May 15, 2025 • 19 mins
In this deeply personal Bonus Drop, Patrick and Amy Kennedy share the quiet battles and bold choices behind raising kids in a world filled with stress, screens, and stigma.
With honesty, humor, and heart, the Kennedys talk about everything from tucking in teens and taking away phones to finding strength through service and spirituality. You’ll hear real talk on addiction, emotional resilience, and what it means to parent with presence and intention – even when it’s hard.
This is one for every parent doing their best to raise emotionally healthy kids in an emotionally overwhelmed world.
Bonus Drops land every Thursday. If you missed the full episode with Patrick and Amy Kennedy, catch it anytime in the My Legacy playlist.
Hosted by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Marc Kielburger, and Craig Kielburger
Creator and Executive Producer: Suzanne Hayward
Co-Executive Producer: Lisa Lisle
Editor: Sujit Agrawal
Post-production producer Tina Pittaway
A/V by Garcia Creative
Produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and Executive Producer Gabrielle Collins.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is my legacy. Welcome to this week's bonus dropped
with more from our conversation with Patrick and Amy Kennedy.
Patrick and Amy open up about navigating hard conversations with
their kids, from setting boundaries around social media to talking
honestly about mental health and addiction at home. If you've
ever wondered how to parent with both honesty and hope,
(00:24):
this one's for you. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
One thing you said too as a parent, Amy, with
five children and being extremely busy. I mean you all are,
you know, out there changing the world, being busy, but
you said the importance of connecting with your children. I mean,
even just this morning on the way here, you know,
before Yolanda was on her way to school, driving herself,
(00:52):
you know, but she wanted to talk about you know,
you know, homework, and so I was trying to get ready,
but I made, you know, sure to just carve out time.
And you know, so I know that is different things
and it also depends on each child. But are there
some things that you all can share for our listeners
that you have found ways to connect.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I kind of came to my realization of the importance
of this after meeting Patrick so I didn't have the
training as he mentioned, or the awareness, but if you
sit with Patrick long enough, you're going to be brought
along on the mental health train. And it was a
realization for me that that was what was lacking in
(01:35):
my classroom, that was something that was lacking for so
many young people. And then to have five kids and
the statistics be one in five is going to struggle
and it's not always going to be the same one. Yeah, right,
because we can ebb and flow, as he said, through
wellness and illness, and for some it'll be chronic and
(01:57):
it'll be lifelong. So doing interventions, but then also what
does a constant or consistent care look like throughout the
life course will be important. But within our own household,
we definitely talk very openly about addiction, about mental health.
(02:17):
We've tried to interview early when it was important. We're
lucky to have a network in this space, so we've
made those calls. During COVID we had the telehealth going,
we were getting interventions because we weren't even though we
feel like we're being very proactive, we definitely weren't immune
from having challenges with our kids. But also the social
(02:41):
media and cell phones has been a big piece of
what we focus on, everything from TV and family dinners,
cell phones, having experiences together, taking time night. Now with
(03:02):
our second oldest, it's funny, I we're still kind of
tucking him in. You know, he's going to be thirteen
in April, because it's as long as you can because
what you realize is, you know, our oldest just turned seventeen.
Once you stop, you can't go back, and that's awkward.
(03:24):
But that time at night, that is the time they
want to talk. So that's when we are early to bed.
Patrick and I like to tuck in early, but that
is when they are the chattiest and they want to
really connect with you, and you have to allow for
that time on their terms when they want to connect.
(03:44):
But with the social media, we know how addictive it
is for us and that just sets them up for
that type of distracted needing to escape, and so limiting
that and making sure that they don't have access to
that has been really important. And then keeping them very
(04:05):
busy and active in the community has been a huge
piece of what we do well.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What Amy and I try to do with intention, and
that's key. Intention is to try to be present for
our kids, and it's really hard because we have busy lives.
