Dynamics Of Gratitude -L,L,&L W/ Glenn Ambrose

Welcome to Life Lessons and Laughter with your host,

Glenn Ambrose.

Hey everybody,

Welcome to Life Lessons and Laughter with yours truly.

So today,

Today,

Today,

I am talking about gratitude.

Gratitude,

Gratitude is a huge topic and immensely important.

And what's kind of funny is it's so important and so prominent in the path that we're walking that I actually went on to my account and looked up my podcast and searched gratitude.

You know,

If you guys don't know you can do that,

You can do that.

Most platforms have a search engine where,

You know,

You can go to the top of the podcast and just search for keywords.

You know,

Something that you're interested in getting some input on or hearing a different perspective on.

So it's a good way to use my podcast and other podcasts out there to,

You know,

As a big asset when you're going through something.

Because,

You know,

One of my favorite quotes is Einstein,

You can't fix a problem with the consciousness that created it.

So getting an outside perspective is immensely important.

And it's still,

I guess it's taken on a new level of importance in my life because one,

I teach.

So,

You know,

Like now granted a lot of the information I'm getting is flowing through me.

So I'm not coming up with it.

Something way smarter than I am is.

So that's immensely helpful.

But still living up on the island,

I mean,

On this island up in the mountains.

By myself.

You know,

You can get trapped inside your head.

So only looking at things your way.

So it's important to get information coming in from outside sources.

So.

So what I was going to say is I looked up.

Gratitude,

And although I've probably touched on it many times in many podcasts over the years,

There was only really one podcast that was specifically on gratitude,

Which actually surprised me.

Because I've got like 400,

You know.

So.

So and it was a long time ago.

So I figured now is a good time to dive back into it.

And gratitude to me is it's immensely important for a lot of reasons.

And one of the reasons that it not only is it important,

But it's kind of unique.

Is that.

It's it's like a verb.

As opposed to just strictly a concept.

So,

You know,

It's an action word.

It's something that you can actually do because a lot of spirituality is.

Non action oriented,

So therefore non verbs.

Right.

It's it's the harder we try,

The less we do.

You know,

It's more about allowing and surrendering and opening up to.

And and it's hard to.

Put.

Effort towards those things.

Because the more you put effort towards things,

The more we constrict,

The more we try,

The more we tighten.

And we're trying to will something to happen.

And that's the opposite of spirituality.

It's relaxation.

It's open.

It's flow.

So that,

You know,

A lot of times the harder when we try to do something,

We end up getting in our own way.

Whereas gratitude like you can actually sit down at any time and.

Make yourself experience gratitude.

For the most part,

I mean,

Unless you're having some extremely difficult day and blah,

Blah,

Blah.

But as a general rule,

You can just stop anytime you want and conjure up gratitude.

You know,

You can think about.

Wow,

Look at all the things that I have in my life,

You know,

Like I can,

You know,

I've got this.

This little one bedroom.

House on top of a mountain in the Dominican Republic.

And it's been here a while and it's got some issues with it.

And.

Well,

I don't have all the comforts of a home in the United States.

We'll just put it that way.

But I love it.

It's good for me.

You know,

I don't mind going out and flipping a switch for a pump to get the water from the water tank up into the tub on my roof that supplies my house with water.

I don't mind now.

I kind of think it's neat.

You know.

But my point is,

Is like this little one bedroom house.

I can sit down and think about it and go,

Wow,

I have this.

How did this happen to me?

How did I get here?

You know,

This kid,

This pain in the ass kid in Gardner,

Massachusetts.

Turning into an alcoholic,

Moving to Florida.

Getting married and having a kid because he didn't know what else to do with his life.

It was just trying anything.

And then getting sober and waking up spiritually and moving up to Rhode Island and raising a wonderful son and starting a spiritual business.

And all these years later,

You know,

Moving to the Dominican Republic and still being able to have my business and now starting this big land project with this beautiful philanthropy attached to it.

And like all these big things happening.

It's like,

How did I get here?

How did I get to this little house?

Who'd have thunk it?

It's just,

I can sit down and think about the story.

I can think about just being able to have my own little house in the mountains and just fill up with gratitude for it.

And I don't even own this house.

I rent it.

But,

You know,

And I've got this wonderful dog that I share my time with and that keeps an eye on the house and gives me love.

And,

Of course,

The people in my life as well.

But I'm just kind of trying to focus on,

You know,

The very simple situation that I have right here.

You know,

My car.

