Upbeat! in the Face of Loss: Music, Mindset & the Power of G.E.T.

Episode Transcript
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The Sisters (00:08):
Imagine if every day began with a single choice,
a moment to set the tone, tochoose your Upbeat!, not just in
music, but in life.
Today, we're joined by someonewho embodies this philosophy,
turning the concept of an Upbeat! into a guiding principle for
leadership, mindfulness andpersonal growth.
Dr Matthew Arau is more than adistinguished conductor and

(00:28):
educator.
He's a beacon of positivity andintentionality.
As the founder of Upbeat!Global and author of "Upbeat!
Mindset, mindfulness andLeadership in Music and Beyond,
Matthew has inspired countlessindividuals to lead with
gratitude, empathy and trust.
In this episode, we'll explorethe transformative power of

(00:51):
choosing your mindset, theprofound impact of music on our
emotional well-being, and howthe principles of leadership
extend beyond the podium intoour everyday lives.
No matter where you are in yourlife or who you serve,
personally or professionally,this conversation offers tools,
perspective and presence to helpyou meet adversity with grace.
It's an invitation to find yourown Upbeat! in the face of

(01:12):
challenge, grief and growth.
Welcome to the PIG, where weexplore life, love, loss and
legacy through realconversations and meaningful
stories, with purpose, intentionand gratitude.
We're your hosts.
I'm Kellie and I'm Erin.
Let's dive into what's sure tobe powerful and harmonious
conversation with Dr MatthewArau.

Erin (01:51):
Matthew, we are absolutely thrilled to have you here with
us today.
It is such an honor to sit withyou and to share this time.
We have known you and beenfriends for a long time.
Our history runs deep.
We have had all sorts ofadventures and partnerships

(02:13):
together in the past, but thisconversation on this podcast is
sure to be a treat for all of usand for our listeners, and I'm
really grateful to have you heretoday.
Thank you so much for joiningus.

Dr. Matthew Arau (02:31):
Thanks so much, Erin, and thank you,
Kellie.
It's such a joy to spend timewith the two of you.
I feel almost like we've grownup together.
We've known each other for solong, so I cannot wait for our
conversation.

Kellie (02:44):
Well, we have kind of grown up together.
You know, we have navigated somany aspects of life as friends,
as colleagues, as mentors,through careers and fun times,
and we've also helped each othergrow in a lot of really
incredible ways.
And I will say personally,Matthew, watching you dedicate

(03:06):
your life to helping others andhelping them find strength,
purpose and resilience throughmusic and through your own
personal journey proves thatUpbeat! isn't just a tempo, that
it is a mindset.
It has been a joy to watch youstep forward every single day,
beyond the relationship and lifethat we built for so many years

(03:31):
, into a place of really leading, not just as we shared from the
podium, but in every aspect ofwhat you're doing through your
work.
And so we would love to startat the very beginning.
We want everybody to get toknow the Matthew that we know
and learn about you and yourbackground and your work.

(03:53):
So let's just dive into who DrMatthew Arau is.

Hi everybody.
I'm Dr Matthew Arau and musichas always been a real
centerpiece of my life.
I'll just begin with that and Ican't remember a time when I
wasn't making up my own songsand singing and creating and
pounding away at the piano andstarted playing the saxophone
when I was nine and fell in lovewith jazz and studied music at

(04:21):
Lawrence University in Appleton,Wisconsin, where I now teach,
and moved to Colorado.
I became a band director, lovedevery minute of it and was a
high school band director and amiddle school band director over
those years at Walt ClarkMiddle School and Loveland High
School, and I learned so muchabout leadership and culture

(04:43):
through being a teacher and Ireally dove into personal growth
through those years.
I realized that if I coulddevelop myself and grow myself,
I would be able to lead othersmuch more effectively.
And eventually I startedspeaking on what I developed
with my high school program,which was the Leadership
Symposium.
The Leadership Symposium was aErin of students that we'd meet

(05:05):
once a week to talk about whatkind of culture we wanted to
create, what was a quality of aservant leader, and we'd train
on habits of leadership, and itwas transformative for me and
for my students.
So when I left teaching highschool to pursue my doctorate
degree in conducting, I startedpresenting at conferences, first
the Colorado Music EducationConference, and then I became a

(05:27):
professor at Lawrence University.
And then I presented theInternational Conference in
Chicago to music educators fromaround the world and I shared a
talk called Leadership MattersEnhance your Music Program
Through Effective StudentLeadership and that was in 2014.
And that launched a speakingand training and presentation
career that I could not foresee.

(05:49):
I didn't foresee that my dreamwas to be a college band
director, which I am, and I loveevery minute of it.
I'm the head of the musiceducation department at Lawrence
and I love getting to preparefuture music teachers of the
world because music education isjust so important in our world.
But teaching leadership andmindfulness and culture building

(06:11):
has been a centerpiece of mylife.
So what started as personalgrowth for myself, I've now been
able to share these conceptsthrough my books.
For example, like Upbeat! cameout in December 2001,.
And it immediately became abestseller in music education,
like wow.
And I think when you become,when you're an author, you know
when you write a book plus, it'sa labor of love.

(06:32):
I mean it's like let's fight intears right and I wrote this
during the pandemic and I reallytruly had a calling to serve.
I had been invited to give somewebinars for music teachers and
the feedback was that it wasreally helping folks.
The mindful breathingtechniques Erin strategies to
deal with stress and overwhelmand even loss, right Loss of

(06:55):
identity during that time Lossof being able to work in person
with students was so challengingfor teachers.
I started teaching an onlinemindfulness course for teachers
and teachers said well, Matthew,do you have a book?
Can you put this in a book forus?
My excuse had always been I'dlove to, but I don't have time.

(07:16):
But during the pandemic I wasteaching virtually for a full
year and so I realized I don'thave any more excuses, I'm going
to write this.
And so I just got up at 5 amevery morning, did a morning
meditation, went for a swim andstarted journaling in the
morning and the journalingbecame the book.
And then, since then, I'vepublished some other resources
to really serve people.

