November 27, 2025 • 18 mins
George Noory and author Brenda Knight explore the magic of gratitude and how it can heal wounded relationships and bring new blessings into your life, her 60 second gratitude reset to realize the good things you already have, and the importance of always saying thank you.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you,
Brenda Night Back with Us. Began a career at HarperCollins,
the book publisher, working with people like Mary Anne Williamson
in the Dali Lama. She was awarded Indie FABS Publisher
of the Year Award in twenty fifteen. Author of a
number of books, including the Book of Abundance, she also
teaches at the San Francisco Writers Conference and serves as
(00:27):
president of the Women's National Book Association, the San Francisco chapter. Brenda,
welcome back. Have you been good.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm so happy to be here. You know, I planned
on listening tonight and then here I am.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, you are happy Thanksgiving. It's great to have you
with us again.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Yeah, I'm psyched.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
When we talk about gratitude, what does that mean to you?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
What gratitude means to me is it's sort of a
mindset or just a or a mindfulness really instead.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Of like I mean, you know, go back to the cliche.
Your glass can either be half full or it can
be half empty. And it's easy for us to think
our cups are half empty or maybe even completely dry
and empty. But in truth, there's so many things to
be grateful and just take a moment and think about
what the good things in your life. So it's a
(01:21):
mindfulness and it's very very easy to get there.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Next hour, we'll take calls from our great listeners about
gratitude stories or questions for you, and I bet they'll
be all kinds.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You have what you called the sixty second gratitude reset.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
That is where you stop what you're doing and you
think what am I grateful for right now? And if
you have a pen and paper, George, you should write
it down. But if you don't, just think about it,
maybe even like say it out loud to yourself, and
it turns everything around in one minute. And actually I
did that right before I came on the show, and
(02:02):
I was, you know, I'm just so grateful to be
here with all this community and with you, and like
the holiday coming, and so I'm deeply grateful to be
here in this moment.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And then also I wanted to say thank you George.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And thank you Coast to Coast because a really cool
book project came to me from the last time I
was here. But maybe that's another topic or another time,
another show, because it's a life after death book that
is sort of already changing my life. But anyway, I'm
so grateful to be here and the blessings that come
(02:40):
to you after being on coast to coast.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well that's amazing, and thank you, Brenda, but you deserve it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You have a story of it is this. We'll get
into the story in a second, but this sixty second
gratitude reset. How many gratitude items do you? Think about it?
Write down as many as you can?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Three? Actually, like if you only have.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
One, like one big one in the moment, like that's
good enough, but like three is sort of the magic number.
But I guess if you really, you know, get start
going to town, like you could write down more and
then you know, then you're going to end up in
an even more place of gratitude and even more place
of satisfaction and contentment. I want people to get reclaim
(03:32):
their contentment.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Can you break it down as well by professional life,
personal life, business, family? Can you do it in segments
like that?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, that's a very good way to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Although I sort of like to when you're just getting started,
because especially if in you've had a rough day, where
we all have rough days, especially recently, so you know,
just sort of just think what comes into your mind
immediately for the very start, but then you can you
can go by areas in your life, you know, starting
(04:09):
probably with the people in your life, because like at
the end of the day, and I think at the
end of your life, it's the people in your life
that bring you the most joy, the most gratitude, and
to be the most thankful about. But like being grateful
for having a home, being grateful for having a job,
being grateful for good friendships, pets you love.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Like maybe you have a garden that you love.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Whatever it is, like, just take the time to really
consider it, write it down.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And actually, my garden.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Is one of the things that I am most grateful
for in my life because you can sort of see
that your effort like come to life and I have.
I'm actually sitting of course it's dark now, but I'm
sitting at my desk and I'll stop every once in
a while i'm working and just do what I call
(05:02):
garden gazing, and it brings me such a sense of peace.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So that's something we all need to do too.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Find what brings you peace and contentment and a sense
of gratefulness, and hang on to it and.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Explore it further.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Brenda. At the end of the program every night i'm on,
I give thanks to various members of our team at
Coast to Coast and I do that for a couple
of reasons, but the main reason is I'm really thankful
with gratitude for what they've contributed to the program to
help me make it what it is.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
They're doing a fantastic job. I mean, I'm grateful to
them too. They're so professional and they make you feel
you know, anyone that's going to come on Coast to Coast,
which is a you know, it's an international radio show,
and like so they make you feel so comfortable and
just that it's going to be easy breezy, and because
(06:02):
of their their good work and.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You it is easy breezy.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I got over feeling nervous in about sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
My family understands the need to do this program as well.