Gets me up and down the mountain like it's just and it's nothing special,

But it gets me up and down the mountain.

And it's like I have so much to be grateful for.

And if I just sit there and think,

Bring up one of these things or all of these things and just think about the fact that,

You know,

Not.

I don't know.

Thinking about what other people don't have doesn't necessarily make me more grateful.

Like,

I get it,

But I don't really go down the comparison path,

You know,

Like I'm just grateful for what I have.

You know,

Don't get me wrong.

It can be a technique that you can use,

I suppose.

But maybe we grow out of that at some point.

You know,

Having to be like,

Hey,

There's,

You know,

There's people starving in another country.

You should be grateful.

Like,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

You know,

I've heard that ever since I was a little kid.

And I get it.

And don't get me wrong.

I'm grateful that I'm not in that situation.

But I don't have to,

Like,

Look at people who have less than me in order to feel grateful for what I have.

I'm just grateful for what I have.

There's no condition to it.

There's no,

You know.

There's no attachment.

There's no conditioning.

And I think,

You know,

That might be one of the benefits of living over here,

Too.

Because,

You know,

You see a lot of people over here and they just haven't drawn the line from things to happiness.

Like,

In the States and other developed countries,

It's very much like that.

I don't know if everybody knows that.

Like,

If you slow down and really pay attention to – just go ask people questions,

Like,

Every once in a while.

It's amazing what you find out.

You know,

But,

Like,

It never really dawned on me.

Because if you ask most people,

Hey,

You know,

Like,

Are you – have you drawn a line from having things and being happy?

Like,

Are those two things the same in your mind?

Most people are going to go,

No,

No.

You know,

I understand that,

You know,

Material things can't bring happiness and all this stuff.

But underlying,

Like,

Just in social situations,

If you,

You know,

Like – See,

We know the right answer.

The right answer is,

No,

Of course not.

No,

Money can't buy happiness,

Right?

So,

Everybody says that because it's the right answer and they know it's the right answer.

But they don't actually feel that way,

Like,

Underneath.

They don't live their life that way.

They don't talk like that on a regular basis.

Like,

If you pay attention to how people actually behave when they're not really aware of what the question is,

You get a very different answer.

And you can see it in socially acceptable situations.

So,

If you go out into society and you're talking to people and you're like,

Oh,

My God,

You know,

Like,

My car broke down.

If I,

You know,

If I had a better car,

You know,

Then things would be simpler and,

You know,

I could just relax and be happy.

Most people are going to be like,

Oh,

Yeah,

I know what you mean.

You know,

Yeah,

Absolutely.

Oh,

My fridge broke down.

So,

You know,

There goes that day.

And,

You know,

Now I got to go buy another fridge.

So,

Like,

And everybody's like,

Oh,

Yeah,

That sucks.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

That can really get you down.

You know,

And we that those are all signs.

That we've drawn a line,

We've attached having things to being happy and being grateful.

And over here,

They haven't done that,

Because,

Like,

If you say,

Oh,

You know,

Hey,

You're happy.

And they're like,

Yes,

We're very happy.

The people here are very happy.

Like,

That's great.

So,

But you guys don't have a lot of things.

And they're like,

What?

What do you mean?

Well,

You don't have a lot of things,

A lot of material things.

And they're like,

Oh,

Well,

No,

We don't have a lot of things.

No,

We don't.

No,

But you're happy.

And they're like,

What?

Like,

They keep thinking that you're changing the topic completely,

Because one isn't attached to the other.

Happiness is not attached to having things.

It's just not how they function.

So,

It's clearer over here,

Which is one of the many things that I like,

You know.

So,

They're just happy,

You know,

Which happiness is very closely related to gratitude.

You know,

It's,

If you're not grateful,

You know,

In a lot of situations,

It's hard to feel happy.

So,

Just experiencing gratitude for what you have,

You can basically induce that on almost any time that you want,

On any day,

For no reason.

Nothing has to change for you to be grateful for what you already have,

For you to appreciate what you already have.

You know,

Most of the time,

We're looking at an electric bill,

And we're going,

Oh,

My God,

This is ridiculous.

This sucks.

I have to pay this bill.

It's like,

Well,

What about the electricity that it gave you?

Like,

You don't have to pay the bill.

Nobody's making you pay the bill.

You're choosing to pay the bill,

So you can have lights on in your house.

I'd say that's a good choice.

Like,

And isn't it wonderful that you have,

You live in a place where you have electricity at your fingertips whenever you want,

Without exception.

