori Saitz: Website: zenrabbit.com LinkedIn: Lori Saitz

---------------

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00:00:00
Hello everyone and welcome

00:00:01
to another episode of Broken Beautiful Me,

00:00:04
Stories of Hope,

00:00:05
Gratitude and Resilience.

00:00:07
I am so lucky today because

00:00:09
I have an exceptional guest.

00:00:11
Lori Seitz is the leading

00:00:14
authority on improving

00:00:16
productivity and engagement

00:00:17
through workplace well-being.

00:00:19
She is the founder of Zen

00:00:21
Leadership Program for

00:00:22
Results-Focused Professionals.

00:00:24
With a comprehensive

00:00:25
background in wellness and

00:00:27
communication strategies,

00:00:28
Lori helps executives create focused,

00:00:31
resilient,

00:00:31
and collaborative teams that

00:00:33
can move projects forward

00:00:35
with less stress and drama.

00:00:37
Listen to Lori on our own podcast, too,

00:00:40
called Fine is a Four-Letter Word,

00:00:42
which I love,

00:00:43
where she engages guests in

00:00:45
conversations about how

00:00:46
they've grown from a time

00:00:48
in their lives where things

00:00:49
were decidedly not fine.

00:00:52
Lori is currently living a

00:00:53
nomad life while Kat's

00:00:55
sitting in states across

00:00:56
the Southeast U.S.

00:00:58
You can often find her in

00:01:00
the weight room at the gym.

00:01:01
She also loves cupcakes, Thai food,

00:01:04
and classic rock music.

00:01:06
Well, hello to my soul sister, cupcakes.

00:01:08
All right, we're here.

00:01:10
That's right.

00:01:13
I'm glad you balanced it out with the gym,

00:01:15
too,

00:01:15
because that kind of has to be my

00:01:17
delicate dance.

00:01:18
That's what it's all about, balance.

00:01:19
That's right.

00:01:22
So Lori, first to just begin with,

00:01:26
if you could give us a

00:01:27
little bit of background

00:01:28
for the listeners who

00:01:30
really don't know much about your work.

00:01:31
So I want them to get to

00:01:33
know you a little bit better.

00:01:34
Yeah, as you mentioned,

00:01:36
I am an employee well-being

00:01:38
consultant and I'm really

00:01:40
on a mission to teach the

00:01:41
world to be calm and

00:01:42
grounded no matter what's

00:01:43
going on around them.

00:01:45
I have a background in

00:01:49
marketing and broadcasting,

00:01:51
and I started my first

00:01:52
business in two thousand three.

00:01:54
I was making a product

00:01:56
called the Gratitude Cookie

00:01:58
for businesses to say thank

00:01:59
you to their clients and

00:02:01
people who supported their success.

00:02:03
And ran that business for eleven years.

00:02:05
Couldn't quite scale it the

00:02:06
way I wanted to.

00:02:07
Shut it down.

00:02:08
Started teaching networking

00:02:09
strategies and then pandemic.

00:02:12
And then came back to

00:02:13
talking about gratitude and

00:02:15
incorporating some other

00:02:17
tools and techniques into

00:02:19
that in order to be able to

00:02:21
teach people how to, like I said,

00:02:24
stay calm and grounded no

00:02:25
matter what the circumstances are.

00:02:27
That is wonderful.

00:02:29
And I looked at that,

00:02:30
the gratitude cookies,

00:02:33
I was reading a little bit

00:02:34
about them and how people just,

00:02:37
one person described them

00:02:38
as a little bit of love in a box, right?

00:02:42
And so your message for

00:02:44
gratitude is really,

00:02:45
it's been through your entire career,

00:02:47
even though you are

00:02:48
certainly looking at from a

00:02:51
different perspective now.

00:02:52
So that is, so I want to jump into that.

00:02:57
Fine is a four letter word.

00:03:02
So transform from chaos to peace,

00:03:04
no matter what is happening around you.

00:03:06
And this is one of the

00:03:07
things that I love to talk about,

00:03:09
because I believe this too,

00:03:10
that we can find that

00:03:12
stillness and peace no

00:03:13
matter what's happening.

00:03:15
So tell me a little bit

00:03:15
about this concept and the

00:03:18
people you've connected

00:03:19
with because of this message.

00:03:21
Oh my gosh, so many people.

00:03:23
But we'll start with,

00:03:26
my mom took my brother and

00:03:27
me to a meditation course

00:03:28
when I was ten years old.

00:03:30
That is now known as the Silva Method.

00:03:33
And so I had this foundation,

00:03:35
but a ten-year-old soon

00:03:37
becomes a teenager,

00:03:38
and I had no need for that.

00:03:41
So...

00:03:44
I had it as a foundation,

00:03:45
but I didn't practice it for many,

00:03:47
many years.

00:03:48
And I would go in and I

00:03:49
would pick up a meditation

00:03:50
practice for a few days and

00:03:52
then skip a few years.

00:03:53
And then finally, about ten years ago,

00:03:58
I came back to it consistently.

00:04:02
And it was around the time

00:04:04
that my mom passed away.

00:04:06
And I think that's what,

00:04:08
interestingly enough,

00:04:09
what drew me back into it

00:04:11
was a meditation called the

00:04:12
Six Phase Method by Vishen Lakhiani.

00:04:17
And Vishen is the founder of

00:04:18
a company called Mindvalley.

00:04:19
It's a personal development company.

00:04:22
Mindvalley actually now owns,

00:04:24
I don't know if it's like

00:04:25
owns the rights to the Silva Method,

00:04:28
which is, so it comes full circle.

00:04:30
Yeah.

00:04:31
Wow.

00:04:31
And the silver mind method

00:04:32
has been around for a long time.

00:04:35
So that's, it's nice to hear that it's,

00:04:37
it continues on.

00:04:38
Cause I remember reading

00:04:39
that book years ago.

00:04:40
Yeah.

00:04:41
Yeah.

00:04:41
Well it's effective.

00:04:42
So yeah, that's why.

00:04:45
But yeah, I don't know.

00:04:48
You, you asked where,

00:04:49
how I got into the teaching people,

00:04:51
the calm and grounded part.

00:04:53
Yeah.

00:04:54
So, so you, you really, and it's funny,

00:04:56
you know,

00:04:57
cause you talked about that you

00:04:58
became a teenager and you

00:04:59
didn't want to have

00:04:59
anything to do with it.

00:05:00
Isn't it funny in our life

00:05:02
that we find moments where

00:05:04
we are led to the truth,

00:05:05
like from your mom or from

00:05:07
my mom when we're that younger age,

00:05:09
and then we move away from that truth,

00:05:11
trying to kind of seek out

00:05:12
our own understanding.

00:05:14
And then slowly we find our way back.

00:05:17
Yeah.

00:05:17
Well,

00:05:17
it was somebody else pointed it out

00:05:19
to me a couple years later was like,

00:05:22
I still get choked up about this.