For example, I'm going to my granddaughters tomorrow for Thanksgiving.
In the entire family is going to be there, but
they know I can't stay there that long as I'm
doing a live show tomorrow night on Coast to Coast.
But they appreciate that and they understand that. But it
(06:32):
simply listen, and they listen absolutely. But what so great
about this program and what I'm excited about, is I
made a pledge when I came in here almost twenty
three years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long
already that if a holiday falls on a day I'm working,
(06:52):
I will be live, or if it falls on a
day I'm not working, someone will be live. It will
not be a take program. And I do that for
one single reason, Brenda. There are a lot of lonely
people out there who don't have family, and this program
has become their family, and I don't want to let
(07:14):
them down.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
They definitely are family, and I love that. I mean,
I feel like the part of the Coast to Coast family.
And I've had lonely times, I believe when when I
was here last time, I talked about when my husband
passed away right before the pandemic, and the San Francisco
shelter and place laws were so strict that I was
(07:37):
literally alone, and so I listened to a.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Lot of Coast to coast, and I.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Definitely know that you feel like you're part of a community.
So you have built you and your team have built
an incredible community. And also when I first moved to
San Francisco, I was pretty much I didn't know anybody,
and so the first Thanksgiving was the first holiday that
(08:05):
I spent here in my new home of the San
Francisco Bay area, and I was an orphan, and some
kind person that I met knew that I probably was
going to spend Thanksgiving alone, and so they invited me,
and I was so incredibly grateful, And so I try
to make the tradition of inviting somebody that you know
(08:27):
is going to be alone to Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
We have a lot of regular callers in addition to
first time callers and brand new listeners. But we have
one regular caller who a couple of years ago called
Tom and myself on the show and he told us
that he had a glucose level of a thousand. One
hundred and fifty is high. A thousand, you're you're a
(08:54):
walking cadaver. And we told him get to the hospital
right now, and we weren't fooling around, and he went
to the hospital, got it taken care of, and I
think we saved his life. But he understands that and
he calls on a very regular basis. I guarantee you
he'll probably call later on to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Oh well, I can't wait to talk to him. Good job.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
But he, you know, he will go on the air
and say you saved my life. And that's kind of
that kind of breaks me up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Well it's a beautiful thing. But what also tells me
is that you were listening, You were paying attention, You
were in the moment, you know, you you you and
Tom like you. You assessed the situation and like reached
out to him, you know, with that was a super
ultra active kindness.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
George Nori, you have a story of a family that
ended a twenty year feud at a Thanksgiving table.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
What happened they did?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And it was I'm from West Virginia originally, and so
we know how to feud, and so there was going
to be another raucous like you know, arguing, fussing Thanksgiving dinner.
And one of my aunts thought we can't do this
(10:23):
again this year, and so she came up with on
her own that before Grace before saying grace that she
would say to everyone present, one of the things I
really love about you is And she went to around
the whole table, talked to everybody, you know, the grandma's,
the grumpy uncles, the children, mom's, dads, everyone and the
(10:47):
whole There was such an amazing energy shift, and then
actually it became contagious. George and everyone else went around
the table and said one of the things I really
love about you is And the food was a little
cold by the end of that, but nobody cared, and
it did end like a big ongoing feud, and most importantly,
(11:12):
it healed relationships and it shifted the dynamics and every
holiday after that was and even any old get together
was very peaceful and pleasant. So that's something people can
try to do too, even if you're not a feuding family,
if you just want to start off the meal with
(11:32):
the best possible energy and gratitude, sharing and also sharing
of love, because I think that this is something we
all need to do, myself included, Tell the people you
love that you love them. Just tell them, doesn't matter
how many times a day, don't wait. We need to
express the love and carry that because that is The
(11:56):
most important thing in the world is loving people, showing that,
sharing that.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What about a few words like thank you? How far
does that go?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Thank you goes a long long way so, and there's
so many different ways to say it. One of my
favorites is the British will say thanking you, and one
of my British I heard one of my British friends
like say that a few years ago, and I just
latched onto it because it makes it even more active,
(12:28):
thanking you like I'm thanking you right now. It's just
sort of lovely and quirky, but thank you is very powerful.