(07:37):
That'd be Daily Journal, whichis in alignment with the book,
so you can kind of read the bookand journal alongside it, and
then also the Daily Planner, theultimate organizer for your get
to do's.
So we're just always creatingresources.
The leadership workbook is inthe pipeline, and so I just want
to be able to serve people, andwhat started off as being able

(07:58):
to speak and serve musiceducators has expanded to fine
arts teachers, and then it wasentire schools, now it's entire
school districts, and then itbecame at the university level,
working with athleticdepartments and training coaches
on this and working in thewellness area, and now I'm
working with CEOs and businessesand corporations, and so what

(08:20):
I've realized is that themessage doesn't change.
It's universal.
And the leadership lessons Ilearned from music I'm bringing
to the world and people arereally resonating with it.
It's been powerful.

Kellie (08:37):
You know, one of the things that I love about that,
Matthew, is that every singleone of us is the leader of
ourselves on a day in and dayout basis.
We are constantly leading inevery area of our life, in every
relationship we have, and soleadership just doesn't apply to

(08:59):
the classroom, to the boardroom, to any other room.
It applies in our everydayliving and on The P-I-G we
explore life, love, loss andreally the living legacy that
we're leaving, and this conceptof leaving a legacy through

(09:21):
leadership and how music canserve as a tool to help us grow,
heal, process, grief and beinspired when navigating life.
Love and loss is reallypowerful, and so we're really
looking forward to kind ofunpacking all the layers of that
with you today.

(09:42):
As an expert in leadership, butalso as an expert in using
music as a functional tool inyour life.
Whether you play music and I'veplayed music since I was four
years old, so it's always beensuch an instrumental part of my
world, but we include musicpurposefully in our episodes.

(10:05):
I listen to music when I'm out,on my walks and my meditation
time.
Music is such an incredibletool to help us in so many
different aspects of our life.

Yeah, absolutely yeah.
I really look forward to kindof diving into that and I love,
you know, just talking aboutthis and I know that music and
piano has been integral to whoyou are and part of your spirit.
And music is just amazing.
I can't imagine life without it.
So it's just, it'stransformative.

Kellie (10:40):
I was thinking too.
You know, a lot times people,when they think about loss and
grief, it's the passing ofsomebody that they love, that's
near and dear to them, no matterwhat the circumstances of that
are.
And here we talk about loss inall of its various forms loss of
relationships, careers,finances, identity, limbs, I

(11:01):
mean, you name it.
There's loss of all types everysingle day.
But when we talk about the lossof somebody we love, two things
go hand in hand, and to me thatis funerals or memorial
services, of whatever kind orpractice that is.
You know, whatever your beliefsystems are, whatever you do to
celebrate somebody, and theyalways have music.

(11:24):
Those two things always gotogether.

Erin (11:29):
Yeah, and that's essentially what I was going to
say is, I'm already so excitedabout this conversation because,
Matthew, your passion is justso palpable and that's been
evident since the moment I metyou decades ago.
I mean, we've known each otherforever, but I loved what you

(11:51):
said about not just passion butthe mindfulness piece of it as
well.
That's something that I'm surewe'll circle back to throughout
this conversation.
But I've always been aware ofyour passion for music and music
education and, as we've workedtogether on different projects
over the years, I've also cometo realize what an incredible

(12:16):
leader you are and theextraordinary impact that you
have on people around you, notjust your students, but
colleagues and people you mentor, and friends and family.
I mean, you're just acaptivating human being.
But exactly what Kellie was justtalking about, what you both

(12:36):
were just talking about, is, youknow, I'm somebody who I also
grew up kind of being forced toplay the piano and take piano
lessons with my sister.
I didn't quite have the samejoy doing it that my sister did,
and so when given theopportunity to quit piano

(12:58):
lessons, I quit taking pianolessons, but I was always
involved in music at some leveland I did try other instruments.
I played the violin in sixthgrade, but I was always involved
in music at some level and Idid try other instruments.
I played the violin in sixthgrade and I think my parents
very lovingly encouraged me tonot want to hear the screeching
through the household anymore,and so they were like what about

(13:20):
singing?
So.
.
.

Kellie (13:23):
That's hysterical.

Erin (13:26):
.
.
.
I did that, so my violin dayswere limited.
I wasn't as good at it as Ithought I was, and I will note
you do have a beautiful singingvoice and you have a beautiful
podcast voice.
Oh, thank you, oh, thank you.
So I did turn to singing anddid that for a short time, and I

(13:47):
played the guitar.
I really wanted to learn toplay the guitar, and so I took
some guitar lessons in highschool and played around with
that for a little bit, which hasbeen really fun, because now my
oldest son, Weston, is acompletely self-taught musician.
Matthew, I don't think yourealize this but he plays the
piano, the drums, the harmonica.

(14:08):
He played the cello for a fewyears and he took one piano
class in high school, but thatwas after he had already taught
himself how to play.
He just wanted to get someinstruction on reading music,
and so he's also an incrediblesinger, but so much of his
passion is self-taught.
Although I don't have the gift,necessarily, of playing musical

(14:34):
instruments, I do think thatevery single person on this
planet can relate to yourstatement of music just sparks
emotion.
It just does, and I know formyself like there are different

(14:55):
types of music that I listen tofor different things in my life.
When I'm working, when I'mexercising, when I'm cleaning, I
turn to music for certain typesof inspiration, and I think
that's a really beautiful thing,and I really look forward to
exploring what you have to sayabout that today as well.

Yes, well, where do you think we should go
from here?

Kellie (15:19):
Let's start here, Matthew.
When we talk about music,mindset and the power of get, I
think we should introduce get tolisteners, where all of this
really started, Because youshared with us your background
and your history, but there wasa pivotal turning point moment

(15:40):
for you.

Yes definitely, and it's fascinating
how sometimes well, this isreally a topic for this podcast,
which is sometimes the greatestchallenges we face in life lead
to the greatest lessons, Someof our hardest struggles.
When we look back, sometimes wedon't learn the lesson for
years.
Right, Something can happen andit's just.