Of course, we all have technology that's distracting us all
the time. But you know, spending time with our kids,
holding them, paying attention to them, it lays the foundation
(04:36):
for resiliency later on in life, because if I don't
pay as much attention now, I guarantee you I'm going
to have to pay attention down the line because they're
going to be struggling later on. I don't want to
have to do that. Of course, they're all genetically predisposed
to addiction and depression and the like, but I want
(04:57):
to help build resiliency. Amy really has highlighted this idea
that we ought to teach kind of social emotional learning,
resiliency skills, coping mechanism developments in school because these are
life skills that can help people not just trying to
prevent these illnesses from taking hold and pathologizing, but help
(05:21):
us be more actualized and living out our full potential
as opposed to being kind of hostage to our stress
or depression, anxiety, addiction, which of course all take us
hostage when they're we're in the middle of these crises.
We're not operating we're not our own people, We're a
(05:42):
shadow of our real self.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Coming up on my legacy, what it looks like to
build trust with your kids through honest conversations even when
it's uncomfortable, Like follow and share this with anyone who's
navigating to sometimes choppy waters of parenting with more openness
and less fear.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Now back to my legacy, what would.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You say if you're a single mom and you don't
have ways to make ends, your ends meet every month?
What advice would you give some of our listeners who
may not legitimately have access to some of the things
that we're talking about, where can they go to get help?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well? I hear a lot of people come up and
tell me that their families are suffering. What are they
going to do? What can we do? And I was
just say, you know, like they say in the airplane,
put your own mask on first before helping others. If
you're not in a decent place, you're going to be
no help to the person you're trying to make a
difference with. I often tell people about other kind of
(06:49):
twelve step programs where they can kind of not be alone.
The kind of worst thing with these illnesses is when
you feel that isolation. No one understands, there's no one
I can talk to. I think so much of our
mental health could be done if, as I said, we
empower each other to know a little bit about this,
know how to start the conversation.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Are there any twelve step programs that are that are
free or at costs?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
They're all free, Okay, So that's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So one of the first things is if you are
you're suffering in your home by yourself, get yourself healthy.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
First, anything over reading, if you have addiction, if you
are just the family member of someone who has addiction, alcoholism.
So there's twelve steps for just about anything you can
think of. But there's also other free resources. But I
think what your question really highlights is the one of
(07:47):
the biggest challenges with our mental health system is the
difficulty navigating it. And so it feels like confusing where
do I start? You know? So if your child screens
for something on at a pediatric visit, they give you
a list like here's all the providers in the area.
(08:11):
You're okay, So I'm just gonna call it, like do
they even have as Patrick mentioned before, that kind of
specialization I don't want just a generic therapy session. If
it's a needing disorder, I want to make sure that
I'm going to somebody that's going to get results, because
I think that's where some of the skepticism comes from too,
(08:32):
is it's not personalized care, and so people aren't getting
the type of care specific to what their need is.
But there's definitely free resources. There's resources within the school,
many faith communities offer resources and to check into that.
But also I would say there's a huge online offering,
(08:54):
which is a blessing and a curse because you have
to make sure that when you are finding tools online
that they are evidence based and accurate. There's a lot
of misinformation online and unfortunately, that's what a lot of
our teens are finding, and they're self diagnosing and even
(09:15):
over identifying with some of those diagnoses, and so we
have to be careful there and just make sure that
you're finding good resources.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And Amy, I'm curious as to what would be some
conversations that you would encourage parents to have with their
children on mental health.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
One of the things that we've just started talking more
about is not just the social media, but as marijuana
becomes legalized and online gambling becomes legalized, talking more to
our kids about that and about how they are being
(09:57):
manipulated to be addicted, because because I think it is
inherent in young people to want to be in control.
So when they realize that the systems are designed to
get them hooked, to get them to not look away,
it empowers them to say no, this is you won't
(10:21):
have my time, my attention, and that their attention is
a really valuable commodity. And to be able to talk
about it and lay out what all the risks are
for them down the line has been important. But also
Patrick's openness about his own experience comes up every day.