00:05:24
That wasn't it interesting

00:05:26
that I came back to it after she passed.

00:05:30
Like she left me this legacy.

00:05:32
She did.

00:05:35
Ten years later, I'm still like.

00:05:37
No, listen, tears are good.

00:05:39
Tears are good.

00:05:41
Yeah.

00:05:41
they're cleansing and they

00:05:43
are a way of celebrating

00:05:46
the people who impacted our

00:05:47
hearts and lives.

00:05:48
Right.

00:05:49
We're like not even five

00:05:50
minutes into this.

00:05:52
My husband says you always

00:05:53
make people cry.

00:05:54
I'm sorry.

00:05:56
No, no, no, no, no need to be sorry.

00:05:58
It's a, yeah, it's, it is.

00:06:00
It's really powerful concept.

00:06:03
It is.

00:06:03
And I'm sure that your

00:06:05
mother is just smiling,

00:06:07
beaming down at you for,

00:06:09
for taking that lesson and just,

00:06:11
using it to help so many other people.

00:06:14
Yeah.

00:06:15
Well,

00:06:15
I guess what you were talking about

00:06:16
was getting quiet enough to

00:06:18
hear your own inner voice.

00:06:20
Right.

00:06:21
Yeah.

00:06:21
Because it whispers, right?

00:06:23
It doesn't show.

00:06:24
Right.

00:06:24
Exactly.

00:06:25
And we are,

00:06:26
we live in a society that has

00:06:27
so many distractions and

00:06:29
things are designed to distract us.

00:06:32
Yes.

00:06:33
So it's really easy to not hear it,

00:06:36
to not get quiet enough and to miss it.

00:06:41
Do you find that like for

00:06:43
people that you work with

00:06:45
that in some cases that

00:06:48
stillness and silence is scary?

00:06:51
Yes,

00:06:51
a lot of people it's scary because again,

00:06:54
they're so used to

00:06:55
listening to everybody

00:06:57
around them and that starts very young.

00:06:58
You're listening to your

00:07:00
parents when you're less

00:07:02
than seven years old,

00:07:03
that other than conscious

00:07:05
mind is wide open and open

00:07:06
to all the ideas and

00:07:07
beliefs that you're being

00:07:10
exposed to.

00:07:12
And so you just take in all

00:07:13
of that information,

00:07:14
not even consciously.

00:07:16
And so, especially again,

00:07:18
now with all the

00:07:20
distractions that we have coming at us,

00:07:23
it's very easy to not pay

00:07:25
attention to that voice.

00:07:26
And it's scary to hear it

00:07:28
because sometimes, a lot of times,

00:07:32
It's going to say things

00:07:33
that don't make sense or

00:07:35
that sound crazy to you or

00:07:37
that sound crazy,

00:07:39
even more sound crazy to

00:07:40
the people around you.

00:07:41
They might make sense to you,

00:07:43
but you're like, oh, I can't do that.

00:07:45
Everybody, what are people going to think?

00:07:47
Or, you know,

00:07:49
how is so-and-so going to

00:07:50
respond to that?

00:07:52
I can't, I can't do that.

00:07:54
Well,

00:07:54
and because so many people are not

00:07:56
listening to their voice these days,

00:07:58
they're listening to the

00:07:59
Squawk boxes and podcasts.

00:08:01
We've got a news cycle that

00:08:04
is going all the time,

00:08:06
spewing a lot about a very

00:08:08
complicated world that we live in.

00:08:11
So, I mean,

00:08:11
it's it's difficult to really find it.

00:08:13
And I think when you come to

00:08:15
a crossroads in your own

00:08:16
life and you start to hear that voice,

00:08:20
you're looking around at

00:08:21
all these other people who don't.

00:08:22
Mm hmm.

00:08:23
So you have to kind of step

00:08:26
into yourself and really

00:08:27
make peace with that so that, you know,

00:08:31
that you can take that next

00:08:33
step towards this new path.

00:08:36
Yeah.

00:08:37
Yeah.

00:08:37
And it really is baby steps.

00:08:40
It is.

00:08:41
And it's OK that if you take

00:08:43
baby steps that sometimes

00:08:44
you're going to go in

00:08:46
reverse on other days.

00:08:47
That's OK, too.

00:08:48
Right.

00:08:49
Mm hmm.

00:08:50
That's part of it.

00:08:51
It is part of it.

00:08:52
And that's a lot of times I

00:08:54
hear people saying that

00:08:56
they're not good at meditation.

00:08:59
So that's why I typically

00:09:01
introduce the whole concept

00:09:02
as like a calming exercise

00:09:04
or a grounding exercise and

00:09:06
maybe step away from the

00:09:08
term meditation just at

00:09:09
first because people have

00:09:11
so many misconceptions

00:09:13
about what meditation is

00:09:14
and how they are not good at it.

00:09:17
yeah and I think you know I

00:09:20
wish that um I wish that I

00:09:22
had known you when I first

00:09:23
started meditation because

00:09:25
I went through that whole

00:09:26
process myself where I

00:09:28
would I had my little

00:09:29
singing bowl and I'd go

00:09:30
ding and I did the circle

00:09:32
around and get the sound

00:09:34
and then I'd sit there and

00:09:35
I'd make my grocery list

00:09:36
like it was ridiculous and

00:09:38
I said oh why can't I get

00:09:39
this right but I it it

00:09:41
takes practice just like

00:09:42
any other other thing that

00:09:44
you are learning it takes

00:09:46
practice to really

00:09:47
tune into that stillness and quiet within.

00:09:51
It does take practice.

00:09:52
And what you mentioned is

00:09:54
sitting in silence.

00:09:55
And I think that's really hard,

00:09:57
especially for people who

00:09:58
are just starting out.

00:10:00
And so I recommend finding a

00:10:02
guided meditation to help

00:10:06
keep your mind focused,

00:10:07
to give your mind something

00:10:08
to come back to,

00:10:09
because the thoughts are going to come in,

00:10:11
the grocery list is going

00:10:12
to start writing itself,

00:10:13
and you need to bring

00:10:15
yourself back to something.

00:10:18
whether it's back to your

00:10:19
breathing and focusing on

00:10:20
your breathing or back to

00:10:21
the sound of the meditation

00:10:23
teacher's voice in a guided meditation.

00:10:26
I think it's just easier to

00:10:27
follow a guided,

00:10:29
especially in the beginning,

00:10:31
so that you can come back

00:10:32
where your brain has

00:10:33
something to focus on.

00:10:36
I totally agree with that.

00:10:37
And now, actually,

00:10:40
I use binaural beats when I

00:10:42
meditate sometimes.

00:10:43
I just turn on those binaural beats so the

00:10:46
the alpha, beta and theta waves,

00:10:49
depending on which area of

00:10:50
focus you want to kind of tune into.

00:10:52
And I just put that on ten short minutes.

