No. 7: Gratitude in Practice + How It Can Change Your Life.

out and have a good time. What's up, friends and ken, It's Mimi Resident Anti Supreme here at hand Me my Purse. And today I'm sipping on some deep Eddy Lemon vodka with bubbly pineapple Seltzer water. Why because you know what, the way this week has gone down in the United States of America for black folks, I deserve a drink, okay, And this is my first drink of the whole week. I haven't done any day drinking this week. I haven't had any liquor at all, actually, and I'm really proud

of myself. So I'm feeling very detoxificated. Okay, I am so proud of that. I wish I had a T shirt that said Proud Mary, because I would be proud Mary. I can't even remember the last time I had a drink, and not that I'm an alcoholic, but you know, I like to have a drink every now and then, and I haven't had any. I didn't even have anything to drink last week when I watched Insecure, and I usually like to have a glass of wine or margarita when I watched that, and I didn't. So I'm very proud

of myself. Thank you very much for this show's jam. I decided to choose a song that of course is centered around the theme for today's show as usual, and this song is a song that I would listen to on repeat in a really, really dark period of my life where you know, I was really depressed, I was lonely, I felt really isolated, and I just didn't know how I was coming out of it. Right at the time, I was not in therapy, so I had to resort

to my own strategies or coping mechanisms. And for me, something that I always look to when I'm not feeling my best is music. So I would always use music and or art, but mostly music as a form of therapy. So this song is actually by Damian Marley and side note, I love Damian Marley and NAS. Side note number two, I love Nazia Jones and I don't know too many

black women who don't love NAS. And if you do not like NAS, I don't really like we need to have a conversation because I don't really know how magic your black girl magic is. But anyway, I digress. I'm just kidding. You still her magical even if you don't like NAS. No, you're not just kidding, Okay, anyway, I'm sorry. So anyway, this song, I would listen to it. I created a playlist because like I was really damn and

I said, I gotta get a grip on this. So I created a playlist and it was called Shower Power, and I would listen to it when I got up, when I got in the shower, and I would listen to it on my ride into work. And it had gospel songs, some inspirational songs, you know, just all the songs centered around like joy and happiness and peace and you know, paying attention to you know how blessed and how grateful you should be for the life that you do have. The first song on the playlist was Happy

by Pharrell. Okay, and although that song kind of drives me crazy, it would always just put me in a good space. So I would start my day off listening to that song. And this song is actually called counter Blessings, and it's a phenomenal song. The lyrics alone will put

you in a supreme place of gratitude. I have to say that my favorite, Like I love the lyrics of this song, but I think my favorite line of lyrics that would make me cry and I would cry sometimes when I would listen to it is when he would say, and give thanks to the Master that through all the disaster, we're still here together. After that, are count your blessings.

And that is really what drove me to select this song, because it seems like we are in the middle of a severe shit storm right and when this is all over, we will be blessed enough to still be here and just give thanks to whoever your higher power is. But give thanks to God, give thanks to universe, give thanks to a head of cabbage, or give thanks to the sun.

Whatever it is that you give thanks to Okay, I hope it's not yourself, but you know, hey, that's not for me to judge, but just to give thanks that through all of this disaster and all of this mess, that we are still here together. So let's count our blessings for that, when everything seems that it's down, we're still here and we're still together. I want you to get into this song. I'm going to play a snippet of it. The cover that I found is by a

group or a band called the Lucitionaires. I really hope I'm saying that right. It seems like I say that almost every show, but I really hope I'm saying that right. So the Lucian Airs and they are covering Damian Marley and Naz's Count Your Blessings. But I want you to listen to and get into Damian Marley and Naz's version of the original version of this song. And I want you to listen to it, and I want you to

get into it. And if you can't understand what he's saying, God have mercy, look up the lyrics and read them to yourself. But it's really a heartfelt song, and it's a song that just puts you in a really reflective place, in a place of gratitude, like don't ever forget. And it also reminds us to be grateful for things that we don't even think about. And it just touched me so much, because you know, I know what it's like to be in a place. There's a line where he says,