(10:44):
You know, they live in a house where they see
and talk about where we're going, what our work is
on a daily basis, what the challenges we're seeing are
and see it kind of lived out and know that
even if and there's a likelihood that they will have challenges,
(11:04):
that there's also help, yes, and hope and outcomes that
can be positive. And look at what your dad's done
and how he's living today.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I love that hint of ninja parenting in there, what
I call it. If teens want to if they want
to rebel against something anyway, just let them know, do
you understand that when you're doing this, this and this,
you're doing what it is that these you know, these
algorithms want you to do. So that'll make them like
just rebel just on general principle.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I was really unpopular when I, UH with my teenager.
We took away her phone for a year and we
just saw it was it was problematic. You know, the
other kids don't have phones yet and the old estimate yeah,
she's seventeen now, but last year she was given a phone.
(11:58):
I gave her back a phone, but it was one
that just had.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
We did that two weeks. We did that for two weeks.
We gave her like this phone where a flip phone.
She was living and in fact, some day she would
intentionally like leave it. I was like, well you know,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, how am I going to because
there were some teachers that would collect the phones, you know,
(12:22):
like when you're going you don't want any this flip phone.
I was like, well, you know, so she would just
do without it. So yeah, so it's good to know that.
But now maybe I'll next time go a little bit
longer than it was.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
It was really uh a change and you know, you
get a lot of pushback. But I got to a
point where I said, if I am getting angry about
this and I don't want you to do it, then
why am I enabling you, you know, the tools to
do the very thing that I know isn't good for
you and that I don't want you to do. And
unless you can rein it in, which we're asking them
(12:58):
to rein in something that is addictive, it's it's addictive
for us. So if I can't trust you to be
able to dial it back, then I need to do
that for you. You are still you know, young, and
I have to be the adult, and I have to say,
I know it's not good for you. I know it is.
(13:19):
I'm seeing it and the outcomes and so uh so
we did it and it wasn't fun, and you know,
we saw a big shift and when our oldest started
to show kind of more responsible behavior and more engagement
and life was changing. And now you know, the phone
is back, but the behaviors are different and it worked
(13:43):
so well.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You and I can start our own life support. Have
to do that because really, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
But I so just the last night when or the
night before last, I was talking our twelve year old
in and he we'd played the memory game and he
was really good at it. So I said, oh, and
you're so, you know, blessed, you can really how you're
good at math, you're good at sports, he's terrific at basketball.
(14:13):
I said. The skills you're really gonna need that really
are the ability to manage your emotions, because I said,
you're about to go into puberty. You're going to have
lots of ups and downs, and managing those is really
what I spent my life trying to you know, perfect
and work on. And he really paid attention because I
put in the context of he's great at sports, he's
(14:37):
great academically, he wants to be great, right, and then
here's how you really become great, you know. And then
you know, when I was leaving the room, I said,
you know, I make sure you say your prayers because
you never know when you're going to need God, and
it's better to keep those that channel of communication open.
(15:00):
You know. You could just kind of see his eyes
open up, like you know, and you don't know, like
we don't know. We have to work on it all
the time so that it's not a pinch hit kind
of prayer, we're open our hearts to kind of needing
help all the time. In that way, it's not going
to be so overwhelming when we're in that position.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Well, we actually recently spoke to an amazing psychologist. He
was the Gentleman at Columbia University, of course, the head
of the positive psychology department. He said that the number
one tip for families to ensure that their kids have
positive mental health is to have a practice of spirituality. Well,
the number one tip spirituality equals mental health. If you
(15:43):
had one suggestion, one best suggestion for our listeners, and
I know it's hard, but one best suggestion for our
listeners to say, here's the one thing that they need
to do on a consistent basis to maintain and to
flourish with our mental health. What would that be.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, I think it's going back to that idea of service.