It's kind of cool.

Up here in the mountains,

It's not always like that.

But I can be grateful because I have electricity most of the time,

And that's enough.

And I can be grateful that I have an inverter to back up my electric when the electricity goes out.

So I almost never run out.

But my point is,

You can experience gratitude for whatever you have right now.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

And I think that that's one of the things that,

Especially on an unconscious level,

Somewhat consciously,

There's this block of the way that we stay stuck.

There's so many different ways to come at this.

The way we stay stuck a lot of times is we don't experience gratitude.

Like,

Gratitude can bring in more things to be grateful for,

Right?

And a lot of times we don't practice gratitude and or acceptance because on a mostly unconscious level,

We think that if we accept where we are,

Then that means we're putting out to the universe or to God that we don't want anything more.

Like,

We're good.

Like,

If we're happy where we are,

Then that means we don't want anything to change.

So people don't like accepting where they are,

And we have to accept where we are before we can experience gratitude for it,

Right?

Like,

If you're like,

Oh,

I don't like this,

I don't like this.

I don't want to be here.

I don't want to be here.

Well,

Of course,

You're not going to experience gratitude.

But if you can accept your situation,

Which can be a stepping stone to gratitude,

You know,

I want to stay on gratitude.

But like,

You know,

In this particular aspect of the conversation,

Acceptance and gratitude go hand in hand.

And people have blocks to that.

You know,

They don't want to express gratitude for like my car.

Like I was saying,

It gets me up and down the mountain most of the time.

Sometimes I have some mechanical problems with it.

But like,

So most people in that situation,

What they're doing is they're going,

Well,

I don't I need a new car to be grateful for when I get the new car,

Then I'll be grateful.

This car just doesn't really serve my purposes in the way that I want it to.

So I can't,

I don't want to accept that this is my situation and this is my car and feel gratitude for it.

Because then I'm just kind of stopping the universe from bringing more in or something,

You know,

It's an unconscious thought.

So it doesn't really make sense when you pick it apart.

But I've noticed that if you talk about something that isn't the optimum level.

That somebody wants and you're like,

Oh,

You should feel gratitude for it.

They want to tell you about all the problems and why they shouldn't feel gratitude for it.

Right.

So we have to get beyond this.

If this is why one of the reasons why I want to do this podcast is because of these things that that we're conditioned that this this way of thinking is actually keeping us stuck.

Gratitude,

When we experience gratitude,

Then,

Oh,

I'm so grateful for what I have.

I'm so grateful for what I have.

Then the universe brings in more things to be grateful for.

It's like,

Oh,

I love I love having this.

Oh,

Oh,

He loves having things.

OK,

Let's bring in more things.

Let's bring in better things.

Let's and it's just that's why the the the energy of gratitude is so important,

Because it brings more things to be grateful for.

You know,

But we're conditioned that like think about this is.

The reason we're like this,

And I mean the dysfunctional way where we we don't practice gratitude that often,

And we're kind of scared to drop into acceptance or gratitude for things if they're not the end all be all.

If they're just if if we don't want to stay with what we have,

People are scared to experience except get to a place of acceptance or gratitude for them.

And the reason is,

Is because we're trained through conditioning through society to that punishment changes things.

Right,

That that's most how most parents raise raise their children through punishment.

You know,

If you're behaving in a way that they don't want you to behave,

Then they give you negative feedback until you change your behavior.

That's how the school system is.

That's how the jail system is.

It's how society is.

That's how everything is.

So on an unconscious level,

What happens is we become our own jailer.

You know,

We become our own prison guard.

Like when we're children,

We have our parents and our teachers going like,

Well,

When you're behaving inappropriately,

You have to feel bad about it.

And and I'm going to make you feel bad by punishing you and experiencing negative consequences until you don't want to do that anymore.

And then you'll change your behavior,

Which we found out through psychological study that that doesn't actually work in the way we thought it does.

You know,

And in a surface level,

Like when you're just strictly living fear based,

Which people did for a very long time and we're getting out of that.

It kind of worked better because you're just constantly fearful.

So you don't do things because you're going to get punished.

And,

You know,

When you have laws like,

You know,

They're going to cut your hand off if you steal something.

Well,

Like somebody might think twice about stealing something because in society nowadays,

You're not going to get your hand cut off.

So so like people are like it does the punishment thing doesn't change behavior long term because it doesn't address the reason why the person is doing the thing in the first place.

All it does is it tries to give.