00:10:55
But that's enough for me not

00:10:57
to get caught up in my own

00:10:58
little storytelling between my two ears.

00:11:02
Right.

00:11:02
Because energetically,

00:11:03
that's keeping your brain focused.

00:11:05
Yeah.

00:11:07
So what would you say to

00:11:09
someone who comes to you right now?

00:11:12
And I know you do a lot of

00:11:13
work in workplaces.

00:11:15
But kind of apply it for

00:11:18
both because I want to kind

00:11:19
of have a conversation in

00:11:20
personal and professional.

00:11:22
So someone shows up to you

00:11:25
professionally and they are

00:11:27
struggling or maybe they're

00:11:28
a leader and they're struggling.

00:11:30
Let's start professionally.

00:11:33
What are the first steps

00:11:34
that you take with someone

00:11:35
to kind of guide them

00:11:36
through this difficulty?

00:11:39
I don't really see a

00:11:40
difference between the

00:11:40
personal and the

00:11:41
professional because

00:11:42
whatever's happening in

00:11:43
your personal life is

00:11:44
coming into your

00:11:44
professional and vice versa.

00:11:46
So it's going to be the same both ways.

00:11:49
But starting with.

00:11:52
teaching them some tools and techniques,

00:11:55
teaching them,

00:11:57
let's get into the guided meditations.

00:11:58
Let's find something that works for you.

00:12:02
Because this whole calming

00:12:03
grounding exercise thing is

00:12:07
a matter of finding what works for you.

00:12:09
So

00:12:11
Sitting quietly for fifteen

00:12:14
minutes might be might not

00:12:15
fit for somebody.

00:12:17
So can you do a walking meditation then,

00:12:20
you know,

00:12:20
going out in nature or walking

00:12:23
in the grass with no shoes

00:12:24
on is a very grounding exercise.

00:12:28
It's connecting you to the earth.

00:12:30
And there is a lot of

00:12:32
science and research behind

00:12:33
how all of this works.

00:12:35
What we're talking about,

00:12:36
I want to be sure to say

00:12:38
that this is not just like woo woo.

00:12:40
Oh, that's very nice.

00:12:41
It helps keep you calm.

00:12:42
But there's a ton of science

00:12:44
and research behind how all

00:12:46
of this works and the fact

00:12:48
that it does work.

00:12:50
And so, uh,

00:12:51
maybe it's running for somebody,

00:12:53
maybe it's gardening, maybe it's, um,

00:12:57
baking.

00:12:58
That's a big thing for me.

00:12:59
Like I love doing stuff with

00:13:01
my hands and I get into

00:13:03
kind of a meditative state

00:13:04
when I'm really into my baking process.

00:13:07
So, so it's a matter of figuring it out.

00:13:10
And I guess the first thing

00:13:12
I would say to somebody is

00:13:13
just if the first thing you try,

00:13:15
or I am not a big fan of the word try,

00:13:17
it's the first thing you, you, uh,

00:13:20
work on or step into doesn't

00:13:24
feel right for you.

00:13:26
And you do it for at least

00:13:27
seven to fourteen days consistently.

00:13:30
Okay.

00:13:30
So that's the first thing.

00:13:31
It's got to be consistent.

00:13:33
You can't do it one time and go,

00:13:34
this doesn't work.

00:13:38
But it's a matter of

00:13:39
figuring out and I can help

00:13:40
them figure out what will work for them.

00:13:43
For example, if you can't sit still,

00:13:46
try putting on your favorite song.

00:13:49
And if my favorite upbeat song and dancing,

00:13:53
like no one's watching, right.

00:13:54
But that saying, you know, dancing,

00:13:56
like no one's watching,

00:13:58
but get that excess energy

00:14:00
out of your body and then

00:14:02
sit for five minutes and

00:14:04
see how that works.

00:14:06
Well, because sometimes,

00:14:08
and I find this myself when

00:14:09
I'm working on a project.

00:14:10
And so, you know,

00:14:11
you're just engrossed in something,

00:14:12
you're sitting at the computer,

00:14:14
then you kind of hit a wall and.

00:14:18
you feel unsettled and it's

00:14:21
just all this pent-up

00:14:22
energy we're meant to move

00:14:24
um so sometimes even the

00:14:25
simple act of like you said

00:14:27
getting up and doing a

00:14:28
little dance like no one's

00:14:30
watching you is is the very

00:14:32
thing you need to reset you

00:14:34
know kind of that that

00:14:35
positive mindset right

00:14:37
Yeah.

00:14:37
Every time I recommend that,

00:14:39
it brings me back to a

00:14:40
memory of when I was in college,

00:14:42
one of my college roommates

00:14:43
and I were studying half

00:14:45
the night and we would take

00:14:46
breaks and turn on our

00:14:49
dance music and dance

00:14:50
around the room for however

00:14:51
long the song was.

00:14:52
And then we would go back to studying.

00:14:55
We didn't know what we were doing.

00:14:57
We just felt like, yeah,

00:14:57
we need to move now.

00:14:58
Well, you know, that's great because you

00:15:03
you knew it worked.

00:15:04
So even if it wasn't a thing

00:15:06
to do back then, right?

00:15:09
Yeah.

00:15:15
So, and, and so for someone, you know,

00:15:19
and I, as we, we chatted before,

00:15:22
I work a lot with the bereaved.

00:15:24
And so what would you say to

00:15:25
someone who comes to you and

00:15:28
And again, like you said,

00:15:29
there's no real separation

00:15:30
between the personal and professional.

00:15:32
So someone has gone through, you know,

00:15:35
truly a trauma in their life.

00:15:37
They've lost someone near

00:15:39
and dear to them.

00:15:41
They are, you know, I mean,

00:15:44
obviously we all have to

00:15:46
pay the bills and do our thing.

00:15:49
So we have to step back into life.

00:15:52
But we are not fine.

00:15:54
We are far from fine.

00:15:56
What would you say to

00:15:57
someone who came to you and said,

00:15:59
please help me?

00:16:03
Yeah,

00:16:03
we would start with the grounding

00:16:07
exercises.

00:16:09
And then also I talk a lot

00:16:11
about the concept of

00:16:12
gratitude and finding

00:16:14
gratitude throughout your day,

00:16:16
finding gratitude in any

00:16:18
situation that doesn't even

00:16:20
seem like there would be

00:16:22
gratitude for it.

00:16:24
where can you find a shred of gratitude?

00:16:27
And it doesn't even have to

00:16:28
be related to whatever the

00:16:32
situation is that looks untenable.

00:16:37
Tapping into...

00:16:41
the gratitude can help refocus your brain.

00:16:45
And then when your brain is

00:16:46
starting to get refocused,

00:16:47
then maybe you can sit for five minutes.

00:16:50
And even if you're sitting

00:16:52
for those five minutes in

00:16:53
remembrance of the person

00:16:57
and getting and connecting

00:16:58
to their spirit,

00:17:01
because I believe they're still around.