(16:03):
It's something in our past andcould be 20 years later that
we're able to process it andrealize, well, that happened.
If that hadn't happened, thiswouldn't have led to here.
This wouldn't have led to this.
I wouldn't be who I am today.
Sometimes we learn the lessonsmore quickly, but one of the
hardest challenges is to bethinking about what is the
lesson in the midst of thechallenge.

Erin (16:25):
Yes.

And that's where I've tried to get to today
.
In my own life now, which iswhen I'm experiencing challenge,
my greatest challenges rightnow involve health.
So when I am experiencinghealth challenges, I often think
what's the lesson here?
I feel, like I'm being testedfor what purpose.
You know how am I going to growthrough this?

(16:45):
But this, the power of getlesson, is like that where I
reflected and it brought me backin time where I learned a very
valuable lesson which I've hadthe opportunity now to share not
only in my book, but been ableto share the power of get now in
over over 40 states in personand in four continents wow and

(17:09):
it's the the stories I hear frompeople that want either folks
that have read my book or heardme speak and how they've
integrated into their own life.
It's just so moving and so I'llshare the story.
And it doesn't integrate music.
It is about loss, but it'sabout the lessons we can learn
and the growth that we canexperience from loss.

(17:30):
It was September 12, 2020, andI woke up that morning in our

(18:00):
home in Neenah, Wisconsin, wheremy wife Merilee and I live, and
we have a swimming pool.
Because we live in Wisconsin,it's not open year round.
So we opened up about mid-Mayand it closes the end of
September early October, as theleaves are falling and it's
starting to get much colder, andit was September 12, 2020.
So I figured I had two to threeweeks left of the pool being

(18:22):
open, and so I woke up excited,looking forward to going for a
swim.
But when I woke up and lookedoutside, it was dark, dreary,
cold.
It's about 40 degreesFahrenheit, which was pretty
cold for mid-September day.
It was windy, but, to top itoff, it was raining, and it
wasn't just a light rain, it waslike buckets.

(18:44):
It was a Wisconsin deluge, andso when I looked outside, I
thought to myself shoot, I'm notgoing to be able to go for a
swim today.
So instead I made some tea orcoffee, or maybe both that
morning, I don't remember.
But then I did a morningmindful breathing routine and
meditation, and then I pulledout a notebook.

(19:05):
Looked much like this, actuallyjust a simple notebook with
paper, a lined paper inside, andI just started journaling.
And because of September 12,2020, I thought about the day
before September 11.
But I didn't end up journalingabout the day before.
I ended up reflecting and goingback in time to 9-11, September
11, 2001.
And on that day, I was in myfifth year of teaching as a

(19:29):
middle school band director inLoveland, Colorado.
As I drove to school that day,I had no idea that my life or
our lives were about to changeforever.
And when I arrived at school,my principal shared with me that
he had just heard something onthe radio that was disturbing,
which was that somebody hadflown a plane into one of the

(19:51):
Twin Towers.
And that's all he knew.
And we can remember back tothat day.
If we weren't in New York ornearby, the news was really
sketchy.
At first.
We really didn't have likeimmediate access to what was
happening the way we do now,where it's like instantaneously
on our phones, but back then itwas like the radio.
They were trying to figure itout what was going on.

(20:13):
So I went to my band room and Iturned on the television that
was over the whiteboard at thefront of the room and I went
directly to one of the newschannels and there was that
famous scene that we all knownow, and it wasn't just a small
plane that accidentally flewinto the towers and at that time
it was the most horrifyingscene I'd ever seen in my life

(20:34):
up to that point.
About 10 minutes later, my firststudents started coming into
the band room sixth graders, 11year old students and we didn't
get our instruments out.
We just set our instrumentsdown on the floor and together
we watched the news happen inreal time in front of our very
eyes.
And at the end of that firstclass we saw the first tower

(20:59):
crumble in flames and we had nowords.
And then the next sixth gradeband class started coming in and
again we didn't get ourinstruments out.
We just sat in silence andwatched the news.
And at the end of the secondclass we saw the second tower
crumble in flames and we had nowords.
And then I had a planned periodand a lunch, followed by two

(21:19):
seventh grade bands and twoeighth grade bands, and the
first seventh grade bandstudents started coming into the
band room and there was onestudent.
She saw that the TV was on andthe news was on.
She said can we turn the TV off?
We've been watching the news inevery class and it's just so
hard.
Can we get our instruments out?
Can we play today?
Can we make music?

(21:40):
And I said, yes, that's a greatidea.
So I turned the TV off, we gotour instruments out, we started
warming up and then we opened upour band method book, which we
were in seventh grade.
So we're just, the studentswere in seventh grade, just like
learning, you know, just thenext level of music.
And and it turned out thatnumber six in the book is the

(22:01):
first piece that teaches thethree, four time signature,
three beats in the measure.
But it was also a piece thatreally spoke to us that day, a
piece titled America, and thewords are my country tis of thee
, and that's how it begins.
And so it sounded like thisJust six measures.
But we played those sixmeasures over and over and over

(22:35):
again.
That's what we played theentire class.
And then the next seventh gradestudents came in.
We did the same thing and thenthe eighth graders had two
eighth grade classes and eighthgraders.
We got our instruments out, westarted warming up and then it
turned out that they had a pieceof music in their folder.
That was the most appropriatepiece for that day.
It was amazing grace and weplayed amazing grace over and

(23:07):
over and over again.
And on that day my students andI came to understand the true
superpower of music in a waythat none of us had ever
experienced before, not even me,even though I'd been making
music my entire life.
You see, for the first time Itruly understood what it's, what
it means when it's said, whenwords fail, music speaks.

(23:29):
Because on that day there wereno words, but we had music to
express what we felt inside inour human heart, just to play
music, to play music that hadsuch deep meaning, that
connected us, that united usreally as Americans.
That day, and as I wasreflecting on 9-11 in my journal
, I kind of shifted and Istarted making a to-do list for

(23:51):
the day, and I would often dothat journal and then make a
to-do list in the same place.
Right, and you know our livesare so busy.
It's helpful to make a to-dolist.
But oftentimes our to-do listcan feel I don't know about you,
but like almost like a halfto-do list, like a bunch of
checklists.
I just have to, if I can, justI can just get through this.