You know,

Negative feedback for a particular behavior,

And it will usually it will curtail that behavior for a certain period of time,

But then it'll just come out in another way,

Usually worse down the road because the the the problem that was causing that negative behavior was never addressed.

Yeah,

You know,

You stopped them from you stopped them from that particular behavior.

Mute this thing.

Yeah,

You stop them from that particular behavior for a while or at least while you can see them.

That's what I used to do.

I would just be like,

Oh,

I got in trouble for that.

OK,

I've got to not get caught next time.

Or like I said,

It would just get into worse behavior later on.

Why?

Because whatever was driving the negative behavior was never addressed.

It was just people trying to control me,

You know,

Which I wasn't really controllable.

So not for the long term.

So so this is how we've been conditioned to be.

We've been conditioned negative behavior,

You know,

Feel bad.

Then then things will change.

That's how we think things change.

And like I said,

It's been proven scientifically through psychological studies that that doesn't work.

Negative reinforcement doesn't change negative behavior.

Only positive reinforcement does,

Because that will address the particular behavior issue.

And then you can eradicate it totally.

So.

Because of this.

Unconditional or unconscious conditioning.

We just kind of lean in that direction all the time.

You know,

Like this is why we beat ourselves up over everything.

You know,

You ask,

Who's your own?

You know,

Are you your own worst enemy?

Most people like,

Oh,

My God,

Yes.

You know,

Oh,

You know,

Like and if you listen to that voice inside your head,

If anybody else were to talk to you like that,

You'd kick their ass.

And then but you talk to yourself in that way.

Right.

So it's this this negative reinforcement,

Negative reinforcement that we're attached to.

So to sit there and be in a situation where it's not optimal,

Maybe like on a bad day,

You're feeling sorry for yourself.

You're like,

Oh,

My God,

I've got this this little house,

This problems with it.

I don't even own it.

My car breaks down sometimes,

You know,

When I'm in that.

Mode,

If I stop feeling and thinking like that,

That's what's going to keep me stuck.

Because,

You know,

What energy am I putting out?

I'm putting out the energy of,

Oh,

No,

Everything stinks.

This is bad.

Things are bad,

Bad,

Bad.

So the universe is matching it.

Oh,

Bad.

Lack.

Things in his life,

Not good.

OK,

That's that's the energy he's in.

So we have to match that.

This is the law of attraction.

It's the energy we're walking around in.

The actual vibrational energy that we're walking around in.

Like,

Like,

You know,

Gratitude has a feeling.

Do you know what generates a feeling?

A vibration.

It's energy like that's what you're experiencing.

We are energy like we're literally a ball of energy.

That's what we are.

And.

Energy vibrates at a particular frequency.

So when we're vibrating at the frequency of lack and sadness and depression and bad,

Not good enough,

Then whatever is like that.

We are the antenna.

We are putting out a vibration.

We have control over the vibrational rate within our body.

Now it takes some practice to get used to,

But we have control over that.

So we're putting out the you know,

We're putting out the vibration of lack.

So that's what's going to match it.

Lack.

Oh,

This antenna calls for lack.

OK,

So.

You have lack.

But when we're experiencing gratitude.

Oh,

Look at that.

Look at that wonderful house that I have.

It's so nice that,

You know,

And I'm not lying.

You can't lie to yourself.

You can't say things that aren't true.

I mean,

I really even though this problem,

This house has some problems sometimes or my car has some problems with sometimes.

Like if I just stop and go,

I'm in a little my own little house on top of a mountain in the D.

R.

And I'm safe,

I'm warm,

I'm out of the rain.

I have a comfortable bed to sleep in.

I have a wonderful couch and like kitchen where I can cook food like I have everything that I need.

I'm not lying.

I'm not making it up.

I really feel gratitude for what I have.

I really am grateful for it.

You know,

Like I said,

I can have a bad day or something can go wrong and I can get frustrated and feel something other than gratitude sometimes.

Sure.

But I want to get I want to get my primary vibration to be gratitude and then more things to be grateful come in.

Bigger and better things.

And,

You know.

You know,

One of my favorite teachers,

Michael Bernard Beckwith,

Says.

Oh,

What did he say about this?

Oh,

He was talking about he was talking about manifesting,

You know,

Like and he was just saying that,

You know,

God didn't create God didn't or doesn't create through lack.

God isn't sitting there going,

Oh,

I'm so lonely and I wish there was I had people to interact with.