00:17:05
And I,

00:17:09
When you can get quiet

00:17:10
enough to tap into that inner voice,

00:17:15
that truth within you,

00:17:17
it opens a door to the

00:17:22
other dimension and they

00:17:23
can come in and talk to you

00:17:25
or you can talk to them.

00:17:27
And it just gives you a

00:17:31
pathway to staying connected.

00:17:38
And do you find also for

00:17:40
people who maybe may have

00:17:45
like a slight discomfort with that,

00:17:47
do you find that writing is

00:17:48
a good exercise for that as

00:17:50
well to bring that person in?

00:17:54
you know, that journal writing.

00:17:56
Yeah.

00:17:56
Well,

00:17:56
that comes down to finding what works

00:17:58
for you.

00:17:59
And journaling is a great

00:18:01
way to tap in again,

00:18:03
to tap into that inner

00:18:04
voice and to find calm and stillness.

00:18:08
And I'm laughing because

00:18:10
three or four people in the

00:18:12
past week or two have

00:18:14
recommended that I journal

00:18:15
and I have so much resistance against,

00:18:18
I get it against it.

00:18:21
I don't know what it is.

00:18:22
It probably means I need to do it.

00:18:24
But I think it's a matter of, again,

00:18:28
it's finding what works for you.

00:18:29
So for a lot of people,

00:18:31
getting those thoughts out

00:18:32
of their head and onto paper helps.

00:18:36
And journaling is different

00:18:39
than typing it out on a

00:18:44
is a different process for the brain.

00:18:47
And so, yes,

00:18:48
journaling is a fantastic exercise.

00:18:50
I don't always recommend

00:18:53
keeping a gratitude journal

00:18:55
if it's going to feel like another chore.

00:18:59
Like if it's going to be

00:19:00
like another thing on your to-do list,

00:19:01
like I got to write down my

00:19:03
gratitudes from today,

00:19:04
like then don't do it.

00:19:05
Like you're not,

00:19:06
we're not creating chores for ourselves.

00:19:08
What it should be joyous.

00:19:09
It should, after you start getting into it,

00:19:12
it should feel like

00:19:13
something that you would

00:19:14
look forward to doing that

00:19:15
helps you feel better.

00:19:17
Not another chore.

00:19:21
Yes.

00:19:23
So it's something that kind of,

00:19:25
and what I use in my

00:19:27
gratitude practice is

00:19:29
I usually do it in the

00:19:31
morning and the evening.

00:19:32
So they're kind of touch

00:19:34
points at the beginning and

00:19:36
end of each day.

00:19:40
Just the little things,

00:19:41
not material things.

00:19:44
It's never, oh,

00:19:45
I'm so thankful for that

00:19:47
new outfit I got.

00:19:48
It's never anything like that.

00:19:50
It's always,

00:19:51
I'm thankful for the sunshine

00:19:53
and the changing leaves and, you know,

00:19:56
my pups and, you know, the garden and

00:20:00
Um, so it is for me,

00:20:03
that's grounding me to what is real,

00:20:06
what's reality around me.

00:20:08
Um, and, and that then, um, you know, in,

00:20:12
in terms of grief, uh,

00:20:15
that then really tethers

00:20:16
you to that present moment.

00:20:17
Right.

00:20:17
And in the present moment, you're okay.

00:20:20
right and I think people

00:20:22
have a tendency to state

00:20:24
the same things over and

00:20:25
over when they are doing

00:20:26
gratitudes and that's okay

00:20:28
and one of the techniques

00:20:30
or things that you can do

00:20:32
to not get stuck in oh I'm

00:20:35
grateful for you know my

00:20:37
family I'm grateful for my

00:20:38
house the same things every

00:20:40
single day what are you

00:20:41
grateful for what happened

00:20:43
today that you can be grateful for

00:20:46
And that can change things.

00:20:48
Like, did someone open a door for you?

00:20:52
Did someone,

00:20:53
was someone kind to you at the

00:20:55
grocery store?

00:20:56
Remembering those things and tracking or,

00:21:00
you know,

00:21:01
writing them down and kind of

00:21:03
like mini celebrating is really powerful.

00:21:07
Yes.

00:21:09
And it does.

00:21:10
And, you know,

00:21:11
if we want to jump back into

00:21:12
the science piece of that, then, you know,

00:21:14
in terms of positive psychology,

00:21:16
things like a regular gratitude practice,

00:21:21
they actually change your

00:21:22
neural pathways in your brain.

00:21:24
And so you start to,

00:21:27
you start to see the world differently.

00:21:29
So when you change the way

00:21:30
you look at the world,

00:21:31
the world you're looking at changes,

00:21:33
right?

00:21:33
Like Wayne Dyer.

00:21:35
I was just going to say

00:21:36
Wayne Dyer said that.

00:21:37
Yes.

00:21:38
Yes.

00:21:39
Right.

00:21:39
We celebrate him.

00:21:40
I celebrate him every day.

00:21:41
Such a wise voice for humanity.

00:21:45
But, you know,

00:21:46
it's it does truly change

00:21:49
the makeup that the

00:21:51
physical makeup of your brain.

00:21:53
So what your eyes are seeing,

00:21:54
you're reflecting on it differently.

00:21:56
And I started my gratitude

00:21:58
practice at the lowest point in my life.

00:22:01
Absolutely.

00:22:02
I had a very shallow

00:22:03
gratitude practice prior to that.

00:22:06
But when I experienced a

00:22:07
deep loss in my life,

00:22:09
that's when my gratitude

00:22:11
practice became meaningful

00:22:12
because I was looking

00:22:13
desperately for something

00:22:15
to hold on to so that I could survive.

00:22:19
And I don't think people, you know,

00:22:23
one of the things I love to

00:22:24
talk to people about,

00:22:25
and I would love for you to

00:22:26
speak more about, is in difficult times.

00:22:30
A lot of times we think

00:22:30
gratitude is just about, oh,

00:22:32
life is good.

00:22:33
It's great.

00:22:34
I'm thankful for my husband.

00:22:35
I'm thankful for my pet.

00:22:37
I'm thankful for this, thankful for that.

00:22:39
But when it is dark,

00:22:42
finding the flickers of light,

00:22:44
that's the challenge.

00:22:45
And it's not easy.

00:22:47
Can you speak to that?

00:22:48
Like when people are in a

00:22:49
dark place and looking for it,

00:22:52
what can they do?

00:22:52
That is, it becomes an anchor for you.

00:22:58
And I mean that in a good way,

00:23:01
not like a heavy anchor

00:23:01
that's holding you down,

00:23:04
but like a grounding anchor

00:23:06
for you to find even the

00:23:09
smallest shred of gratitude.

00:23:10
I'm thankful I got out of

00:23:11
bed this morning.

00:23:13
I'm thankful I have hot water for a shower,

00:23:17
things like that.

00:23:18
It keeps you, again,

00:23:20
it keeps you tethered to

00:23:23
the present moment.