It's such a paradox that by being there for others
you are relieved, but the response that others gives you
is sustaining and affirming. So if you want to have
high self esteem, do esteemable things, like when we talked
(16:20):
about cognitive behavioral therapy, just practice today opening the door
for someone asking how they are, looking them in the eye,
giving them a smile. All of a sudden, your day
will change because they'll be, oh, thank you, their eyes
will lighten up, they will have appreciation for you. You'll
feel better about it yourself. It's kind of a chemistry
(16:44):
that we have the ability to do in our own lives.
By being around for others, you'd be amazed you're inviting
them to be there for you too. And again, loneliness
and isolation pathologize as mental health and addiction and just
a general health. So this is the universal thing, is
(17:04):
social connection.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And I would say, you know, to Patrick's earlier point,
vote on this issue and also make yourself known. It's actually,
you know, kind of counterintuitive, but the more vulnerable you are,
the more you attract people to you. So when you
can share your story, it's amazing how many people will
gather around and feel free to share with their experience.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I love, too, what you said about the being of service,
because as your father said, anybody can be great because
anyone can serve, And there is something about doing something
for others that really in turns fulfills you and fills
you up.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah. I think that's the key to our nation's recovery,
and your family's legacy of call to service is so
timely because if you want to reduce social isolation, if
you want to reduce anxiety, depression, and addiction, if you
have people involved in the lives of their neighbors and
their friends and their community, they will get connected and
(18:13):
feel better about themselves and the country will heal as
a result. The most powerful part of recovery is that
you our main mission is to help the next suffering person. Yes,
and what a relief that is to ourselves that we
have a purpose. Imagine people thinking about how powerful it
is to have a purpose.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
That certainly is one of the intentions of realizing the
dream that we all are doing together is to really
help to find healing to ourselves, to each other, and
for the nation. So we certainly invite any of our listeners.
I know that you all will be working with us
in the next four years to get this one hundred
million hours of service done, and so we invite everyone
(18:54):
listening to be a part, to be a part of this.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
I love that tangible challenge to parents.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed today's conversation, subscribe, Share,
and follow us at my Legacy Movement on social media.
New episodes drop every Tuesday, with bonus content every Thursday.
At its core, this podcast honors doctor King's vision of
the beloved community and the power of connection. A Legacy
(19:21):
Plus Studio production distributed by iHeartMedia creator and executive producer
Suzanne Haywood co executive producer Lisa Lyle. Listen on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time,
may you find inspiration to live your legacy.
This is my legacy. Welcome to this week's bonus dropped
with more from our conversation with Patrick and Amy Kennedy.
Patrick and Amy open up about navigating hard conversations with
their kids, from setting boundaries around social media to talking
honestly about mental health and addiction at home. If you've
ever wondered how to parent with both honesty and hope,
(00:24):
this one's for you. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
One thing you said too as a parent, Amy, with
five children and being extremely busy. I mean you all are,
you know, out there changing the world, being busy, but
you said the importance of connecting with your children. I mean,
even just this morning on the way here, you know,
before Yolanda was on her way to school, driving herself,
(00:52):
you know, but she wanted to talk about you know,
you know, homework, and so I was trying to get ready,
but I made, you know, sure to just carve out time.
And you know, so I know that is different things
and it also depends on each child. But are there
some things that you all can share for our listeners
that you have found ways to connect.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I kind of came to my realization of the importance
of this after meeting Patrick so I didn't have the
training as he mentioned, or the awareness, but if you
sit with Patrick long enough, you're going to be brought
along on the mental health train. And it was a
realization for me that that was what was lacking in
(01:35):
my classroom, that was something that was lacking for so
many young people. And then to have five kids and
the statistics be one in five is going to struggle
and it's not always going to be the same one. Yeah, right,
because we can ebb and flow, as he said, through
wellness and illness, and for some it'll be chronic and
(01:57):
it'll be lifelong. So doing interventions, but then also what
does a constant or consistent care look like throughout the
life course will be important. But within our own household,
we definitely talk very openly about addiction, about mental health.