(24:12):
I've achieved something thisday, but something in my mind
flipped, being in the midst ofthe global pandemic, reflecting
on that and thinking about 9-11,I just added one word to that
to-do list and that word was get.
And it changed everything.
It's not like the things that Iwas doing changed, it was just
the way I felt about it.
So now my to-do list readsomething like this I get to

(24:35):
email Sarah, I get to call Mark,I get to prepare to teach my
music classes, I get to study myconductor scores, and then I
wrote.
I GET to dance in the rain and Iget to go for a swim, even
though it's freezing, cold andrainy.
I mean I'm telling you what.
It was so cold.
But I put on my swim shorts andwent outside and hurriedly went

(25:00):
to the edge of the pool andbecause I wrote it that I get to
go dance in the rain, I did.
I mean it wasn't a very longdance.
I need to tell you it was likea four second little jig.
Yeah, got it.
And then I dove into the pooland as I'm swimming in the pool,
I'm thinking about all that Iget to do.

(25:21):
I get to have this breath, Iget to have this life.
I get to inspire others throughmusic and inspire through
leadership.
And as I was thinking about,like this amazing life, that
everything, I realizedeverything is a get.
As I was thinking about thepower of "GET, get, I thought

(25:44):
about another incredible word.
The Power of Yet is anotherphrase that has been popularized
by Carol Dweck and her amazingresearch in the area of growth
mindset.
She has a great TED talk on thepower of yet and it's the idea
of somebody says you can't dosomething.
You respond no, you can't do ityet, and I love that as a

(26:07):
teacher, of course.
I love that because oftentimesstudents might be bewildered or
just down on themselves like, oras a music teacher, you know,
they might feel like, oh, Ican't do that, it's too hard,
and I'll say, no, no, you justcan't do it.
Yeah, we're gonna work together.
I mean, I'm gonna collaboratetogether, I'm gonna give you
strategies.
We put in some more time, alittle more effort.
We're going to focus on theprocess.
We're going to get there.
And I thought, well, why is yetso powerful?

(26:29):
Well, yet is powerful becauseit's about Erin hope and it's
about the future.
So then I reflected but what'sso powerful about get?
Why am I so jazzed about get?
And here's why you get is aboutthe present Right, it's about
the present moment.
It's the only moment that'sguaranteed is now the three of

(26:50):
us, oh my gosh Right.
The three of us get to connecttogether.
We get to have thisconversation today.

Erin (26:59):
And we get to inspire so many others.

Yes.

Kellie (27:04):
Through the airwaves.

Isn't that amazing.
And so I got out of the pooland I was just so excited I
thought, well, what if I addedmeaning to each of these letters
, G-E-T?
And I really gave each letter alot of thought and reflection.
But G just called me to begratitude.
Yes, so G is for gratitude.

(27:26):
And I just I thought about howmany times have I felt
appreciation for someone andkept it to myself and not shared
it, right?
Maybe I felt uncomfortable orawkward.
I just, or I just didn't wantto go through the trouble, but I
may.
I vowed to myself that I wouldnever withhold it anymore.
I'm not going to hold back.
I'm not going to hold back.
I'm not going to hold backappreciation, I'm going to share

(27:48):
gratitude openly.
And then E is for enthusiasm.
I just decided you know, life isshort and all you know is that
you have right now.
So I'm going to live everymoment with enthusiasm, no
regrets.
And I'll tell you what, Kellieand Erin, when I was researching
the meaning of the wordenthusiasm, because I and I'll
tell you what, Kellie and Erin,when I was researching the
meaning of the word enthusiasm,because I love to get down to

(28:09):
the origins of words, like wheredid it start?
It turns out that enthusiasmcomes from the Greeks.
The origin of the word is fromthe Greeks and it has three
parts.
And if you look at it, themiddle of that word thus means
God, and e-asm means essence,and en means within.

(28:31):
So enthusiasm translates to theessence of God within us,
mm-hmm.
And when I learned that, Ithought oh my gosh, how would
you live your life if you knewthat the essence of God lies
within you?
You wouldn't take any momentfor granted, you wouldn't wait

(28:51):
for things to be taken away fromus, like happened in the
pandemic.
So many things were taken awayfrom us and then we missed them.
Then we were like oh, I shouldhave been grateful for it, but I
wasn't.
And I thought I'm not going towait for something like that.
I'm not going to wait forsomething like that.
I'm not going to wait forsomebody to be taken away to be

(29:12):
grateful and this does apply toloss, doesn't it Right?
Because sometimes we may notcherish something or someone as
much as we could in the presentand sometimes we don't realize
that until it's taken away.
And I don't want to wait, for Idon't want to have that happen
anymore.
I want to be present and awareand and be fully with them and
with enthusiasm, and T is fortreasure, to treasure the people
in our lives and to not takeanything for granted.

(29:34):
But one thing I really reflectedon during the pandemic is what
I now call the lost or thehidden treasure, and what that
is is that many of us we're suchgivers.
We're givers I'm a teacher andI dedicate my life to serving
others and sometimes we canserve so much and give so much
that we forget to fill our owncup.

(29:56):
This became so evident in thepandemic, I think, as so many
people start reflecting as theyhad kind of time and they're
like, oh my gosh, I feel likeI'm running on empty and what
I've realized is that lost orthe hidden treasure is the
treasure that lies within eachone of us and I love just like
put my hand on my heart and justrealize that you know I am a
treasure, you are a treasure.