I've got love and assurance. I've got new health insurance, and I've got strength and endurance. So I count my blessings. I know what it's like to not have health insurance and be sick. Let me tell you something. Just get into this song, okay, to touch you, let it annoint you, let it get into your spirit, and be grateful and be reflective and counter blessings. Let's get into the Songho runs. I've got new heather and shore runs. I've got strength on dr Runs. So I called my blessing and give

thanks to the master that drew Wall the disaster. We're still here together after bets, I called your blessings, God, God. Now let's go ahead and get on into this show, shall we. So as I was thinking about my next topic, I got kind of stuck and I was talking to my cousin Randall, who is my eternal boo. It's one of my favorite people in the world. Hey, Random, I was talking to him about what I should do, and he said, what about a show focused on gratitude. You know,

we're in a dark place and this will be good. Now. Keep in mind, this was before the George Floyd stuff all happened, right, And so I pondered that, and I thought about how and why, and we kind of agreed that this is kind of what the world needs right now. And then this week happened, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back yet again. This poor camel, Jesus, this camel's back has been broken so many times his spine has basically sawed us at this point, so of

course we all know. At this point, you should know that another innocent black man was murdered on camera for the world to see by a police officer, a white police officer, and all hell has broken loose once more, yet again, and the saga continues. So at this point, I'm thinking, now I need to do a show about all of this. It's my obligation. I'm a black person,

I'm a black woman. I got to do this and Now, keep in mind, I had already completed and prepped about eighty eighty to eighty five excuse me, percent of today's episode and decided in that very moment I had to change everything and do something else. And so I started prep work for a show. It was going to be

called Fight the Power. So then I was like, how can I make this interesting and not just a show where I'm complaining about white people that are racist and white privilege in America and being angry and tired and fed up Because I don't really want that energy for my listeners, because that energy is just everywhere, like when you go outside you can kind of feel it. These

things are given, like I don't really want that. And if you are not tired up and angry, baby, this ain't the show for you, click out, go listen to something else, because this ain't for you. Now, when I say that, I don't mean that this episode isn't for you. I'm just saying that, in general, the compassion that you need to have when innocent people are being killed by the so called leaders of their communities, like you should be fed up and tired of that. I don't care

what you look like. So I talked to my big sister. By the way, if you don't know who she is, you need to do yourself a favor and find out. Her name is Angelica and she is also known as the Village Auntie to the rest of the world, and the world definitely knows who she is. You should check her out. And of course there's going to be a link to her Instagram page in my show notes. And if you know like I do, you will go find out who she is and what she does and what

she's about, because she is the magic any who. We were talking and I told her I didn't know what to do, and she said, you know, you don't have to do a show about anything you don't want to do, And then she proceeded to say that and I quote, I would say, continue with what you were going to discuss, because gratitude is important, especially in moments like this, and as a black woman, you are not obligated to shift everything in your life because the world is burning. We

carry enough. Do your show the way you need to. I think a show talking about gratitude in the midst of all of this could be a bomb. But whatever you decide, I support you. End quote. Let me just say that it is so good, in such a blessing, and I am so grateful. Come on gratitude. I'm so grateful to have people in my corner and people who love me, who actually know me at my core, and who can bring me back to who I really am when I'm trying to step outside of my true self

and just be much. Because I'm gonna tell you sometimes I can be a bit dramatic and sometimes be much. She kind of just reeled me in, and it just reminded me to just be me. Just be me. I don't need to be anybody else. I don't need to feel obligated. I just need to be me. And I appreciate that, and I'm grateful, and in choosing to trust my gut and my big sis, I still feel like I have to say something. And I saw this quote

on Twitter. You gotta love black Twitter. I saw this quote on Twitter by It says at Quinta Brunson or Quinta Brunson and the quote is in our quote or the tweet is excuse me in our quote. Being black is having a good day and then seeing another black person was killed for no reason. Then you have to think about and talk about that all day, or you don't and then you numb yourself. Either way, it's a

constant emotional war that is a whole fact. As I said, I still want to just honor the spirit in the lives of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and a mod Areberry with a moment of silence, And during this moment, if you could just silently say their names, just sam to yourself, and just ask your higher power to protect their souls and to let those who have had their hands directly or indirectly in the pot of evil, blood and death that is responsible for them no longer being here on

this earth, along with countless other innocent black people who have died at the hands of law enforcement. I want those people to feel the wrath, whatever wrath you choose to send their way, send it, okay, or just send it to your higher power and let them take care of it. That's just how I feel. Just you know, just send it, send it up, as DeAngelo said, send it up and send it through. So if you will please join me now for a moment of silence. Okay, thank you so much. Amen. I mean, I Shay, let's

move on. I kind of feel like we need a chin check. And the way that I'm speaking of is basically the entire world. We need a reminder of just how blessed we are, because I can promise you that a lot of us forget on a daily basis just how good of a life we actually live, and we forget without even realizing that we have forgotten. Let's first start off by defining exactly what gratitude is. By definition,

gratitude is a noun. It is the quality of being thankful and or readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Also on former Vice President Al Gore's Internet, I found this explanation of what gratitude is. Gratitude is an emotion of thankfulness that may be experienced toward a person, animal, or deity. Gratitude can also describe a general feeling of thankfulness for life itself or for good aspects of life. Side note, whoever wrote this, let me tell you something.