(02:17):
We've tried to interview early when it was important. We're
lucky to have a network in this space, so we've
made those calls. During COVID we had the telehealth going,
we were getting interventions because we weren't even though we
feel like we're being very proactive, we definitely weren't immune
from having challenges with our kids. But also the social
(02:41):
media and cell phones has been a big piece of
what we focus on, everything from TV and family dinners,
cell phones, having experiences together, taking time night. Now with
(03:02):
our second oldest, it's funny, I we're still kind of
tucking him in. You know, he's going to be thirteen
in April, because it's as long as you can because
what you realize is, you know, our oldest just turned seventeen.
Once you stop, you can't go back, and that's awkward.
(03:24):
But that time at night, that is the time they
want to talk. So that's when we are early to bed.
Patrick and I like to tuck in early, but that
is when they are the chattiest and they want to
really connect with you, and you have to allow for
that time on their terms when they want to connect.
(03:44):
But with the social media, we know how addictive it
is for us and that just sets them up for
that type of distracted needing to escape, and so limiting
that and making sure that they don't have access to
that has been really important. And then keeping them very
(04:05):
busy and active in the community has been a huge
piece of what we do well.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What Amy and I try to do with intention, and
that's key. Intention is to try to be present for
our kids, and it's really hard because we have busy lives.
Of course, we all have technology that's distracting us all
the time. But you know, spending time with our kids,
holding them, paying attention to them, it lays the foundation
(04:36):
for resiliency later on in life, because if I don't
pay as much attention now, I guarantee you I'm going
to have to pay attention down the line because they're
going to be struggling later on. I don't want to
have to do that. Of course, they're all genetically predisposed
to addiction and depression and the like, but I want
(04:57):
to help build resiliency. Amy really has highlighted this idea
that we ought to teach kind of social emotional learning,
resiliency skills, coping mechanism developments in school because these are
life skills that can help people not just trying to
prevent these illnesses from taking hold and pathologizing, but help
(05:21):
us be more actualized and living out our full potential
as opposed to being kind of hostage to our stress
or depression, anxiety, addiction, which of course all take us
hostage when they're we're in the middle of these crises.
We're not operating we're not our own people, We're a
(05:42):
shadow of our real self.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Coming up on my legacy, what it looks like to
build trust with your kids through honest conversations even when
it's uncomfortable, Like follow and share this with anyone who's
navigating to sometimes choppy waters of parenting with more openness
and less fear.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Now back to my legacy, what would.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You say if you're a single mom and you don't
have ways to make ends, your ends meet every month?
What advice would you give some of our listeners who
may not legitimately have access to some of the things
that we're talking about, where can they go to get help?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well? I hear a lot of people come up and
tell me that their families are suffering. What are they
going to do? What can we do? And I was
just say, you know, like they say in the airplane,
put your own mask on first before helping others. If
you're not in a decent place, you're going to be
no help to the person you're trying to make a
difference with. I often tell people about other kind of
(06:49):
twelve step programs where they can kind of not be alone.
The kind of worst thing with these illnesses is when
you feel that isolation. No one understands, there's no one
I can talk to. I think so much of our
mental health could be done if, as I said, we
empower each other to know a little bit about this,
know how to start the conversation.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Are there any twelve step programs that are that are
free or at costs?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
They're all free, Okay, So that's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So one of the first things is if you are
you're suffering in your home by yourself, get yourself healthy.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
First, anything over reading, if you have addiction, if you
are just the family member of someone who has addiction, alcoholism.
So there's twelve steps for just about anything you can
think of. But there's also other free resources. But I
think what your question really highlights is the one of
(07:47):
the biggest challenges with our mental health system is the
difficulty navigating it. And so it feels like confusing where
do I start? You know? So if your child screens
for something on at a pediatric visit, they give you
a list like here's all the providers in the area.