(30:16):
Each one of us is a treasure.
We have this, this light within, this golden light within
that's meant to be shinedbrightly and shared with others.
And so so often we suppress ourown light, don't we like society
suppresses it or our loved onesclose to us can suppress us,
almost like without intending to, or oh, don't do that, don't do

(30:36):
that, you know, don't, don'treally follow your dreams,
conform?
All those kinds of things,those messages that we get.
And that's not what life isabout.
Our life is to live into ourfull purpose of who we're meant
to be, and only you know whoyou're fully meant to be, to
become yourself authentically.
And so that's been somethingI've really shared is that when
you can learn to live your lifefully, to shine brightly, you

(30:57):
literally encourage othersaround you to live fully, to
shine their own own light, andjust imagine how the world can
change when we all shine ourlight brightly.
Because there is a lot ofdarkness in the world and
certainly the media focuses onthe negative and the fear.
But with all my travels I'verealized that there's so much
beauty in the world and there'sso much goodness in the world,

(31:20):
and we just need to highlightthat.
And so that's that's the powerof get, and, and it's really
made a difference in how I live.
I just think about every momentas I get to do this In fact, I
say that in my head like I getto do the dishes I get to, you
know, clean up the dog poopright.
You know like I get to.
You know I get to, like, getwater from the tap.

(31:41):
How amazing is that Cleandrinking water just by flipping
the tap?
I mean the things we take forgranted when over 2 billion
people in the world don't haveaccess to clean drinking water.
Those little things in life.
But yeah, so that's thatprinciple that I've shared and
it's been just so moving to seehow that one idea, this
three-letter word, it's really ashift from a four-letter word

(32:02):
to a three-letter word, shiftingfrom have to get From I have to
.
It's really a shift from a fourletter word to a three letter
word, shifting from have to getfrom I have to.
.
.
No, it's an, "I get to

Erin (32:36):
God, it's so beautiful Matthew.
And I'm over here like takingnotes, like I'm sitting in one
of your conferences like, justlike a maniac like jotting
things down.
But as soon as you said thatinitially, that's exactly where
down the get to, it just equalsgratitude.

(32:57):
It just does when you changeyour mindset.
And going back to I knew themoment you said it, when we
opened, when you used that wordmindfulness, I knew we would
circle back to it.
So this is our first circleback.

Oh, wonderful .

Erin (33:13):
But that is, it's a mindset, right, it's a choice.
.
.

yeah it is.

Erin (33:19):
Of how we get to view our lives, our tasks day to day, and
that just resonates so deeplywith me and it's such a
beautiful concept that I get todo these things and because I
have the breath in me and thecapability, then by default I

(33:41):
need to be grateful for thethings that I get to do every
single day.
That's beautiful.

Yeah, thanks, Erin.
One woman, she shared with methat she has three daughters is
a music teacher.
She's a wife, wears all thesevarious hats and I think her
daughters are like three, fiveand seven, and oftentimes it's
just a checklist that she wouldneed to get done, for example,
reading a bedtime story each ofher daughters to put them to bed

(34:09):
.
It was like I just have to dothis, I can get to the next one,
put them to bed, but dig on tothe next thing.
And after you know learning thepower of get, she realized no,
I get to read my daughter abedtime story because in a few
short years she's not going towant me to anymore, and so every
moment I have with her isreally a treasured moment.

(34:30):
When she shared that with me, Iwas just so like "wow, because
you know, I wrote originally formusic educators but now it's
touched people in all walks oflife, because when you get
beyond the classroom, you starttalking about parenting.

(34:55):
Now you're talking a universallanguage, you know, affecting
our mindset about how we thinkabout every aspect of what we do
.

Erin (35:01):
Matthew, you mentioned it really drawing you to the
present moment and that being agift, and that's why we always
say right, that's why they callit the present, it is the gift.
My mind immediately went toKellie and I's mom, Marsha, who

(35:30):
inspired this entire project ofThe P-I-G podcast and the
project that we're working onwith Chris Howard, with the
story of The Boxes, thesebeautiful physical gifts that
she wrapped and left for us tobe given at these milestone
moments in our lives that sheknew she wasn't going to be
physically present for.

(35:51):
And I can't help but smile andthink about how beautiful this
concept is and how every wordthat you just spoke likely would
have resonated so deeply withher heart and mind and soul,

(36:20):
because I just believe that shein to do this for us, that
wasn't a have to, that was amoment where she got to make
sure that she was remembered anda part of milestone moments in

(36:41):
our lives.
And so it's so beautiful tohear your words and to just let
those kind of sit in my heartand mind and soul and just to
think back on such a preciousmoment like that for her, that
was probably so difficult to do,but she did it in the moment

(37:02):
because she could and she got todo that, and I know that she
was grateful for being able todo.
But she did it in the momentbecause she could and she got to
do that, and I know that shewas grateful for being able to
do that.
Kellie, do you have anythingthat you want to add to that?

Kellie (37:11):
As you were sharing all of that, several things came to
mind, one of which I don't thinkMatthew, two of which I don't
think Matthew knows.
But yes, Erin, I absolutelybelieve that she did it with
gratitude, which is a core valuethat she instilled in you and
I, and Scott, and instilled ineverybody who was ever around

(37:33):
her have to do it because of thecircumstances.
She approached it with thatmindset of I get to do it and I

(37:56):
believe that enthusiasm to bepresent in those moments in
spirit as we opened up thetreasure that was inside that
box.
So the kind of full circle ofthat is tied up in a pretty bow
with the fact that thisprinciple came to you on
September 12th, which is the dayshe died in 1994.
Wow, and that the song thatyour students felt compelled to

(38:25):
play over and, over, and, overand over again was Amazing Grace
, which is the song that shewanted, sung by a very close
family friend, Susan Rowland,who sings our P-I-G jingle at
her memorial service.

Yeah, Wow.

Kellie (38:44):
Let's talk a little bit about each one of these words,
because there is a lot of depththere and gratitude is a guiding
principle of the P-I-G.
And we talk a lot aboutgratitude on the podcast and
each one of our guests hasrepeatedly come back to this

(39:07):
concept of gratitude, hasrepeatedly come back to this
concept of gratitude.
Erin is a passionate attitudeof gratitude b eliever; Marcus
and I are passionate with ourgratitude practices on a daily
basis, from the moment we get up, when you go into bed in a warm
, safe bed in a warm, safe house.

(39:28):
That is a privilege.
And when you wake up in themorning, just waking up is a
privilege, and putting two feetflat on the floor is a privilege
, and taking a hot shower is aprivilege, and having food on
demand and water on demand is aprivilege.