White people love animals, don't they. Jesus Christ Almighty knows they love an animal. Now, not to say Black people don't love animals, because some of y'all like y'all animals too, But if it came down to an animal or family member, not a family member. You don't like, man, that dog gonna be outside. They love animals. And since I've been home, I've been watching a lot of TV. I watch a

lot of Ion television. Okay, I watch a lot of NCISLA, and I watch a lot of Freaking Chicago PD and they have those commercials and it's not the Sarah McLaughlin ones. This is a whole different as PCA commercial. And I just be like, damn, they love these damn animals. Anyway, I digress. So for me, in practice, I see gratitude as a verb. So you know, by definition it as a noun, but in practice, gratitude is a verb. It's

an action word. I feel the emotion and the feeling of gratitude, but where when excuse me, there it's gratitude. In practice, I'm showing up and I'm displaying the effects of those emotions and or feelings. And it seems that there has been an insurgence over the past maybe five to seven years or so, just focusing on gratitude as a trend. But this is a good trend, and it's a trend. I think that it's healing for the world, and I want you to just stop for a second

and just think about the miserable people you know. And we all know miserable people, so don't front neck like I don't know any miserable people. No, you do. And if you don't know anything, it might be usas or bro, it might be you. But think about it, get one in your mind. Just somebody. It could be a co worker, It could be a family member, it could be a friend, it could be anybody. But making somebody you know at least fairly well, do they practice gratitude in any way,

shape or form. Do they live a life of thanks and of gratefulness? More than likely no, And that could be contributing to their misery. How about that? People don't think about things like that, which is very interesting to me, And it seems like for me the world kind of lacks gratitude and has a sense of or a spirit of entitlement. And part of me believes that that is because some people see or may see gratitude as a form of vulnerability or expressing gratitude as a form of vulnerability.

But gratitude and expressing gratitude does not always have to be about the other person. You don't have to always look at it like that. It can very well be about you. And the reason that I say that is because you benefit. You can benefit by having a grateful spirit and expressing gratitude. We're gonna get to that later, but I just want you to keep that in your mind, like file that away for now. But expressing gratitude and

being grateful and being thankful. Of course, it is about sharing your feelings of gratitude and thankfulness with others and with other entities and deities and animals and people, as they said in the definition, but it really can be about your spirit. So just file that away and we'll get back to that a little later. I want to thank me. I want to thank me for believing in me. I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I want to thank me for having no days off.

I want to thank me for never quitting. I want to thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive. I want to thank me for trying to do more right than wrong. I want to thank me for just being me at all times. Now, listen, take a pause for the cause, and thank Uncle Calvin aka Snoop Dog for just teaching us a lesson right there. Now. When I think of times where I have lacked gratitude the most in my life, it was probably as a teenager.

And you know, I have said many times that I work with teenagers. I work at a school grade six through twelve, and teenagers are some of the most self absorbed, selfish people that I have ever met in my life. They're very ungrateful. And my parents is always tell me that I was ungrateful, and I'd be like, what are they talking about? But the truth of the matter is

that they were probably right. Now that I'm older and I work with kids like kids are ridiculous, So I was probably ungrateful just on gp because that's just what teenagers do. And that is the time in my life where I think that I is the most ungrateful. That's the time that sticks out to me the most. But I'm sure that there are lots of instances where I have not shown gratitude in my life because I'm a

human being and I am definitely not perfect. However, I do try to live a life wherein I am in a state of gratefulness or a state of gratitude when I think about it, like, I try to really be that way, because I truly understand that. Honey, I got a testimony. Do you understand me? And I understand that I truly don't. I don't even know if I deserve, but I understand that my life does not and did not have to be what it is. God is good,