And I wish that,

You know,

Things would be better if I had this and if I had that.

So I'm going to create it because because I don't feel good and I don't feel good all alone.

That's that's not the energy of God.

God is love energy.

God is not lack energy.

God is abundance energy.

God is not.

Loneliness energy,

You know,

So so like.

God creates out of abundance.

God creates out of fulfillment,

Out of fullness,

Out of like,

Oh,

My God,

I'm so I'm so I'm so full.

I'm so.

Filled with love.

I just want to express it in different ways.

I want to I just want to create something,

You know,

Think think of it.

How how an artist creates something beautiful.

You know,

They just drop into the moment and they enjoy creating.

They it's done out of joy.

It's not done out of,

Oh,

No,

My life sucks.

And so if I could only just.

You know.

Paint something.

Then maybe my life won't suck.

No,

While they're creating,

They're in.

They're enjoying it.

That's why they do it.

If somebody didn't if somebody didn't get something out of,

You know,

Like.

We got to I guess I got to be careful of the words because,

You know,

Words can have different meanings to different people.

So so it depends on how you look at it.

But my point is,

Is if you had an artist that every time they went to paint,

They just had to get themselves really depressed and into this place of lack and feeling like crap.

And then that and then they could paint something beautiful.

They probably wouldn't paint very much.

No,

Because it's not enjoyable.

It's not like who wants to do that?

Who wants to feel like crap?

So that's not,

You know,

There's an expression,

You know,

Like,

Look at like one of my one of my friends is a really good singer,

You know,

And I.

I was singing in the shower one day and I and I saw him shortly after,

Like within a couple of days,

I said,

Hey,

As I understand why you love singing so much when you're singing,

You can't think.

Like,

You're just in the moment,

Like you can't be thinking of other things.

And he's like,

Yeah,

He's like,

Your brain just shuts off,

You know,

Like you're just in the moment and you're expressing.

So.

It's.

In that when we're completely in the moment,

We are full,

We're not.

Seeking something else outside of us.

Oh,

I wish I had.

No,

That's not.

That's not how to create.

We create out of fullness.

We create out of love,

Not frustration.

We create out of gratitude.

You know,

So this is this is it's extremely,

Extremely important,

And it's something that we.

Like,

Like I said,

It's a verb like we actually have control over,

You know,

It's hard to sometimes it's hard to.

Just get ourselves in a good space.

You know,

It can be hard to do that sometime or sometimes it can be hard to surrender,

Right?

We think we're surrendering,

But we're not fully surrendering because we haven't reached that.

Depth of true surrender,

Which true surrender is way more profound than what we try to do most of the time when we're trying to surrender.

It's way deeper.

So it's sometimes it's hard to get into those places.

It's hard to induce the vibration that we need.

To experience good things in our lives.

Gratitude.

It's very easy.

That's why it's such a unique thing.

It's a gift.

Gratitude is a gift because we can,

If especially if we practice it,

It has so many benefits.

Gratitude for what you already have brings in,

Like I said,

More things to be grateful for.

It also helps us get rid of a lot of negativity.

You know,

It's like,

You know,

Don't,

You know,

Don't feel bad because your car is broken down.

Okay,

Well,

How do you not feel bad?

You kind of can't,

Right?

Because that's like,

Don't think of the color red,

Not doing something.

It's very hard to not do something.

This is why the replacement technique is so important.

So gratitude is a beautiful replacement for whatever is going wrong.

Whatever is bringing your vibration down.

If you go to gratitude,

It can lift that vibration back up.

So you let go of whatever is bothering you.

And if you can't feel gratitude for that particular thing,

Then fine.

Feel gratitude for something else.

And you can literally change the vibrational rate that's within you.

Therefore,

Changing the signal that your antenna is putting out.

Therefore,

Getting different things.

Therefore,

Enjoying your life more.

It's just,

You know,

This is why there's so many good things about gratitude.

Just practicing gratitude as much as you can.

Just that alone will literally change your life.

I've seen it happen.

It's like.

It makes us walk through our days.

In a.

Better state of being.

You know,

Like,

I mean,

If you just practice gratitude as much as you could.

Every day,

All day.

You'd literally change your life just with that one thing.

Because you would start.

Our vibrational rate within us determines everything.

It determines what's drawn to us from the universe.

It determines how we interact with reality.

So,

Like,

If you know,

Like when you're when you're in a bad mood and somebody like says something rude and you just can't help.

But,

You know,

Like you probably should shut up,

But you just can't bite your tongue.