(39:49):
You write in your book this isthe very first sentence under

gratitude, on page 58: "Gratitude is the magic potion (39:55):
undefined
that shifts our mindset fromnoticing what is wrong to
looking for what is right.
That has a lot of power,because when we look for what is
right, that has a lot of power.
Because when we look for whatis right, we discover joy, which

(40:18):
is another concept that youteach, and if listeners have
listened by chance to theepisode with Jenny Thomas, who
lost her leg in a motorcycleaccident, she also lost her
husband in that accident andit's a beautiful episode and a
beautiful story and so inspiring.
Ginny would have Eeyore dayswhen she was in the hospital for

(40:39):
so long and her mother, who hassince passed, would practice
gratitude with her when she hadwhat she called her Eeyore days
and through that she started torediscover joy.
And I was sharing this conceptwith Marcus and after his dad
died which is a story he sharesand the circumstances around

(41:02):
that passing in episode three,he said episode three.
He said, wow, I mean, when Iallow, I was talking to him
about the concept of allowinggrief and gratitude to coexist
at the same time, that we canactually choose to do that, and
when we do, we can discoverwhat's right instead of focusing

(41:26):
on what's wrong.
We can experience joy.
And he said, yeah, I thinkthat's what happened when my dad
died, because he approachedthat passing very differently
than a lot of people do.
He found a lot of joy, he wentright back to work.
He wanted to work, get back tohis clients.
You have to go on living life,and so I loved that sentence

(41:52):
that you shared.
I thought that was really,really powerful.
You also said, "when we create ahabit of adopting an attitude
of gratitude, we become moreaware of things that we
appreciate.
Our field of vision andperception broadens.
We appreciate being alive.
We engage wholly to make themost of the day.
Our choices matter.

(42:13):
We can choose to obsess overwhat we don't have, or we can
deeply appreciate what we dohave.
We can focus on everything thatis wrong or notice what is
right.
When people lose something orsomeone they love, it is very

(42:33):
difficult to focus on anythingthat is right, and so that focus
on that practice of gratitude,I believe, is one of the most
instrumental things that we cando in those moments.
So I would love to hear fromyou how people might be able to

(42:54):
do that with or through music.

Yeah, well, I'll just.
I'll go back to even the storyof reflecting on 9-11.
And this, of course, wasstudents performing music, you
know with instruments, but itcould have been with voices.
You know.
We could have sung AmazingGrace or America, and there's
great meaning in different typesof music.
Right At my grandmother'sfuneral, she loved listening to

(43:22):
my brother, javier, and myselfwe both play saxophone and one
of the pieces she loved usplaying was Sweet Georgia Brown,
and some of you might noticethe Harlem Globetrotter theme
was do, do, do, do, do, do, do,sweet Georgia Brown.
Anyway.
So, yeah, great groove.
So at at the funeral, mybrother and I played Sweet

(43:44):
Georgia Brown and kind of jammedout on it.
And so music can have differentmeaning, for, like different
pieces, and, as you said, youknow, your mom requested Amazing
Grace to be performed or sungat her funeral.
Music can have great meaning,can be attached to different
moments in life.
We might pick a song for thefirst song of our wedding, or,

(44:07):
you know, the first dance, ormaybe there's the song that you
and your, your loved one, firstlistened to on the radio, and so
you remember that that momentand you know, music can be part
of celebrations and I love tothink about even the loss of a
loved one is really acelebration of their life and
and when we can, and that's whatI think that's part of the the

(44:29):
process, of the grieving process, and even, um, in a church
service, people will often sharestories and they can can even
involve humor, and as we reflectand remember someone's life and
that's where legacy is part ofit it's like we all know that we
are here for a limited time.
I think sometimes when we'reyoung, we think like maybe we're

(44:51):
immortal.
Everybody else is going to die,not me.

Erin (44:56):
I have to have this conversation with my kids all
the time.
.
.
You are not invincible.
I know you think you are at 19and 20 years old, but you are
not.

It's kind of a fun illusion to live with.
I think it's almost like tohang on to that.
But uh, I I think that to, to,to think about that legacy.
And I have a really good friendthat said, rather than leave a
legacy, this, actually hisdaughter's taught him this he's.
She said everybody talks aboutleaving a legacy.
Have you ever thought aboutjust living a legacy?
I was like like, yes, yes,every day, every day.

Kellie (45:33):
That's our theme here.

I love it.

Erin (45:35):
We talk about that all the time.
How do you leave a legacy byhow you live that?
Really is the legacy we leave.
Yes, your legacy is how youlive right now.

Yes, that's your legacy.
Yeah, yeah, it doesn't need tobe like putting your name on a
building or it's just like howyou live and how you impact
others, and oftentimes we don'teven know the difference we make
in others or for others.
We just do the best we can withintention and purpose, and
that's the thing aboutleadership is you don't need to

(46:08):
have a title.
Sometimes you're leading othersjust by doing the right thing
and being a role model andleading by example, and people
see that, and those are thetypes of things that will often
be celebrated and reflected onas we think about the difference
someone made during their timehere on this planet in physical
form.
But music, you know, it'sdifferent for everybody.

(46:32):
You know some people it's Bachand it's going to be this
beautiful classical music likeAir, energy, string or something
moving from classical music.
So for some people it's goingto be, you know, a classic rock
piece that touches them andmakes their heart, you know,
touches their heart strings.
Or it's going to be, you, youknow, a contemporary popular
song from, from this era.

(46:53):
Or you know whatever yourchildhood moved you.
You know whatever pieces, maybeit's like that, that dance.
You dance that at your middleschool, dance that is stuck with
you.
That has meaning.
I think music is very personalfor us.
You know, there there's certainpieces that seem to really make
people move.
The theme from Platoon was bySamuel Barber, adagio for

(47:18):
Strings, and it's this very lushpiece that stays on a chord for
a very long time and then itchanges chords.
But the way it moves it justreally touches people and I
think that's one of the reasonsthe movie Platoon, which is, you
know, that's many years agothat it came out when the
Academy Award, probably 40 yearsago now.