okay all the time and all the time. I'm listening, And you know what, if you didn't say the rest of that phrase with me, then I question who you are as a human, as a human being, as a black human, especially filled with joy, enlightenment and eternalized sunshine. Because we know that that phrase, it's a staple in the you know what. Never mind, I don't have time for that. I'm not doing that. Shall I proceed? Yes? Indeed,

you know, I believe that expressing gratitude is cathartic. And just think about how you feel when you sit still and you just think about how blessed you are. If you grew up in church, especially in a black church, think about how you feel when the pastors or the preachers start talking about how God has blessed you. And maybe you don't have to have grown up in church, but if you just sit still and think about how blessed or some people call it luck or fate or

whatever it is. How whatever that is, you are, you should start to feel light and even feel a sense of freedom. Gratitude also helps us with our mental health. It also helps to aid our mental health in a positive way. So people who frequently feel and expressed gratitude tend to be happy than other people. And that's what I meant by freeing yourself up. It frees some energy up in your spirit, and even if their life circumstances

are objectively more challenging, they tend to be happier. That lends proof to the concept that rich people can have all the money in the world and still be miserable and unhappy. But you could go to the projects and you can see some of the happiest people you've ever seen in your life. They are having a good time. You know, they're laughing, They're in a state of joy

and elation. And you want to know why. It's because more often than rich people, poor people are truly grateful for what they do have, and without even trying, they're grateful. And that's usually because you know, oftentimes they're in survival mode or the world makes them feel like they're in a state of lack, so what they have they tend to cherish. I know a lot of the poor people that I know or shoot, when my ass was poor,

I was so grateful for anything. You can give me some cup of noodles and I'm going to be very happy. I talk about a couple of noodles a lot on this show, and I don't know why, because, like I said, I don't eat no cup of noodles. I eat ramen out of the pack, and it is fancy ramen out of the pack. I don't even know what's in it because it's not even in English. Anyway, I digress as usual. You know. To get the full benefits of gratitude, we

have to incorporate it in our daily existence. We need to practice it consistently, and we must be intentional about the practice of gratitude. So that means that we have to figure out a way to carve out time in our busy schedule to express gratitude and to feel that energy and that emotion of gratitude. Even if we're busy.

You should never be too busy to say a simple thank you to somebody, even if that's all you say is thank you out loud to someone else, or just say it when you're by yourself, because somebody, something, some entity the universe will feel the energy, will hear it. And I know we're all busy, but we gotta find the time because remember what Snoop Dog taught us. You know it's about us, right And it doesn't have to be a grandiose form of expression. It could be in the shower or I do it, or in the car

on the way to work. You could write in the journal. One thing I tend to do is when I am able to carve out some extra time to write my journal, I have an entry specifically about gratitude, and I just list out every and anything that I can think of that I'm grateful for in that moment. So my toes, my hair compression, socks, strong casts, all of the things, man, all of the things like whatever I can think of. And another way that you could be intentional is by

making a gratitude box. I got this idea from one of my good good friends, Susie Hey. Shug get a box, a fancy box from Amazon or Michael's or TJ Max, or just get an old shoe box, tape it up you can decorate it if you want to cut a hole in the top of it. Every single day when you wake up or before you go to bed, write something on a post it note or a piece of paper, cut it up if you want. It's probably easier to just get posted and write something that you're grateful for.

If it's easier for you to do this while you're at work at your desk, if you are free, then do it. Then every day, set a timer to do it. And if there are repeats in the box, so what, it's fine. And at the end of the month or sixty days or ninety days or whenever you want to do it, you open the box and you read each note and you read it out loud, and immediately you will start to feel different. You'll be filled with gratitude because here you're looking at thirty sixty ninety. You know

things to be grateful for in your life. And it doesn't have to be anything outlandish, like I'm grateful that I want the lotto. Do they even still have the damn lotto? I'm totally dating myself, but whatever, Or I'm grateful that I'm able to go on a cruise to the Meta Terranean It doesn't have to be that stern. It really doesn't. It could be. I'm grateful that I have feet. I'm grateful that my knees don't hurt today. Start small. I'm grateful for the breath in my body.