And you just like you're a jerk or,

You know,

Whatever you say something back to him.

Right.

And like,

In hindsight,

You didn't have to.

It had nothing to do with you.

You didn't have to.

Now,

Whereas when you're in a good space and somebody says something like that,

You look at him and you go,

Oh.

That was probably unnecessary.

They must be having a bad day.

And you let it go.

You just move on with your life.

And it doesn't really.

It doesn't frustrate you so much.

It doesn't doesn't really affect you.

So the negative things don't affect you so much.

You're just happier walking through your everyday life.

You're attracting better things in.

The negative things don't bother you so much.

It's just.

And you also start looking for things to be grateful for.

You know,

That's one of the things that people don't a lot of people don't realize about a gratitude list.

Like they're keeping a gratitude list is very beneficial.

It's very helpful.

You know,

And most people think that it's because it starts shifting.

You know,

You start practicing gratitude more.

So you feel gratitude more and then you're in a better mood.

And all that's true.

But another thing that it does is it's like.

Subconsciously,

Your brain starts knowing that you need to sit down and you need to write out five things to be grateful for.

At the end of the day.

And sometimes you have a difficulty.

You have difficulty coming up with five things in the beginning,

Right?

Because they got to be different.

Can't write the same things every day.

So what your brain starts doing is it starts looking for things to be grateful for.

So it's like,

You know,

In the morning,

You're sitting there and you're brushing your teeth.

All of a sudden,

You're like,

Oh,

I really like this toothpaste.

Oh,

Yeah,

I like this too.

I got to remember that because I'm going to put that on the list tonight.

Now,

That thought probably never would have crossed your mind before.

Why did it cross your mind?

It's because subconsciously your brain is looking for things because it has a job.

If you give your brain a job,

It will try to complete that job.

So if you are looking,

You know,

If it knows you have to write things down throughout the day,

It's going to start looking for things to be grateful for.

Oh,

What's what's good?

And guess what we see?

When we start looking for things to be grateful for.

We start seeing things to be grateful for.

Whatever we look for,

We find.

You look for something.

You look for a reason to be upset.

You're going to find it.

You look for a reason to be grateful.

You're going to find it.

So it.

It's it's literally life changing.

And I'm just going to touch briefly.

On the acceptance,

Because it's the same energy,

It's the same dynamic that we're talking about,

Acceptance and gratitude.

Sometimes we have to drop into places of acceptance.

And like I was saying earlier,

Like,

Like,

Take a job,

For example.

When we're at a job,

Like maybe that's a stepping stone to another job or,

You know,

That that we're at,

But we don't particularly want to stay there.

If we're resisting it.

It's very hard to transcend.

Like we have to get into a place of acceptance before we can transcend something,

Because if we're not in a place of acceptance,

What we're basically telling the universe is that we haven't learned what we're supposed to learn yet.

Right,

So like that,

It's it's kind of like tears in a way.

You know,

The universe doesn't care what you do for a job.

God doesn't care what you do for a job.

God wants you growing.

And if you're at this,

You know,

A low level and you can't get yourself to make peace with it,

Come to a place of acceptance.

Feel any gratitude,

Nothing,

None of those types of energies,

Then why do you think you'd be capable or God would think that you're you're ready for your next step?

Right,

Like what to up level?

Why would you be ready to up level if you're you can't even be okay at the level you're at?

Like you haven't learned what you needed to learn,

You haven't our growth,

Our expansion is why we're here.

So if I'm sitting at a crap job that I don't like,

And I'm just folk,

I hate this.

I don't like it.

I don't believe I have to come here every day.

This is horrible.

I can't.

And then we think that that energy,

That that vibrational rate going out means that we're ready for something more.

It doesn't it doesn't it doesn't mean we're ready for something more.

It means we can't even handle where we are.

So why would we be given more?

So this is why I like acceptance,

Making peace with gratitude.

We like they're all very similar in dynamic.

We have to be at peace with where we are to get more.

Because otherwise we're sending out a signal that we can't handle.

We're not good with what we have.

Oh,

Well,

They must need more time to get good with what they have.

Because that's growth.

That that's what growth is.

You know,

We have to remember like why we're here.

We're here to expand.

We're here to grow.

We're not here to accomplish menial things that don't mean anything in the entire universe.

We're here for the expansion of our own soul,

Of our own consciousness to become a better version of ourselves.

So like if we can't even handle where we are.

Then why are we going to be given more?

You know,

This is like some of this stuff.