Those two words carry enormous power. So use them a lot.
Say I love you a lot, say thank you a lot.
Your life will get happier, like the same days start that,
(12:49):
you know what.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I've also noticed that goes a long way opening the
door for somebody mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yes, even at the grocery store, like just to like
of office buildings, like you know, the coffeehouse. Little tiny
acts of goodness and kindness like means so much. There's
sort of the glue of life and and also a smile.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Do you find Brenda that there's too much hate out
there right now?
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I think there is, and I do think about that
a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And as an editor of books and we I publish
a lot of psychology books that books to save lives,
and so I get to get to learn from those psychologists,
authors and writers, and they're Ungian philosophy would say that
it's the shadow side of deep pain. So I think
(13:44):
people are hurting, that they express it with negativity and hate,
but I think it honestly. I think simple things like
just you know, saying you know something I really like
about you, what I appreciate, appreciate about you is this,
and that can engender that energy shift, and I think
(14:06):
that people can. I feel like it's an era we're
in and that the pendulum will swing and will be
in a very different era. I hope, I mean, I
hope in a very short few years that we go
from what seems like such a hateful time to a
time of kindness and gratitude and sharing and peacefulness.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I don't think this is going to last that long.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I believe in us human beings, George, I think we
can turn it around.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, well, we should be able to, because there's a
lot of good in this planet.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
How did you get involved in all of this.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Well, I like to give.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
My mother Helen credit, because she was such a good
person and she's still around.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I believe we both have mothers that.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Are like kicking alive and kicking and doing well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Mine is ninety six, headed for ninety seven in.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
May, mine is ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I know.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I love it. I love it. So I think I
think our moms are doing something right, George.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
But my mother was just unbelievably kindly. She's very shy
and like so, you know, she wouldn't like talk a lot,
but like she spoke with her actions. She would drive
neighbors and elderly aunts to the doctor and to Aaron's
and you know, give food to neighbors. One one thing
(15:41):
that I remember is that she got kind of mad
at me when I was six because I there was
a new family that moved in across the road on
the farm in West Virginia. They were just right across
the way, and I wanted to play with the kids,
and I invited them over, and then they invited me over,
and I saw that they didn't have any toys, and
(16:03):
I felt, you know, sad about that, and I thought
they can, I'm gonna give them my toys, and my
mom was kind of irritated, like my goodness, like did
you have to give away all your toys? And then
but that made her I said, well, they didn't have any,
and that alerted mom to the fact that like maybe
they were, you know, they they didn't have.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
A lot of money. They didn't even have money to
just buy each child a toy.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So she went over there. She went over very neighborly
like and like brought a pie and some things like that,
and she sussed out the situation and then it was
true that they were, you know, they they needed help,
and so she she started giving them all kinds of
like food and like things that we.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Grew in the garden, tomatoes, like, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
She she started really making sure that they weren't lacking
and then also inviting them to church make sure that
they got the benefit of stuff. And even though I
was six and briefly in trouble for giving away all
my toys, I thought, Okay, she was modeling good personhood
to me in like, you know, for ninety nine years.
(17:16):
Well I'm not ninety nine years old, but for ninety
nine years she's been. She's been rocking kindness and just
a model of what a kind, gentle, quiet, good person is.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
What do you think about world leaders? If they would
express more kindness to other world leaders, what might happen?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Oh, I think that would be. I think that would
make all the difference in the world. I think that
wars would suddenly go away, there would be peace there,
there wouldn't be mass hunger. I think big egos are
the roots of many problems, and so I think that
if people just took a moment and thought about like
(18:01):
the results of their actions and what it's like to
be you know, I don't the word narcissist comes to mind,
but like just those big giant egos, they become so
self centered and like high on their power trips or whatever,
and you know, they don't think about the fact that
you know, they're causing people to go hungry, they're causing children,
(18:24):
you know, they're causing children to be injured and in wars,
like they're if they just got those egos and check
and exercise some kindness and and empathy, they're you know,
I think that you know, macho men probably and like
powerful men, think that empathy is a weakness.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Empathy is not weakness, it is strength.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam
dot com for more
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you,
Brenda Night Back with Us. Began a career at HarperCollins,
the book publisher, working with people like Mary Anne Williamson
in the Dali Lama. She was awarded Indie FABS Publisher
of the Year Award in twenty fifteen. Author of a
number of books, including the Book of Abundance, she also
teaches at the San Francisco Writers Conference and serves as
(00:27):
president of the Women's National Book Association, the San Francisco chapter. Brenda,
welcome back. Have you been good.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I'm so happy to be here. You know, I planned
on listening tonight and then here I am.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, you are happy Thanksgiving. It's great to have you
with us again.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Yeah, I'm psyched.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
When we talk about gratitude, what does that mean to you?