I'm grateful that I woke up today. That's a big one that people take for granted. I'm telling you, I'm grateful that I woke up today because somebody did not. Okay, I'm grateful for my job. I'm thankful for my co workers, even the ones that I don't like. I am grateful for gas in my car. I am grateful for my car. I'm grateful for clean drinking water. And I say that to say. I say these things to say these are things that so often we take for granted. I'm grateful

for soap. I'm grateful for socks. I'm grateful for sunscreen. I'm grateful for wine. Please be advised that I am grateful for soap, sunscreen, and wine. Okay, those are things that are very important to me. I'm grateful for on demand cable or Netflix, or for the little brother or cousin who lets me use not me because I don't do this. Who lets you use their Netflix account. How about that man? All those things we got account it all joy a, Men, Amen and amen, be very clear.

Those are all blessings and all things that we should be grateful for. And it might be hard at first because as a society, I believe that we are trained to focus on the negative aspects of our lives, when in actuality, we are so blessed, like beyond our own understanding. And doing these exercises will start to program your brain and your spirit and your energy to look for the good in each moment of your life, and in doing so, you will then attract more good moments to your life.

Remember before when I said it's about you. Make it about you, and people can call you selfish and self centering and all that stuff or I don't really give us. I don't really care like what they say. I'm trying to I don't know if you notice, but I'm trying to work on my cousin. Okay, I'm trying to work on my cousin because some of my family members said, oh, I didn't know me. Me cuss so much. I don't know how they didn't know, because I'm a potty mouth, filthy, pirate, whore,

but they didn't know for some reason. So I'm trying to, you know, be better with that. Right. But what I'm saying is this is how like you take your power back, This is how you make it about you. I want more good moments, So I'm going to be grateful and express gratitude for the things that I already have, because I'm a firm believer that if you are not appreciative of what you already have, God, your universe, the head of cabbage that we've been talking about, whatever it is,

you ain't gonna get no more. So you gotta be grateful and show gratitude so you can get some more good stuff. Right. It's all a part of a master plan. Let me go to church real quick. It's all a part of the master's plan. Hallelu all right, all right, it's all a part of your master plan, I should say. And nobody has control of your master plan over your life except for you. So take your power back and start grateful, because intentional gratitude becomes a means of manifestation.

And we don't even recognize, you know, like how powerful we are and how much control we can have over our lives just by way of our thoughts and our words. Don't get me started. Okay, I ain't even gonna go there because that's a whole another show for another time, and we will definitely have that show because manifestation and the power of your thoughts and your words, that's a real thing. People can think it's a hoax and it's, you know, a bunch of bollocks or rubbish or whatever

you want to call it, a bunch of bs. That's a lie. It is real. So friends, and can I have a treat for you guys? Remember last shows question from Miss Lavo, Well, she has emailed me an update from that last question and I just had to share it with you guys. So I have a treat for you guys. I'm gonna go ahead and read that and then I'll get into the actual straight facts question for today's show. But I definitely wanted to give you this update because that question was so awesome. It was so good.

So Miss Lavo says, Hi, there, I wanted to update you on my experience since you gave me some advice. There was actually no need for it because I discovered some things about one night stand. She's gonna get this man the name one night stand. You know what, don't do that to him. Since I discovered some things about one night stand that gave me cause for concern, I stumbled upon his social media. Amazing what you can find with just the first name, address and day of birth.

Let gonna tell you something. Women don't be playing especially black women, do not be playing with people here. Look, brothers, we don't be playing with y'all. So don't play with us, okay unless you want to get played with. Amazing what you can find with just a first name, address and day to birth. And realize that his social media presence is very different from who he presented in person. He

sent a representative on social media. He seems very shallow, fairly concerned with appearances, and wants to project that he is in the streets living a lavish life. And he wears sunglasses at night. Yes, he is that guy. Let me tell you something. I hate a mofo wearing sunglasses at night or inside of a building. It gets on my gut jam nerves. Unless you are a puff daddy, don't do that anyway. So that's a hard pass for me. While I enjoyed our evening together, I have no desire

to reconnect with him. I can check this off of my bucket list, but that will be about it. I wish him the best, and I thank you for the advice you gave me, but I will be keeping this at just a one night stand. Thanks miss Lavo. Now you see that's what I told her. I told her to just chill out, don't be performed to be your boyfriend, like you don't even know him. You don't know his last name, Like, just calm down and just let this play out. And look what happened when she did, she

realized she don't even like this bum. He wears sunglasses at night and inside of buildings. We don't do that. Ladies, if your dude is wearing sunglasses at night or inside of a building that does not have a major led light situation, you gotta let him know, Like, babe, you gotta stop doing this because you know, like it's a bad look. Unless he got like one eye or like his eyes like really lazy, like Biggie could do it because he's got that eye music soul child, he could

do it because you know the eye. But nobody should wear be wearing inside sunglasses. It's got to stop. It's like an epidemic. Stop it. Moving on, let's get into stray facts. So today's question is pretty serious question. We haven't had a question I don't think serious like this ship, So let me get into it. Hey, I'm writing today because I have a friend problem that's been bugging me for a while now. My closest friend struggles with being bipolar.