It reminds me of like,

You know,

When I blew open getting sober.

The reason I blew open was because it's all based on spiritual principles.

So like there's so many correlations and recovery teachings that are,

You know,

Correlated to the Bible and all other spiritual texts.

And it's like there was a saying I remember hearing early on in recovery,

Like nothing has to be different for you to get sober.

And I really resonated with that because,

You know,

When I was getting sober,

I was homeless.

My body was literally shutting down like organs were failing.

Like,

You know,

My son was 1400 miles away.

I couldn't hold a job.

I didn't have a car like I,

You know,

I was a fairly low bottom drunk.

So like it's very easy.

A lot of people come into the recovery programs going like,

Oh,

If I just get my family back,

Then I can get sober.

Or if I just get a job,

Then I can get sober.

Or if,

You know,

If this,

If this,

If this.

And it's like,

No,

Nothing has to be different for you to get sober.

It doesn't.

And it's true.

It doesn't.

Nothing got better until after I get sober,

You know.

So.

So my point is,

Is like we think external things don't have to change.

This is.

I guess I guess this is kind of like the culmination of everything that I've been talking about.

You know,

I've said this often.

That's why I know I've referred to gratitude before many times,

Even though I haven't done a lot of podcasts on it.

We live from the outside in.

We think once all the external situations are all lined up in a row the way we want them,

Then we're going to be happy inside.

And that's not how it works.

And as long as we think that there's going to be a fair amount of suffering in our lives.

And we're never going to open up spiritually in love because it's not the spiritual way.

It's,

You know,

We might be able to hyper focus on certain things and make a bunch of money or something and look good.

Like in society,

You know,

Where you got all these rich,

Famous people or something that that are they look good on the outside,

You know,

But inside they're miserable and suicidal and depressed and all this stuff,

You know.

So like you with that stuff like that,

That's not actual.

Like,

I don't want that.

Hopefully none of you do,

Too,

Either.

And I think it was Jim Carrey said,

I wish everybody could get rich and famous so they could find out that's not it.

You know,

There's many more ways that coming into spirituality and some people have to get rich and famous to find out that that's not it.

And then they come in the door to find peace and happiness within themselves after from there.

Right.

And then but,

You know,

The majority of people on the planet,

The way the planet's set up right now,

That's not the majority.

The majority are suffering and in other ways,

You know,

And then they find spirituality and then they can.

You know,

Once you once you find spirituality,

Then you can find abundance and whatever your soul's purpose is and that it's much easier.

But my point is,

Is we most people live from the outside in.

They think once their external circumstances are good,

Then they'll feel good inside.

And it's the opposite.

We have to feel good inside.

And then the our external circumstances become an expression of the joy of the gratitude that we're feeling inside.

And that is when it's permanent.

Like if you just if you just hyper focus your energy on something,

Maybe making money or something,

Then you make a bunch of money.

You have to sacrifice who you are.

Along the way,

So eventually you might get really rich and have a bunch of things,

But you're completely disconnected from who you are.

You haven't grown in a spiritual sense at all.

So like you're going to have to start that journey at some point.

And a lot of times that looks like losing everything that you gained.

Sometimes not.

Sometimes it does.

But like it's if you start wherever you are,

Whether you have a lot of money,

Whether you don't have a lot of money,

It doesn't matter.

That's the beauty of spirituality.

You can always get there from here.

No matter where you are,

You can always get to where you're going in a spiritual sense.

So no matter where you are,

Build the gratitude,

Do the inside work,

The inside work.

And once you get the inside to that state of gratitude and love and peace and acceptance,

Then when you manifest things,

You're doing it from a state of abundance.

And you give and you share and it comes back to you because that's the cyclical nature of the universe.

And you're not coming from a place of lack,

So you don't have to hoard.

I used to think that I wasn't going to be really successful in an external way because I resisted society so much.

I wouldn't buy into who I needed to be to fit into society.

And when I was a kid,

I couldn't.

Even I wanted to,

But I couldn't.

The ADHD was too much.

I couldn't be who the adults wanted me to be.

So I was just like,

Oh,

Okay,

I'm never going to be successful because I can never fit into society.

And I found out it's like I don't have to fit into society.

That's the beautiful part.

A lot of society,

The ones that you see that look successful,

The ones we put on the cover of Forbes,

They're coming from a place of lack.

That's why they hoard.

Billionaires,

They live in a vibration of lack.

Billionaires do.