(47:40):
But when we think about moviesand the impact that music has,
particularly those moments whenwe're brought to tears, it's
often the music that actuallyleads to that.
Right, it's like, why am I somoved?
It's, but while the actor mighthave tears on their face too,
and that we often are touchedbecause we connect with that,
but it's often the music thatconnects us.

(48:01):
So music can be part of thegrieving process, because I
think one of the things we don'twant to do is to suppress our
feelings but lean into it.
So just being okay with sadnessand if that's what you feel
like, feel into that.
But you can also feel sad andgrateful at the same time.
Like you said, gratitude ismagic.

(48:22):
It really is.
It was the first thing that wasstudied deeply in the positive
psychology movement atUniversity of Pennsylvania and
Robert Emmons work and MartinSeligman's work in the area of
gratitude.
You know, and it was thissimple, like gratitude
journaling for 21 days and theimpact it had on people's
behavior and emotions isincredible.
So gratitude, you can choosegratitude.

(48:43):
That's what's amazing, and itcan be challenging sometimes.
You know if we're really upset.
It might be hard to do, but youcan.
You don't need to wait forsomething tragic to happen
before you start thinking aboutgratitude.
You can begin the practice ofgratitude today, right now.
You can focus on something orsomeone that you're grateful for
.
Just breathe it in and justthink about them and just notice

(49:05):
how your body changes when youbreathe in gratitude.
You feel it at a cellular level.
Your immune system elevates,you feel healthier, you're more
vibrant when you focus ongratitude, even in the darkest
moments, and so I just encouragefolks to think of gratitude as
a practice and to not wait forsomething really hard to happen

(49:28):
before you start thinking aboutgratitude.

Kellie (49:56):
I'm so glad you brought up science, because music and
gratitude move us emotionallyand literally change our brain.
Yes, incredible.
I mean every aspect of ourbrain, memory, our language.
So I don't know if you haveanything more to share with that

(50:18):
, but I love for those thatreally need to get into or have
that little bit more scientificbrain and I need proof, like
give me some proof thatgratitude and music are actually
going to help me heal, help meprocess, help me transition.

The number of studies that have been done on
gratitude is probably the moststudied aspect in psychology and
there's been studies on prisoninmates, gratitude journaling
versus not gratitude journaling.
Just developing this practice,see, what happens is and you can
just our listeners can just trythis on your own, no matter how
you're feeling today.
Think of something or someone,and it might just be.

(51:01):
I'm grateful for this glass ofwater, like something basic.
It doesn't matter what it is,it's just the idea that your
mind is looking for somethingpositive.
And when our mind looks forsomething positive, we literally
shift our mind into what I callthe positive realm, which
ignites the prefrontal cortexand neocortex of our brain.
And when that happens, like somuch beautiful, transformative

(51:23):
things happen.
When, when we're in theprefrontal cortex, neocortex,
part of our brain, we're betterat relationships, we're better
at communication, our immunesystem is elevated, we're
smarter, we're physically morefit.
When we're in this positiverealm, when we breathe deeply,
when taking deep breaths fromlike our stomach or from our
belly region, or you're thinkingabout gratitude or feeling

(51:43):
gratitude, you ignite the vagusnerve or stimulate the vagus
nerve, which is amazing, that'sthe longest cranial nerve and it
goes all the way, you know,from way up here all the way
through our lungs into ourdigestive system down to our
diaphragm.
And what's amazing about thevagus nerve is it helps us calm
down right.
It helps us relax and center usand ground us and it helps

(52:09):
shift us from the sympatheticnervous system, which is our
anxious anxiety stress side ofourselves, to the
parasympathetic nervous systemwhen your vagus nerve is
stimulated, and really I sharethat.
There's two practices thatanybody can just choose to shift
how they're feeling, and thefirst one is gratitude and the
second one is mindful breathing.

Kellie (52:32):
But what I love about what we're discussing today is
the third one is music, yeah, Iknow that there have been
studies too, even with peoplewho are losing memory let's talk
Alzheimer's and dementia andhow familiar songs can actually
activate the hippocampus andtrigger vivid memories or

(52:53):
actually using music to helpindividuals with those diagnoses
remember and recall and stayconnected to the things in the
people that really meansomething to them.

That's what's so amazing.
There's actually differentmemory centers in our brain and
music's in a different spot thanour other memory.
So that's why somebody whomight not even remember their
spouse's name or their memorymight be really limited,
especially short term.
You play that song from theirchildhood or something, and then
that memory will attach tosomething else.

(53:30):
All of a sudden it'll come back.
When I was about 16 years old,I had my own jazz group.
It was about six of us, sixteenagers.
We were so young and we werecalled the Midnight Junction
Jazz and we played theSacramento Dixieland
International Jubilee.
We were featured on the MickeyMouse Club show as kids Flown to

(53:54):
Orlando.
It was like anyways, that's awhole other story, that's so
cool, that is so cool.
Yeah, I know like sidebar.

Kellie (54:02):
I learned something new about Matthew today!

By the way, you can actually..
.
Apparently this is on YouTubesomehow.
My brother found it.
It's so funny because I'm 16.
I was the leader of the group.
I'm actually interviewed andthey bring me like am.
I see, I'm like, see you realsoon, okay, anyway, the whole,
the whole deal is that we'vewe've played and, believe it or
not, Sweet Georgia Brown'scoming up a lot, cause that's
actually what we played on theMickey Mouse Club.

(54:27):
But what I was going to shareis Sweet Georgia Brown also made
this unbelievable impact.
So we're at a nursing homebecause we like to do service
too, and so we, you know, we dida performance as a senior
centers and that kind of thing,and so many of the folks you
know were in wheelchairs or, youknow, couldn't walk very well,

(54:47):
and there was one gentleman whowas very still like, definitely
wasn't talking at all, but hewas out there.
They wheeled him out hiswheelchair and we started
playing.
We played things like when thestates go marching in, and we
played sweet georgia brown, andI found this out from my mom on
the break.
He started talking to my mom andhe said he said is that your

(55:08):
boy?
Is that your boy?
And she's like yes, and he'slike oh, I love this music and
anyways, uh, what we found outafterwards is that those were
the first words he'd spoken infour years.
Oh, wow, I actually wrote aboutthat in my college essay
because it just again the powerof music and it goes to exactly

(55:30):
what you're saying, Kellie,about.
Music can inspire us, it canconnect us to events, to
feelings, to scenes, to justimportant memories in our life
are so often connected to music.
It's almost like our life has asoundtrack to it, if we think
about the music we werelistening to during that era in
our life music might change, orour tastes might change through

(55:53):
life, but music's always there,even if it's in the background,
even if you're not an avidmusician, but it's there.