We found out a few years ago. She's taken a few medications that regulated her illness, but she didn't like them. I'm not sure if she's still taking them or if she has come off of them altogether, because we don't live near each other for me to lay eyes on her and know for sure. Anyway, about six months ago, we hit a real snag in our friendship. She was supposed to come up to visit me for an event. We had talked about it for weeks. We were both

very excited about it. The morning of the event, she texts me saying she wasn't coming. She hadn't even gone to the airport to attempt to catch her flight. She said it was related to her anxiety. I was devastated because I really wanted to experience this event with her, but I ended up going with some other friends and

had an absolutely amazing time. We haven't talked in all of these months, and when we finally did last night, she basically told me she didn't understand why I was so upset, because she knew I would be fine and I would figure it out. She has done this to me a number of times and to a number of our friends. I know she struggles with mental illness, but it's hard to maintain a relationship with someone who is rarely fully present and can justify her inability to be

there by using these struggles. I want to have a conversation and be as delicate as I can be, but I don't want to walk away feeling unheard. Myself help friendless in Seattle chair, Listen, this is hard. Let me tell you something. This is hard if she really got some mental health and it's like that, like she's taking medication and stuff like. This is a hard, hard one.

This is a difficult one. But I will say this, like, I understand that your friend has mental illness, and you know, I understand that she has all these struggles, but what about you, Like you have feelings, and your feelings are valid and you have the right to express yourself. My aunt told me. You know, I'm always talking about aunties. My aunt Sherl told me when I was about eighteen or nineteen, there was an incident where one of our elders made me cry and I wouldn't dare say anything

back to them. And I called my aunt crying, and she said, well, why didn't you just say to them, you know you hurt my feelings, or why didn't you just talk to them and you know, express yourself and say that's not what happened. Or I don't understand why you're yelling at me, I said, because then everybody would have found out I said that, and then I would have gotten trouble. Keep in mind, I'm like nineteen twenty

years old. My aunt told me that day, and it has actually come back to by her right now, but that you can say anything you want to anybody as long as you are not disrespectful. That has come back to by her and her but I love her, But I say that to say to you friendless in Seattle, that you can say whatever you want to her, as long as you are not being malicious, if you are not being disrespectful, if you are speaking from love and with love and with concern and also concern about your

own feelings. Then I think that you have every right to do that. Now I can't guarantee whether you will feel unhurt or not, but you know, at the end of the day, what is more important. Is it important that you let your friend know, Hey, when you do this, you know, this is how it makes me feel. Because it's not that she has a processing deficit or that

she can't understand. She does have some chemical imbalances, but I do believe that if she is on medication and she can be in a space where she's understanding what's going on, I think it's only right that you tell her so that not just about you, but if you care about her, so that she's just not going around wild and for respect like that, treating people like that, because then she'll look up, she won't have anybody, and that's a very dark place for somebody who has meant

major mental health issues. So I think it's only right that you say to her how you feel. But just be mindful of how you say it. Not only say it to her how you would want somebody to say it to you, but take a little extra precaution. Don't sugarcoat or anything don't lie, don't be passive aggressive, say what you need to say, but just be delicate with what you say, because not what you say, but how you say it. Excuse me because you know she's dealing

with some other things. Girl, Good luck, child, Good luck that one has had v This is why black people got to go to therapy. We got to go to therapy because we got to heal this stuff. Now we do so. After that message and that question for today's we gotta do better, I'm gonna give y'all some tips for some good feelings. Okay, And I got this from an account I follow on Instagram, and I want to say his name is Joel Leon or Leon and the account is at j O E l A k A

m ag. So he posted something and I saved it because I just loved it, and he called it. Pro tips Pro tip number one, pay attention to the things that make your heart leap. Pro tip number two name the energy that they conjure. Pro tip number three, Write them down, make note of them. Pro tip number four

keep doing those things. The one that sticks out the most to me is name the energy that they conjure, because earlier in the show, I made mention of manifestation in your words and your thoughts, and how we have so much more power over our lives than we think. But there's something to be said about naming things. When you give something a name, when you speak that name, you give it power. Listen, I'm going to read those pro tips one more time. Pro tip number one, pay

attention to the things that make your heart leap. Number two name the energy that they conjure. Three write them down and make note of them for keep doing those things. Number three is another one. Writing stuff down. Listen, you better write it down, write the vision and make it plain. Now. Ain't that in a song or is it in the Bible? I don't really know. I've told you before. I'm not really good at the Bible, but I do know that