00:23:25
And it gives you something

00:23:27
to hold on to when it feels

00:23:29
like everything around you has shattered.

00:23:32
Yes.

00:23:33
Yeah.

00:23:35
So on this path for you,

00:23:39
and we talk about our life

00:23:42
journeys and they certainly,

00:23:44
they go like my life journey.

00:23:47
Actually, I just recently spoke to someone,

00:23:49
we were talking about kind

00:23:50
of how things don't move in

00:23:51
a linear fashion.

00:23:52
And I described kind of my

00:23:53
life journey as that,

00:23:55
set of Christmas lights at

00:23:56
the bottom of the bin that you pick up.

00:24:03
And I'm thankful for that

00:24:04
because I've learned a lot

00:24:05
from having to untie some

00:24:07
of those knots as I've

00:24:09
gotten further into my life.

00:24:11
But what has been the most

00:24:13
surprising thing that

00:24:14
you've learned about

00:24:15
yourself through all this work?

00:24:19
That's an interesting question.

00:24:21
What is the most surprising

00:24:22
thing I have learned about myself?

00:24:26
That I knew a lot of this

00:24:28
when I was younger and

00:24:30
didn't pay attention to it.

00:24:32
Yeah.

00:24:35
Yeah.

00:24:36
And now as I've gotten older,

00:24:38
I've kind of grown into it

00:24:41
in a way and understand it

00:24:45
on a different level.

00:24:48
And that I am strong.

00:24:51
I can, I mean, I've been practicing this,

00:24:54
these concepts for a while.

00:24:56
And when you were talking

00:24:57
earlier about using

00:24:58
gratitude in times of terrible tragedy or,

00:25:03
you know,

00:25:03
circumstances are not what you

00:25:08
would have expected or

00:25:09
wanted them to be around you.

00:25:11
When you start practicing these things,

00:25:14
even before that happens, right?

00:25:16
you are stronger and better

00:25:18
able to deal with them when

00:25:20
they do come along.

00:25:21
And really, no one is immune to this.

00:25:24
It's part of our human experience.

00:25:27
Everybody has different

00:25:29
situations in their life.

00:25:32
And I don't think that we can really say,

00:25:34
well, your trauma is harder than mine.

00:25:37
Everybody has different

00:25:39
has it and it's not a competition, right?

00:25:42
So, uh, but every,

00:25:43
and everybody's going to

00:25:44
have to learn how to manage

00:25:45
themselves through it.

00:25:47
So these practices are

00:25:50
something that you can

00:25:51
always rely on and come back to.

00:25:52
They are always there for

00:25:54
you when it feels like

00:25:55
everything else has been taken away.

00:25:58
These are there for you.

00:26:00
And they are unchanging.

00:26:02
And I love that, um,

00:26:06
For me,

00:26:08
I'm not sure if you're familiar or

00:26:10
if you've read any of her work,

00:26:11
Pema Chodron.

00:26:12
She's a Buddhist nun.

00:26:14
And she talks a lot about

00:26:16
the unchangeable peace that

00:26:18
sits within us, that bodhicitta heart.

00:26:21
And it just sits gently within us,

00:26:23
unchangeable,

00:26:24
no matter what has happened to us.

00:26:26
And I think that in some

00:26:28
ways she's talking about that same thing,

00:26:30
right?

00:26:31
So it's that unchangeable,

00:26:32
beautiful piece of us that

00:26:34
no matter what life

00:26:36
dishes out to us that it's always there,

00:26:39
but we also have those

00:26:40
tools that are available to

00:26:42
us to keep us grounded as

00:26:45
we work through it when

00:26:46
things are not fine.

00:26:48
And it's okay to be fine.

00:26:50
You can still be great and be not fine,

00:26:53
right?

00:26:54
Absolutely.

00:26:55
Absolutely.

00:26:56
And that's the thing.

00:26:57
I think the whole thing

00:26:58
about fine is a four-letter word.

00:27:00
The reason I use that phrase

00:27:02
is because we have been

00:27:04
conditioned to simply say

00:27:06
everything is fine when it's not.

00:27:10
It's not that you have to be

00:27:12
better than fine.

00:27:14
It's a matter of admitting

00:27:16
when you're not fine and

00:27:18
letting people help you.

00:27:21
that is powerful because a

00:27:23
lot of times we have been

00:27:25
conditioned and I don't, uh, you know,

00:27:27
I'm hoping that we are

00:27:29
moving as humanity.

00:27:30
We're moving to a different

00:27:31
place there where we can,

00:27:33
we can just be honest about

00:27:36
our struggles and,

00:27:37
and be more of a community

00:27:39
about that and realize that

00:27:41
everybody has their stuff.

00:27:43
Um, but you know, I,

00:27:46
I grew up in a time where we

00:27:49
probably didn't share that too much.

00:27:51
We probably kept those

00:27:52
things to ourselves.

00:27:53
We probably walked that path

00:27:54
alone because we didn't

00:27:57
want to seem like we were

00:27:58
falling apart because when

00:28:01
we walked into work, people relied on us.

00:28:05
And we had people to lead.

00:28:09
We had projects to finish.

00:28:10
And so we just had to kind

00:28:12
of push it all down.

00:28:13
It's funny about stuff like that.

00:28:15
Right.

00:28:15
It always bubbles back up.

00:28:17
Yeah.

00:28:18
So so by being honest with it, you know,

00:28:23
in terms of leadership,

00:28:24
by being honest that I'm not OK,

00:28:27
that then gives your team

00:28:29
permission to tell you when

00:28:30
they are not OK,

00:28:31
which makes you a more effective leader.

00:28:34
Absolutely.

00:28:35
Absolutely.

00:28:35
There was a study done

00:28:37
recently or I saw about it

00:28:39
recently in terms of vulnerability.

00:28:42
And it was the majority of

00:28:45
people surveyed said that

00:28:47
they respected and honored

00:28:49
and liked vulnerability.

00:28:52
somebody who was vulnerable

00:28:54
more than people who

00:28:56
weren't vulnerable however

00:28:58
they themselves felt that

00:29:00
if they were to be

00:29:01
vulnerable that would be

00:29:03
seen as a weakness doesn't

00:29:06
even make any sense really

00:29:08
yes oh my gosh we have work

00:29:12
to do lori we have work to

00:29:13
do it's okay for us to be

00:29:16
to be not fine.

00:29:18
And as my,

00:29:18
my podcast is called broken

00:29:21
beautiful me for that very reason.

00:29:22
I mean, you and I were, we're speaking,

00:29:24
I said at the beginning,

00:29:25
we're speaking the same language.

00:29:27
Yeah.

00:29:27
Broken beautiful me came from,

00:29:30
I felt shattered open.

00:29:32
Right.