(08:11):
You're okay, So I'm just gonna call it, like do
they even have as Patrick mentioned before, that kind of
specialization I don't want just a generic therapy session. If
it's a needing disorder, I want to make sure that
I'm going to somebody that's going to get results, because
I think that's where some of the skepticism comes from too,
(08:32):
is it's not personalized care, and so people aren't getting
the type of care specific to what their need is.
But there's definitely free resources. There's resources within the school,
many faith communities offer resources and to check into that.
But also I would say there's a huge online offering,
(08:54):
which is a blessing and a curse because you have
to make sure that when you are finding tools online
that they are evidence based and accurate. There's a lot
of misinformation online and unfortunately, that's what a lot of
our teens are finding, and they're self diagnosing and even
(09:15):
over identifying with some of those diagnoses, and so we
have to be careful there and just make sure that
you're finding good resources.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
And Amy, I'm curious as to what would be some
conversations that you would encourage parents to have with their
children on mental health.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
One of the things that we've just started talking more
about is not just the social media, but as marijuana
becomes legalized and online gambling becomes legalized, talking more to
our kids about that and about how they are being
(09:57):
manipulated to be addicted, because because I think it is
inherent in young people to want to be in control.
So when they realize that the systems are designed to
get them hooked, to get them to not look away,
it empowers them to say no, this is you won't
(10:21):
have my time, my attention, and that their attention is
a really valuable commodity. And to be able to talk
about it and lay out what all the risks are
for them down the line has been important. But also
Patrick's openness about his own experience comes up every day.
(10:44):
You know, they live in a house where they see
and talk about where we're going, what our work is
on a daily basis, what the challenges we're seeing are
and see it kind of lived out and know that
even if and there's a likelihood that they will have challenges,
(11:04):
that there's also help, yes, and hope and outcomes that
can be positive. And look at what your dad's done
and how he's living today.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I love that hint of ninja parenting in there, what
I call it. If teens want to if they want
to rebel against something anyway, just let them know, do
you understand that when you're doing this, this and this,
you're doing what it is that these you know, these
algorithms want you to do. So that'll make them like
just rebel just on general principle.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I was really unpopular when I, UH with my teenager.
We took away her phone for a year and we
just saw it was it was problematic. You know, the
other kids don't have phones yet and the old estimate yeah,
she's seventeen now, but last year she was given a phone.
(11:58):
I gave her back a phone, but it was one
that just had.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
We did that two weeks. We did that for two weeks.
We gave her like this phone where a flip phone.
She was living and in fact, some day she would
intentionally like leave it. I was like, well you know,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, how am I going to because
there were some teachers that would collect the phones, you know,
(12:22):
like when you're going you don't want any this flip phone.
I was like, well, you know, so she would just
do without it. So yeah, so it's good to know that.
But now maybe I'll next time go a little bit
longer than it was.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
It was really uh a change and you know, you
get a lot of pushback. But I got to a
point where I said, if I am getting angry about
this and I don't want you to do it, then
why am I enabling you, you know, the tools to
do the very thing that I know isn't good for
you and that I don't want you to do. And
unless you can rein it in, which we're asking them
(12:58):
to rein in something that is addictive, it's it's addictive
for us. So if I can't trust you to be
able to dial it back, then I need to do
that for you. You are still you know, young, and
I have to be the adult, and I have to say,
I know it's not good for you. I know it is.
(13:19):
I'm seeing it and the outcomes and so uh so
we did it and it wasn't fun, and you know,
we saw a big shift and when our oldest started
to show kind of more responsible behavior and more engagement
and life was changing. And now you know, the phone
is back, but the behaviors are different and it worked
(13:43):
so well.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
You and I can start our own life support. Have
to do that because really, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
But I so just the last night when or the
night before last, I was talking our twelve year old
in and he we'd played the memory game and he
was really good at it. So I said, oh, and
you're so, you know, blessed, you can really how you're
good at math, you're good at sports, he's terrific at basketball.