Speaker 4 (00:52):
What gratitude means to me is it's sort of a
mindset or just a or a mindfulness really instead.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Of like I mean, you know, go back to the cliche.
Your glass can either be half full or it can
be half empty. And it's easy for us to think
our cups are half empty or maybe even completely dry
and empty. But in truth, there's so many things to
be grateful and just take a moment and think about
what the good things in your life. So it's a
(01:21):
mindfulness and it's very very easy to get there.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Next hour, we'll take calls from our great listeners about
gratitude stories or questions for you, and I bet they'll
be all kinds.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Oh, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You have what you called the sixty second gratitude reset.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
That is where you stop what you're doing and you
think what am I grateful for right now? And if
you have a pen and paper, George, you should write
it down. But if you don't, just think about it,
maybe even like say it out loud to yourself, and
it turns everything around in one minute. And actually I
did that right before I came on the show, and
(02:02):
I was, you know, I'm just so grateful to be
here with all this community and with you, and like
the holiday coming, and so I'm deeply grateful to be
here in this moment.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And then also I wanted to say thank you George.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And thank you Coast to Coast because a really cool
book project came to me from the last time I
was here. But maybe that's another topic or another time,
another show, because it's a life after death book that
is sort of already changing my life. But anyway, I'm
so grateful to be here and the blessings that come
(02:40):
to you after being on coast to coast.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well that's amazing, and thank you, Brenda, but you deserve it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You have a story of it is this. We'll get
into the story in a second, but this sixty second
gratitude reset. How many gratitude items do you? Think about it?
Write down as many as you can?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Three? Actually, like if you only have.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
One, like one big one in the moment, like that's
good enough, but like three is sort of the magic number.
But I guess if you really, you know, get start
going to town, like you could write down more and
then you know, then you're going to end up in
an even more place of gratitude and even more place
of satisfaction and contentment. I want people to get reclaim
(03:32):
their contentment.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Can you break it down as well by professional life,
personal life, business, family? Can you do it in segments
like that?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, that's a very good way to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Although I sort of like to when you're just getting started,
because especially if in you've had a rough day, where
we all have rough days, especially recently, so you know,
just sort of just think what comes into your mind
immediately for the very start, but then you can you
can go by areas in your life, you know, starting
(04:09):
probably with the people in your life, because like at
the end of the day, and I think at the
end of your life, it's the people in your life
that bring you the most joy, the most gratitude, and
to be the most thankful about. But like being grateful
for having a home, being grateful for having a job,
being grateful for good friendships, pets you love.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Like maybe you have a garden that you love.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Whatever it is, like, just take the time to really
consider it, write it down.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
And actually, my garden.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Is one of the things that I am most grateful
for in my life because you can sort of see
that your effort like come to life and I have.
I'm actually sitting of course it's dark now, but I'm
sitting at my desk and I'll stop every once in
a while i'm working and just do what I call
(05:02):
garden gazing, and it brings me such a sense of peace.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So that's something we all need to do too.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Find what brings you peace and contentment and a sense
of gratefulness, and hang on to it and.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Explore it further.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Brenda. At the end of the program every night i'm on,
I give thanks to various members of our team at
Coast to Coast and I do that for a couple
of reasons, but the main reason is I'm really thankful
with gratitude for what they've contributed to the program to
help me make it what it is.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
They're doing a fantastic job. I mean, I'm grateful to
them too. They're so professional and they make you feel
you know, anyone that's going to come on Coast to Coast,
which is a you know, it's an international radio show,
and like so they make you feel so comfortable and
just that it's going to be easy breezy, and because
(06:02):
of their their good work and.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You it is easy breezy.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I got over feeling nervous in about sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
My family understands the need to do this program as well.