That's why they have billions of dollars because they're trying to fill a hole within themselves,

That success and money.

They get some and they feel a little bit better for 15 minutes.

Then they have to get more and they have to get more and they have to get more.

They're just addicted to more because they're trying to fill that hole within themselves with this illusion,

This delusion of peace and contentment and love.

Society is all putting them on cover of magazines and putting them on TV and all over the places,

Holding them up as heroes,

Saying they're doing everything wonderful.

So it's hard to stop that.

When you have all that positive feedback coming at you,

Telling you you're doing everything right,

It's hard to go,

Oh,

No,

I'm not doing everything right.

I'm actually feeling empty inside.

And no matter how much money I make,

It just doesn't fill this hole inside of me.

I need to do something different.

It's hard to do that when you've got seven billion people telling you you're the end all be all and you're amazing and you're wonderful and you're doing everything right.

How do you just abandon that and start living?

I mean,

It's not easy.

Like I said,

Some people can do it.

Some people,

That's their doorway in,

Is getting just so rich and famous and then they go,

Oh,

Well,

This isn't it.

Some people come to that realization all on their own.

Others have an extremely hard time with that.

So it's when you do it from within and then you're in alignment with the energy of abundance,

The energy of God,

The energy of love.

Do you think God worries about abundance?

How many blades of grass are there outside?

How many leaves are there?

How many rocks?

How many grains of sand on the beach is there?

There's no shortage of food on the planet.

Like we have more than enough food to feed everybody.

Like we have more than enough of everything for everyone.

We do.

We live in a world of abundance.

It's all around us.

It's just.

We are caught up in this mentality of lack.

God isn't.

God's abundance.

No.

So when you're truly abundant,

Just give and it comes back and you give and it comes back.

You don't have to hoard because it's not this false sense of safety that you're not getting because you're in alignment with God.

You feel safe.

You don't have to protect yourself from anything.

You don't have to worry about losing anything.

Why would you?

You can just give freely.

And it just comes back.

That's what we need to get to.

And the way we get there is through gratitude.

For what we have.

For where we are.

For what's going on.

Everything that we can experience gratitude for.

Now,

If there's a few things that you can't.

Try.

But in the meantime,

That's okay.

Put your focus on what you can feel grateful for.

Everybody has things to be grateful for.

Everybody does.

If you're alone.

Sitting on the street.

You have things to be grateful for.

Gratitude because there's a soup kitchen down the road.

Gratitude because you're breathing today.

Gratitude because as long as we're here and we're breathing,

There's an opportunity to move up.

It doesn't matter about the past.

The only reason we stay stuck is because we keep repeating either what we're conditioned to do.

Or the behavior patterns,

The thinking,

The feeling that we've had in the past.

And it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.

I've been there.

I've battled depression.

I've battled all this stuff.

And when I look back,

If I'm honest with myself,

It's like,

Okay,

Well,

I didn't really like the way things were.

And I was complaining about the way things were.

And then guess what?

They got worse.

And then I complained about them getting worse.

And guess what?

They got worse.

That's how it works.

But we can change that at any time.

It can take a little while because you reinforce that negative belief system.

So it can take a little while.

But what else you got to do?

Is there something more important you got going on?

Put your energy into feeling gratitude,

Feeling gratitude,

Feeling gratitude,

Feeling gratitude.

And things are going to get better on some level.

And then you see that.

And then you go,

Oh,

Wow.

Oh,

My goodness.

And then you experience gratitude for that and everything else.

There's just one more thing to feel grateful for.

Oh,

My goodness.

Oh,

It's so good.

Life is so good.

Maybe some certain life circumstances or life situations aren't particularly what I would choose.

But life,

Nothing wrong with life.

Life's been flowing for billions of years.

Hasn't needed my help.

It's doing pretty good on its own.

So I'm grateful for that.

So that's going to do it for today.

Gratitude,

Gratitude.

Experience it.

Feel it.

Do it.

Get it.

There's apps out there.

I use one to make gratitude lists every night.

There's all kinds of things.

Just keep a journal of it at your home.

You can even just think it if you need to.

Whatever.

And just put your attention on gratitude and things to be grateful for.

It's a verb.

It's a gift.

It's something that we have at our fingertips that we can implement at any time consistently over and over and over.

And it will literally change our vibrational rate and literally manifest into our experience.

I mean,

I don't know what's better than that.

So hopefully that helps.

Peace.

Good luck,

People.

And let me know if I can be of service.

All right.

Peace.