I heard it before. And my friend Aaron, who actually is part of the main reason that I'm even doing this podcast, she used to always say it all the time and now it's stuck on me. Write it down, Listen. This was a good one. I'm going to start doing this immediately. Friends and Ken, I just want to say thank you, and like I can't say thank you enough.

This show was really good for me and I hope that it's good for you, and just expect some extra stuff coming out of it, right because I have some other gratitude rituals that I'm going to share on the Instagram page later on this week or maybe next week, so be looking for those. But you know how I roll. The first thing I want to do is I want to thank God first, because you know, it's kind of what we do, and I want to talk about what

I'm grateful for, just briefly, so many things. I have to make sure that I close out my show with an energy of gratitude and giving thanks for just this whole situation. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be before you and sharing my thoughts with you. I am grateful that you are listening, because if you weren't listening, I would just be talking for no reason, and I don't

really want to do that. I'm grateful for your time and your energy because I do not take for granted that you could be spending it somewhere else doing something else. I am very, very thankful. I am grateful to my family and my friends that support me. I am grateful to you guys again just for listening. Like I can't say that too many times. I really can't, and I can't wait until the next night we get to do

this again, which will be on the fifteenth of June. Now, before you exit out of whatever streaming services you're using to listen to this, I want you to stop, go click subscribe or follow if it's possible, and then I want you to get on over to Instagram and follow me there at hand Me My Purse Underscore Podcast. You can also follow me on Twitter. I'm starting to get more into Twitter now at HMMP Underscore podcast, So HMMP like hand Me My Purse, and on Facebook just search

hand Me My Purse podcast. And if you happen to listen on Apple Podcasts or any other medium that allows you to please rate and review the show, I will love you for it. Show notes will be available at hand Me My Purse dot buzzsprout dot com. Also, if you don't want to look for it that way, the easiest way is to go to the Instagram account, the profile and click the link in the bio and it'll take you to all of those things, all of these

lovely things. I want you to submit your questions for the straight fact segment photos and stories and quotes from your aunties to Hello at Hammympurse dot com or you can send me a dam on Instagram, whichever you fancy. I also want you guys to know that I kind of want you guys to incorporate a gratitude practice starting this week. Don't forget to watch Insecure tonight. And I'm probably going to post about Insecure on Monday, which is today.

It's not today because I'm not recording it today, but I'm going to post about Insecure on the day that this episode drops so that we can have a little check in about the past three episodes, because we haven't really dished about it since the block Party episode, so look out for that because the last time we had a conversation it was really fun. Also, I want Black people just love up on each other when you see

each other, even people you don't know. We need it and we need it from one another really bad right now. And today I heard a quote a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet, So just be nice and spread love. It's the Black folks way. Just spread love to one another and love up on one another, love up on your children. Black men, we love you you are valid, your lives are value. You are important. Sisters.

I love you. Black men love us, regardless of what everybody in the news tries to tell us in the media. And these commercials, child, don't get me started on these commercials. I need to go back to work, okay, because it's too much. I watch a lot of TV while I'm working from home. It's on in the background, and I see a lot. I'm paying attention to a lot of what's going on in mass media. But whatever, that's a whole another show and for a whole another time. I

love you, guys, I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Thank you so so much, just for allowing me to be in your ears, flavoring you. You're like Craig mac oh man, rest in peace, Craig mac anyway, I'm rambling

at this point, so thank you. And just so you know, you can expect a brand new episode of Hand Me My Purse the podcast on the first and fifteenth of every single month, So the same way you expected those checks on the first and the fifteenth early in the morning, you already know your girl is gonna have you covered on those days again. The first and fifteenth of every month on your podcast streaming services such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher.

These are for my international friends and Ken and anywhere else you may even think that you can find it, or you can just go straight to my bus Sproute website and find it there. I look forward to you, looking forward to listening, and I'm out visiting