00:29:32
And I've always looked at

00:29:33
the Japanese art of

00:29:35
Kintsugi where they

00:29:36
repaired the porcelain with

00:29:38
the gold fleck plaster and

00:29:40
it became more beautiful

00:29:41
and more valuable because of it.

00:29:44
And I see us as humans just like that.

00:29:49
We are more valuable.

00:29:50
We are more beautiful as a

00:29:53
result of what has happened to us.

00:29:55
And we shouldn't be afraid

00:29:57
to share it because that's

00:30:00
how we connect back in our very,

00:30:02
we're so connected,

00:30:03
but so disconnected in many other ways.

00:30:07
But I think that's the

00:30:08
bridge to how we come back

00:30:10
to the importance of community, right?

00:30:13
is by saying, we're not perfect.

00:30:16
We don't have this figured out.

00:30:18
Oh my Lord, I'm figuring this out as I go.

00:30:21
You know, and it's okay.

00:30:23
It's very freeing to realize

00:30:26
that you don't have to be

00:30:27
perfect and that you are

00:30:30
still valuable and perfect

00:30:35
by not being perfect.

00:30:38
Perfectly imperfect, right?

00:30:39
Yeah.

00:30:40
Yeah.

00:30:41
Yeah.

00:30:43
That is so if for our listeners,

00:30:47
if you could give them and

00:30:49
I know that we've talked

00:30:50
about a number of them

00:30:51
throughout the chat.

00:30:53
If you could give them like

00:30:54
three things that they could start today,

00:30:57
today,

00:30:58
as soon as they finish listening to

00:31:01
our podcast, do not leave early.

00:31:04
Stay here till the end.

00:31:05
But three things they can start today.

00:31:08
One is breathing.

00:31:10
Okay.

00:31:10
I'm sure they are breathing

00:31:11
because they're listening, right?

00:31:14
They are breathing at some level.

00:31:17
But breathing more

00:31:19
intentionally and breathing deeper.

00:31:22
And this is an exercise.

00:31:24
Again, it's calming and grounding.

00:31:25
So simple.

00:31:26
You can do it in ninety seconds,

00:31:28
three minutes and nobody even can notice.

00:31:31
You could be in a meeting.

00:31:32
You could be walking down the street.

00:31:33
You could do it right now.

00:31:34
You don't even have to wait

00:31:35
until the show is over right now.

00:31:38
Taking a really deep breath in.

00:31:40
I put your hand on your

00:31:41
abdomen and feel breathing

00:31:44
in all the way down to your

00:31:46
abdomen because most people

00:31:47
don't breathe that deeply

00:31:48
on a regular basis.

00:31:50
We breathe shallowly from our chest.

00:31:52
So breathe in all the way

00:31:53
down to your abdomen and then hold it for,

00:31:57
I don't know, two,

00:31:58
three seconds and then let it go.

00:32:01
And as you let it go,

00:32:03
relax your shoulders away from your ears,

00:32:06
relax your neck, relax your arms,

00:32:10
your hands,

00:32:13
and then breathe in again all

00:32:15
the way down to your abdomen,

00:32:16
breathing in deeply, deeply,

00:32:17
deeply as strong as much

00:32:19
air as you can take in.

00:32:21
Hold it.

00:32:23
And then let it go.

00:32:26
You can do this with your eyes open,

00:32:27
your eyes closed, as long as you want,

00:32:29
for as many breaths as you want.

00:32:31
And that is going to oxygenate your brain.

00:32:36
It's going to increase the

00:32:37
blood flow to your brain

00:32:40
and the rest of your body

00:32:42
in a way that we don't

00:32:43
normally do throughout the day.

00:32:44
But it's very calming to the

00:32:46
nervous system.

00:32:49
And so that's one thing that you can do.

00:32:51
And that's not even,

00:32:52
we don't have to go to meditation, right?

00:32:54
You don't have to say,

00:32:55
nobody's going to say I'm

00:32:56
not good at breathing.

00:32:57
So that's one thing.

00:33:01
Secondly, I have this,

00:33:04
but I'm grateful for

00:33:05
exercise that I love to share.

00:33:08
When you find yourself

00:33:10
caught in complaining or criticizing,

00:33:12
and you will because you're human,

00:33:14
we all do it.

00:33:16
can't believe it's raining today.

00:33:18
I can't believe I spilled

00:33:19
milk all over the floor, whatever it is,

00:33:23
but catch yourself, but I'm grateful for,

00:33:28
what are you grateful for?

00:33:30
And it doesn't have to be related to,

00:33:33
you know,

00:33:33
I spilled milk all over the place and,

00:33:35
but I'm grateful I even could buy milk.

00:33:37
It doesn't have to be related.

00:33:38
Oh, but I'm grateful that, um,

00:33:42
that I woke up this morning,

00:33:45
but I'm grateful that I

00:33:46
have a fuzzy cat to pet.

00:33:48
Whatever it is,

00:33:50
what you're doing is you're

00:33:51
retraining your brain.

00:33:53
Like we talked about earlier,

00:33:54
you're rewiring your brain

00:33:57
to see the gratitude

00:33:58
instead of the complaint.

00:33:59
That's why we're using the word,

00:34:00
but instead of,

00:34:03
have you ever been told that it's not,

00:34:07
but is kind of a,

00:34:09
not the best word to use

00:34:10
when you're talking to somebody?

00:34:13
I have, yes.

00:34:14
Yeah.

00:34:15
And why is that?

00:34:16
Because if I said, Kelly,

00:34:18
you did such a fantastic

00:34:19
job on this event.

00:34:20
I loved how you put all of this together,

00:34:23
but next time could you do,

00:34:26
you just forgot all the

00:34:27
good stuff I just said to you.

00:34:29
And you're focused on what

00:34:29
I'm about to criticize you

00:34:31
for what I'm about.

00:34:32
And that's why it's better

00:34:34
if in that situation to use the word and,

00:34:36
and next time here, we're using the word,

00:34:39
but deliberately to negate the first part,

00:34:42
which is the complaint.

00:34:44
And focus only on the part

00:34:46
we're grateful for.

00:34:48
And the more you do this,

00:34:50
this is a simple exercise.

00:34:52
The more you do it,

00:34:53
the more you will

00:34:55
automatically go to gratitude.

00:34:58
You will still see whatever's happening.

00:35:00
Like my car broke down in

00:35:02
the middle of six lanes of

00:35:03
traffic and I was stuck there.

00:35:08
but I'm grateful that I have

00:35:11
a towing company that's

00:35:12
coming out to get me.

00:35:13
I'm grateful that people

00:35:15
stopped to see if I needed any help.

00:35:17
I'm grateful that I'm only a

00:35:18
mile away from, from home,

00:35:20
whatever you will

00:35:21
automatically go there

00:35:23
instead of sitting in hair on fire rant.

00:35:28
I love that one.

00:35:30
I'm going to have to use

00:35:31
that myself because I do find

00:35:34
And I mean, I'm kind of a gratitude girl,

00:35:36
but I do find just like, you know,

00:35:39
being human,

00:35:40
I have my complaints and

00:35:41
that's such a great way to shift it.