For example, I'm going to my granddaughters tomorrow for Thanksgiving.
In the entire family is going to be there, but
they know I can't stay there that long as I'm
doing a live show tomorrow night on Coast to Coast.
But they appreciate that and they understand that. But it
(06:32):
simply listen, and they listen absolutely. But what so great
about this program and what I'm excited about, is I
made a pledge when I came in here almost twenty
three years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long
already that if a holiday falls on a day I'm working,
(06:52):
I will be live, or if it falls on a
day I'm not working, someone will be live. It will
not be a take program. And I do that for
one single reason, Brenda. There are a lot of lonely
people out there who don't have family, and this program
has become their family, and I don't want to let
(07:14):
them down.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
They definitely are family, and I love that. I mean,
I feel like the part of the Coast to Coast family.
And I've had lonely times, I believe when when I
was here last time, I talked about when my husband
passed away right before the pandemic, and the San Francisco
shelter and place laws were so strict that I was
(07:37):
literally alone, and so I listened to a.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Lot of Coast to coast, and I.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Definitely know that you feel like you're part of a community.
So you have built you and your team have built
an incredible community. And also when I first moved to
San Francisco, I was pretty much I didn't know anybody,
and so the first Thanksgiving was the first holiday that
(08:05):
I spent here in my new home of the San
Francisco Bay area, and I was an orphan, and some
kind person that I met knew that I probably was
going to spend Thanksgiving alone, and so they invited me,
and I was so incredibly grateful, And so I try
to make the tradition of inviting somebody that you know
(08:27):
is going to be alone to Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
We have a lot of regular callers in addition to
first time callers and brand new listeners. But we have
one regular caller who a couple of years ago called
Tom and myself on the show and he told us
that he had a glucose level of a thousand. One
hundred and fifty is high. A thousand, you're you're a
(08:54):
walking cadaver. And we told him get to the hospital
right now, and we weren't fooling around, and he went
to the hospital, got it taken care of, and I
think we saved his life. But he understands that and
he calls on a very regular basis. I guarantee you
he'll probably call later on to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Oh well, I can't wait to talk to him. Good job.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
But he, you know, he will go on the air
and say you saved my life. And that's kind of
that kind of breaks me up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Well it's a beautiful thing. But what also tells me
is that you were listening, You were paying attention, You
were in the moment, you know, you you you and
Tom like you. You assessed the situation and like reached
out to him, you know, with that was a super
ultra active kindness.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
George Nori, you have a story of a family that
ended a twenty year feud at a Thanksgiving table.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
What happened they did?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
And it was I'm from West Virginia originally, and so
we know how to feud, and so there was going
to be another raucous like you know, arguing, fussing Thanksgiving dinner.
And one of my aunts thought we can't do this
(10:23):
again this year, and so she came up with on
her own that before Grace before saying grace that she
would say to everyone present, one of the things I
really love about you is And she went to around
the whole table, talked to everybody, you know, the grandma's,
the grumpy uncles, the children, mom's, dads, everyone and the
(10:47):
whole There was such an amazing energy shift, and then
actually it became contagious. George and everyone else went around
the table and said one of the things I really
love about you is And the food was a little
cold by the end of that, but nobody cared, and
it did end like a big ongoing feud, and most importantly,
(11:12):
it healed relationships and it shifted the dynamics and every
holiday after that was and even any old get together
was very peaceful and pleasant. So that's something people can
try to do too, even if you're not a feuding family,
if you just want to start off the meal with
(11:32):
the best possible energy and gratitude, sharing and also sharing
of love, because I think that this is something we
all need to do, myself included, Tell the people you
love that you love them. Just tell them, doesn't matter
how many times a day, don't wait. We need to
express the love and carry that because that is The
(11:56):
most important thing in the world is loving people, showing that,
sharing that.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
What about a few words like thank you? How far
does that go?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Thank you goes a long long way so, and there's
so many different ways to say it. One of my
favorites is the British will say thanking you, and one
of my British I heard one of my British friends
like say that a few years ago, and I just
latched onto it because it makes it even more active,
(12:28):
thanking you like I'm thanking you right now. It's just
sort of lovely and quirky, but thank you is very powerful.