(14:13):
I said. The skills you're really gonna need that really
are the ability to manage your emotions, because I said,
you're about to go into puberty. You're going to have
lots of ups and downs, and managing those is really
what I spent my life trying to you know, perfect
and work on. And he really paid attention because I
put in the context of he's great at sports, he's
(14:37):
great academically, he wants to be great, right, and then
here's how you really become great, you know. And then
you know, when I was leaving the room, I said,
you know, I make sure you say your prayers because
you never know when you're going to need God, and
it's better to keep those that channel of communication open.
(15:00):
You know. You could just kind of see his eyes
open up, like you know, and you don't know, like
we don't know. We have to work on it all
the time so that it's not a pinch hit kind
of prayer, we're open our hearts to kind of needing
help all the time. In that way, it's not going
to be so overwhelming when we're in that position.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Well, we actually recently spoke to an amazing psychologist. He
was the Gentleman at Columbia University, of course, the head
of the positive psychology department. He said that the number
one tip for families to ensure that their kids have
positive mental health is to have a practice of spirituality. Well,
the number one tip spirituality equals mental health. If you
(15:43):
had one suggestion, one best suggestion for our listeners, and
I know it's hard, but one best suggestion for our
listeners to say, here's the one thing that they need
to do on a consistent basis to maintain and to
flourish with our mental health. What would that be.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, I think it's going back to that idea of service.
It's such a paradox that by being there for others
you are relieved, but the response that others gives you
is sustaining and affirming. So if you want to have
high self esteem, do esteemable things, like when we talked
(16:20):
about cognitive behavioral therapy, just practice today opening the door
for someone asking how they are, looking them in the eye,
giving them a smile. All of a sudden, your day
will change because they'll be, oh, thank you, their eyes
will lighten up, they will have appreciation for you. You'll
feel better about it yourself. It's kind of a chemistry
(16:44):
that we have the ability to do in our own lives.
By being around for others, you'd be amazed you're inviting
them to be there for you too. And again, loneliness
and isolation pathologize as mental health and addiction and just
a general health. So this is the universal thing, is
(17:04):
social connection.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
And I would say, you know, to Patrick's earlier point,
vote on this issue and also make yourself known. It's actually,
you know, kind of counterintuitive, but the more vulnerable you are,
the more you attract people to you. So when you
can share your story, it's amazing how many people will
gather around and feel free to share with their experience.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I love, too, what you said about the being of service,
because as your father said, anybody can be great because
anyone can serve, And there is something about doing something
for others that really in turns fulfills you and fills
you up.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah. I think that's the key to our nation's recovery,
and your family's legacy of call to service is so
timely because if you want to reduce social isolation, if
you want to reduce anxiety, depression, and addiction, if you
have people involved in the lives of their neighbors and
their friends and their community, they will get connected and
(18:13):
feel better about themselves and the country will heal as
a result. The most powerful part of recovery is that
you our main mission is to help the next suffering person. Yes,
and what a relief that is to ourselves that we
have a purpose. Imagine people thinking about how powerful it
is to have a purpose.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
That certainly is one of the intentions of realizing the
dream that we all are doing together is to really
help to find healing to ourselves, to each other, and
for the nation. So we certainly invite any of our listeners.
I know that you all will be working with us
in the next four years to get this one hundred
million hours of service done, and so we invite everyone
(18:54):
listening to be a part, to be a part of this.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
I love that tangible challenge to parents.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed today's conversation, subscribe, Share,
and follow us at my Legacy Movement on social media.
New episodes drop every Tuesday, with bonus content every Thursday.
At its core, this podcast honors doctor King's vision of
the beloved community and the power of connection. A Legacy
(19:21):
Plus Studio production distributed by iHeartMedia creator and executive producer
Suzanne Haywood co executive producer Lisa Lyle. Listen on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time,
may you find inspiration to live your legacy.
Hosts And Creators
Craig Kielburger
Marc Kielburger
Martin Luther King III
Arndrea Waters King
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