00:35:43
Yeah.

00:35:43
So the breathing, and I just did that.

00:35:46
You're so right about people

00:35:48
being shallow breathers.

00:35:50
We all have forgotten how to

00:35:52
breathe deep and just renew

00:35:55
all that cellular energy within us.

00:35:58
Yeah.

00:36:00
then you asked for three so

00:36:03
uh what's the third one I

00:36:04
could come up with um when

00:36:07
thoughts when you are

00:36:08
sitting and and making an

00:36:10
attempt to have some calm

00:36:13
grounded time and thoughts

00:36:15
are coming into your head

00:36:16
you were talking about your

00:36:17
shopping list earlier yes

00:36:19
acknowledge them talk to them

00:36:23
they're what your brain is

00:36:25
attempting to do is to keep you safe.

00:36:27
Cause I don't want you to forget.

00:36:28
You got to get butter.

00:36:29
You got to get, you know, carrots.

00:36:35
Thank you.

00:36:36
Thank you for reminding me of that.

00:36:38
I,

00:36:38
how about you step away for five minutes

00:36:42
and you can come back in a few minutes.

00:36:44
And I talk to these thoughts

00:36:46
as if they are a third party and

00:36:49
Oh, I love that.

00:36:51
Say thank you.

00:36:52
Thank you for it.

00:36:53
Because like humans,

00:36:55
the thoughts are not necessarily human,

00:36:57
but they want acknowledgement.

00:37:00
Thank you.

00:37:02
I hear you.

00:37:04
And I'm going to do this meditation now.

00:37:06
I'm going to do this calming exercise now.

00:37:08
And you can come back in minutes.

00:37:14
Okay, Lori,

00:37:14
you've just given me three tips

00:37:16
that I will be carrying forward.

00:37:19
Excellent.

00:37:19
Awesome.

00:37:21
Um, have you heard, uh,

00:37:23
I just recently did a, um,

00:37:26
a session of

00:37:27
transformational breath work

00:37:29
and it was my first time

00:37:30
experiencing it and it was wild.

00:37:32
And I,

00:37:35
I left and I remember sitting in the

00:37:37
car in the parking lot

00:37:38
after I left and I was like, gee,

00:37:41
all this time I thought I

00:37:42
knew how to breathe.

00:37:44
And I thought that breathing

00:37:45
was just breathing.

00:37:46
It's not.

00:37:48
It's so not.

00:37:49
Yeah.

00:37:50
And transformational

00:37:52
breathwork takes it even a

00:37:53
step further where you are

00:37:58
through a guided breathwork session,

00:38:02
you're working through some

00:38:03
pretty tough stuff internally.

00:38:05
So I think that, you know,

00:38:08
for our listeners,

00:38:09
if there's one thing I would encourage,

00:38:11
especially after your tips,

00:38:13
is to research a little bit

00:38:14
more about the power of your breath.

00:38:18
Yes.

00:38:18
I don't teach

00:38:19
transformational breath work.

00:38:21
I have been in sessions.

00:38:24
I had a guest on my podcast,

00:38:25
Leland Holgate Jr., who does teach it.

00:38:33
And the way he got into it

00:38:34
was when he was years old,

00:38:36
he was in a boating

00:38:37
accident that left him as a quadriplegic.

00:38:41
And he was introduced by his

00:38:43
military physical therapist to yoga.

00:38:47
And yoga, as you may know,

00:38:50
is more about breath work.

00:38:51
Most people don't know this.

00:38:53
It's more about the breath

00:38:54
work than the actual poses.

00:38:56
And so he was introduced to

00:38:58
this breath work and then

00:38:59
he investigated more in the

00:39:02
transformational breath work.

00:39:03
If you met Leland today,

00:39:05
he is completely and fully functional.

00:39:10
Even though doctors told him

00:39:11
that would never happen.

00:39:12
Oh, my God.

00:39:13
That's the power of breathwork.

00:39:15
Yeah.

00:39:16
Yeah.

00:39:17
It's I really do encourage

00:39:20
our listeners and go over

00:39:22
to Lori's podcast and

00:39:24
listen to this episode.

00:39:25
I'm going to have to listen

00:39:26
to this when we finish

00:39:27
because I don't think that

00:39:30
we truly understand.

00:39:33
the power that we have

00:39:34
within ourselves to heal.

00:39:35
And it's not just those emotional wounds.

00:39:38
It's the physical ones as well.

00:39:41
But we have to make the

00:39:42
choice to step into that.

00:39:45
We can't just kind of sit on

00:39:46
the sidelines and expect it

00:39:47
to happen on its own

00:39:48
without our participation.

00:39:51
Yes.

00:39:52
Thank you for bringing up

00:39:53
that point because it is a

00:39:55
choice and it is definitely

00:39:57
something that you have to

00:39:58
take action on.

00:40:03
And it's difficult in this

00:40:06
instant message microwavable world,

00:40:08
right?

00:40:08
To say, you know,

00:40:10
if you want to get better,

00:40:11
you're going to have to

00:40:12
take action on this and

00:40:13
your action is going to

00:40:14
require focus and it's

00:40:15
going to require training

00:40:16
and time because we have

00:40:18
become so accustomed to prime delivery,

00:40:24
to quick meals too.

00:40:26
And so we've gotten away from

00:40:29
you know,

00:40:30
when we look back at the great

00:40:31
thinkers of time in humanity,

00:40:35
they didn't get there overnight.

00:40:37
You know,

00:40:37
they didn't send out a text

00:40:39
message and change the world.

00:40:41
They, you know,

00:40:42
many of them went through

00:40:43
great suffering to hone

00:40:46
their practice and pass it

00:40:47
along to others.

00:40:48
So we have to be willing to

00:40:50
put the time into it.

00:40:52
We do.

00:40:53
And at the same time,

00:40:55
those exercises that I just

00:40:56
shared can be done and you,

00:40:59
the breath work, the breath, the,

00:41:01
that deep breathing, you will feel and,

00:41:05
um, effects immediately.

00:41:08
Well, I felt it in,

00:41:09
in terms of like my shoulders relaxing,

00:41:11
just doing that breath with

00:41:13
you just now on the podcast,

00:41:15
I felt like I,

00:41:16
I was more relaxed at the

00:41:17
end of it in my neck and shoulders.

00:41:19
Yeah.

00:41:20
And that's just from allowing that breath.

00:41:22
Right.

00:41:22
So you can get immediate

00:41:23
results and then imagine

00:41:26
the results that you will

00:41:27
see over time when you are

00:41:29
consistently practicing that.

00:41:31
Exactly.

00:41:33
And for the listeners,

00:41:35
I hope I didn't sound like

00:41:36
I was heavy breathing into

00:41:37
the microphone.

00:41:37
I tried.