Those two words carry enormous power. So use them a lot.
Say I love you a lot, say thank you a lot.
Your life will get happier, like the same days start that,
(12:49):
you know what.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I've also noticed that goes a long way opening the
door for somebody mm hmmm.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yes, even at the grocery store, like just to like
of office buildings, like you know, the coffeehouse. Little tiny
acts of goodness and kindness like means so much. There's
sort of the glue of life and and also a smile.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Do you find Brenda that there's too much hate out
there right now?
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I think there is, and I do think about that
a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
And as an editor of books and we I publish
a lot of psychology books that books to save lives,
and so I get to get to learn from those psychologists,
authors and writers, and they're Ungian philosophy would say that
it's the shadow side of deep pain. So I think
(13:44):
people are hurting, that they express it with negativity and hate,
but I think it honestly. I think simple things like
just you know, saying you know something I really like
about you, what I appreciate, appreciate about you is this,
and that can engender that energy shift, and I think
(14:06):
that people can. I feel like it's an era we're
in and that the pendulum will swing and will be
in a very different era. I hope, I mean, I
hope in a very short few years that we go
from what seems like such a hateful time to a
time of kindness and gratitude and sharing and peacefulness.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I don't think this is going to last that long.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I believe in us human beings, George, I think we
can turn it around.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, well, we should be able to, because there's a
lot of good in this planet.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
How did you get involved in all of this.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Well, I like to give.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
My mother Helen credit, because she was such a good
person and she's still around.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I believe we both have mothers that.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Are like kicking alive and kicking and doing well.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Mine is ninety six, headed for ninety seven in.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
May, mine is ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I know.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I love it. I love it. So I think I
think our moms are doing something right, George.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
But my mother was just unbelievably kindly. She's very shy
and like so, you know, she wouldn't like talk a lot,
but like she spoke with her actions. She would drive
neighbors and elderly aunts to the doctor and to Aaron's
and you know, give food to neighbors. One one thing
(15:41):
that I remember is that she got kind of mad
at me when I was six because I there was
a new family that moved in across the road on
the farm in West Virginia. They were just right across
the way, and I wanted to play with the kids,
and I invited them over, and then they invited me over,
and I saw that they didn't have any toys, and
(16:03):
I felt, you know, sad about that, and I thought
they can, I'm gonna give them my toys, and my
mom was kind of irritated, like my goodness, like did
you have to give away all your toys? And then
but that made her I said, well, they didn't have any,
and that alerted mom to the fact that like maybe
they were, you know, they they didn't have.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
A lot of money. They didn't even have money to
just buy each child a toy.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
So she went over there. She went over very neighborly
like and like brought a pie and some things like that,
and she sussed out the situation and then it was
true that they were, you know, they they needed help,
and so she she started giving them all kinds of
like food and like things that we.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Grew in the garden, tomatoes, like, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
She she started really making sure that they weren't lacking
and then also inviting them to church make sure that
they got the benefit of stuff. And even though I
was six and briefly in trouble for giving away all
my toys, I thought, Okay, she was modeling good personhood
to me in like, you know, for ninety nine years.
(17:16):
Well I'm not ninety nine years old, but for ninety
nine years she's been. She's been rocking kindness and just
a model of what a kind, gentle, quiet, good person is.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
What do you think about world leaders? If they would
express more kindness to other world leaders, what might happen?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Oh, I think that would be. I think that would
make all the difference in the world. I think that
wars would suddenly go away, there would be peace there,
there wouldn't be mass hunger. I think big egos are
the roots of many problems, and so I think that
if people just took a moment and thought about like
(18:01):
the results of their actions and what it's like to
be you know, I don't the word narcissist comes to mind,
but like just those big giant egos, they become so
self centered and like high on their power trips or whatever,
and you know, they don't think about the fact that
you know, they're causing people to go hungry, they're causing children,
(18:24):
you know, they're causing children to be injured and in wars,
like they're if they just got those egos and check
and exercise some kindness and and empathy, they're you know,
I think that you know, macho men probably and like
powerful men, think that empathy is a weakness.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Empathy is not weakness, it is strength.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
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