00:41:38
So I didn't want you to

00:41:43
think we had a different

00:41:44
topic on our podcast.

00:41:48
So in my global gratitude group,

00:41:51
it's called Just One Little Thing.

00:41:54
And I started it after we

00:41:58
lost our son in two

00:41:59
thousand and nine and it

00:42:00
was a sudden passing.

00:42:02
And so we didn't really know what to do.

00:42:04
We had nothing in the

00:42:05
toolbox that we could figure it out.

00:42:07
And so, of course,

00:42:08
counseling and reaching out for help,

00:42:10
like you had mentioned earlier,

00:42:11
was a big part.

00:42:13
But we started looking for

00:42:14
one little thing to be

00:42:15
thankful for every day.

00:42:17
So we would sit at the

00:42:18
dinner table at the end of

00:42:19
the day and my younger son,

00:42:21
and this is primarily why I

00:42:23
wanted to do this was

00:42:24
because he deserved to have a happy life.

00:42:26
He was only twelve and he

00:42:27
deserved to grow up and be

00:42:29
happy and have this wonderful existence.

00:42:32
And so we would look around

00:42:33
at each other and say,

00:42:34
what was our one little thing each day?

00:42:36
And we started with one

00:42:37
little thing because we

00:42:38
didn't know if we could

00:42:39
find more than one little

00:42:40
thing at that point in our life.

00:42:42
Right.

00:42:43
So I'm going to tell you

00:42:44
what I'm thankful for today.

00:42:46
I'm thankful for your three

00:42:48
tips that I will be using

00:42:49
in my daily life.

00:42:51
But I'm grateful for,

00:42:54
that's like a light bulb moment for me.

00:42:57
But I'm thankful for those three things.

00:42:59
I'm thankful that that son, he was twelve,

00:43:01
who's now twenty seven,

00:43:03
is arriving from the UK

00:43:04
today for a few days for a visit.

00:43:06
So yay me, happy mama.

00:43:10
And I'm thankful for talking to you.

00:43:13
This has been incredible

00:43:15
because you are spreading

00:43:19
such an important message

00:43:21
for both people personally

00:43:23
and professionally.

00:43:24
And I think that anybody who

00:43:29
is in an organization that

00:43:31
you've visited and spread

00:43:33
this message to is just

00:43:34
going to benefit so much.

00:43:36
So I'm thankful for you, Lori.

00:43:37
So what are you thankful for today?

00:43:39
What are your one little things?

00:43:41
I am thankful for being,

00:43:44
for meeting you and being

00:43:46
able to share this

00:43:47
information on your show.

00:43:50
I am thankful that, uh,

00:43:52
I have a friend coming today to, uh,

00:43:56
spend some time exploring.

00:43:58
I'm actually,

00:43:59
you mentioned I'm living nomad life.

00:44:01
I'm in Richmond, Virginia this week.

00:44:03
And so we're going to go take a,

00:44:06
a little exploration around the city.

00:44:08
Uh, and I am,

00:44:10
I am grateful that I am cat

00:44:13
sitting the most adorable

00:44:14
little gray cat.

00:44:16
And she's very effect affectionate.

00:44:19
I'm surprised she's not in

00:44:20
my lap yesterday.

00:44:21
I was shocked.

00:44:22
doing an interview for my

00:44:23
own show and she was right in,

00:44:24
she was on my shoulder.

00:44:26
I had to conduct an

00:44:27
interview with a cat on my

00:44:28
shoulder like she's a baby.

00:44:30
And she's super sweet.

00:44:34
What's her name?

00:44:35
Lily.

00:44:36
Lily.

00:44:37
Oh my goodness.

00:44:38
See, animals, they show us the way,

00:44:41
don't they?

00:44:43
I learned so much from animals.

00:44:46
I have two labs and they are my teachers.

00:44:50
Yes.

00:44:50
And when you are,

00:44:51
and I'm sure you know this,

00:44:52
but when you're in grief, they're very,

00:44:54
they know that and they can

00:44:56
give you so much comfort.

00:44:58
They do.

00:44:59
And I don't think that we

00:45:02
understand just how

00:45:04
sensitive they are to emotions.

00:45:06
So, you know, cats and dogs,

00:45:11
but horses as well.

00:45:13
Yeah.

00:45:14
I went to a retreat at an

00:45:16
equine therapy uh place and

00:45:19
it was just amazing how

00:45:20
perceptive the horses were

00:45:21
to people's pain and how

00:45:24
much comfort they gave you

00:45:25
know yeah um so lori I'm so

00:45:31
glad we got to get to chat

00:45:32
but I want our listeners to

00:45:35
to know where they can find

00:45:37
you so I need you to to tell them

00:45:39
how they can find you,

00:45:40
how they can find your podcast.

00:45:42
I know that you are also

00:45:44
part of a wonderful book, Love Warriors.

00:45:47
So if you could tell us a

00:45:49
little bit about how they

00:45:51
can connect with you and we

00:45:52
can stay in touch with you and your work.

00:45:55
Absolutely.

00:45:55
My website is zenrabbit.com.

00:45:58
That's the name of my company, Zen Rabbit.

00:46:01
So zenrabbit.com is the

00:46:02
easiest and best place to find me.

00:46:05
There are links there to my

00:46:07
socials and I spend most of

00:46:08
my time on LinkedIn.

00:46:10
So-

00:46:11
OK, that's the best place.

00:46:12
And you can find links to I

00:46:15
think there's a link to the

00:46:15
book in there as well.

00:46:17
I was I contributed a

00:46:18
chapter to that book about my road trip,

00:46:23
my month long road trip

00:46:24
sabbatical with my nineteen year old cat.

00:46:26
That's what the chapter is about.

00:46:29
I bet you that's amazing trip.

00:46:32
It was the trip of a

00:46:34
lifetime for both of us.

00:46:36
Isn't that beautiful?

00:46:37
Nineteen years old.

00:46:39
She was.

00:46:40
Yeah.

00:46:41
What a gift.

00:46:43
What a gift.

00:46:44
Well, Lori,

00:46:45
thank you so much to the listeners.

00:46:48
I encourage you to reach out

00:46:49
and learn more about Lori's

00:46:50
work and listen to some of those episodes,

00:46:53
especially that episode

00:46:55
with what was his name?

00:46:57
Leland Holgate.

00:46:58
And I'll send you the link

00:46:59
and you can put that in show notes.

00:47:01
Oh, perfect.

00:47:02
That would be excellent.

00:47:03
Lori,

00:47:04
thank you so much for taking the time

00:47:05
to talk to me today.

00:47:07
I really appreciate it.

00:47:08
My honor.

00:47:10
Thanks.

Thankful,griefcoaching,Traumahealing,healinggrief,HealthcareCoaching,grateful,gratitudepractices,SelfImprovement,personaldevelopment,PersonalDevelopmentPodcast,HealthcareLeadership,healingjourney,DailyPractices,SelfHelp,gratitudejournal,