Kellie (56:02):
I have found, too, that during some of the most
stressful moments of my life,some of the most stressful
moments of my life that musichas been a way for me to
decompress right, because itaffects our cortisol levels and
our hormones and, like youtalked about, you know, tapping

(56:25):
into the parasympathetic nervoussystem.
But it is something that,during times of stress, which is
easily and readily associatedwith loss, that can really be
helpful too.

Yeah, and music and dance are often
connected too.
Right, music was often justconnected with dance, but like
it never used to be separated,actually Isn't that interesting.
So you think about indigenouscultures.
Most of the time, there's musicand some kind of dance
associated with the music, andso it's nice, nice to connect
music and some kind of danceassociated with the music and so
it's nice, nice to connectmusic and dance.

(56:53):
But you know, uh, having a lotof people have like the playlist
when they're going for a run orsomething, right because it
keeps you, it hypes you up andthat kind of thing, so music can
absolutely affect us and wemight like run further than we
ever imagined we could becausewe're in that zone, we're in
that flow, because the music,yeah, we keep going, keep going.
You're one of my uh motivationpieces is uh from rocky right,

(57:18):
and so when we went tophiladelphia I blasted that on a
, on an iphone, and then uh hadsomebody take a photograph of
you know, a film of me, likewith the music playing, like
running up the stairs, and butlike we associate music with,
with that scene, it's kind oflike overcoming the odds, it's
like the underdog.
We can, we can overcome this.
And music associates with somany different things.

(57:40):
And music is in weddings wemight think of particular music
in in funerals but but we areconnected.
I think it's because we aremusical beings.
Really.
Our heartbeat is rhythmic, ourblood flows, everything is
rhythmic, and it's harmonicreally.
There's a harmony to how ourbodies work, there's a harmony
in how human beings interact,and harmony doesn't mean

(58:04):
everything's always positive.
By the way, I should share that.
Harmony can be dissonant, thatmeans there can be clashes, but
there's also resolutions.
If you think about wonderfulmusic, it's not like positive
the whole time.
Even a Disney piece will havesome tension, and then
resolution keeps it interesting.
And that's the way life is, Ithink, and once we realize that
that life isn't meant to beperfectly serene and rose

(58:27):
colored every day, like thereare going to be these hills and
valleys, but it's, it's thewhole experience that enriches
it.
It's like, do you want to havebland food or you want some food
with some zest, some spice init?
Because it's like for the spicethat makes it unique and
special and and and it's likeit's your journey to live on
this, on this planet.

(58:47):
Do you want to live vanilla ordo you want to, like you know,
have some spice?

Erin (58:53):
Yeah, I do.
I love that.
I love what you said about ourlife having a soundtrack,
because that's so relatable,because you think about any show
, any movie, right, just likewhat you were talking about.
You know the highs and lows andups and downs, and it's the
score, it's the soundtrack, it'sthe music that tells a story.

(59:16):
You know, you know that it's ascary moment when the music
tells you.
It's a scary moment, right, ifyou're watching a scary movie.
But it was a Disney themed songplaying it wouldn't you know,
it just wouldn't add up rightLike very incongruent right.

It wouldn't be the same.

The Sisters (59:34):
You know we're all.
You know we all lived inColorado and I know you know,
Matthew, you and your beautifulwife Merilee got married at the
historic Stanley Hotel in EstesPark.
You know there's so many moviesthat were filmed there.
But you think about the Shiningright, yes, exactly, which is

(59:59):
probably the most famous moviethat was filmed there.
But you think about thosesoundtracks are so much of how a
story is told, of how a storyis told, and so that parallel of
our lives having a soundtrackis profound.

Dr. Matthew Arau (01:00:15):
It's really neat to kind of think of the
role that music plays in yourlife, and it does play a role in
everyone's life.
And there's joyful music andthere's music for working out,
like you said, but there's musicfor relationships, there's
music for love, and it can bevery personal, but I do think
that we are musical beings.
What I hear is that thesmallest particle is in the

(01:00:39):
universe that every matter iscomposed of is a vibrating
string.
So I think that even theuniverse is an orchestra.
If you think about the stringinstrument, or even the piano is
strings, you know.
So we're all vibrating,everything is at a frequency.
So we actually are musical andI think that's why we resonate

(01:01:00):
with music at differentfrequencies, because we're meant
to Like.
You can see, it's like a crystalglass can be shattered by like
a certain pitch, like our bodies.
Our bodies are affected bymusic and there's been these
amazing studies of even likewater.
The elements in water can bechanged based on the type of
music that's being played aroundit.

(01:01:22):
Like crystals, yeah, thecrystals will make different
shapes and be like harmonious,with like harmonious music, like
Mozart or Bach, and then youplay like some death metal and
then the crystals get like oh,jacked up, I've seen that and
we're so much water in ourbodies.
So just think about like howmusic can literally either mess
you up or like make you at yourpeak performance, based on and

(01:01:44):
how we respond, and we've seenstudies with plants being
impacted by the music that'splayed.
Like Mozart seems to be likereally popular with like helping
plants grow like to be the best.
You know so, and we're living,breathing organisms, you know,
like plants, like crystals inwater, so music does affect us
at a deep cellular level.

(01:02:07):
It's amazing.

Kellie (01:02:08):
Our daughter Lily, gave us a book for Christmas a few
years ago and it's called "TheHidden Habits of Genius Beyond
Talent, IQ and and Grit,Unlocking the Secrets of
Greatness" by Dr Craig Wright.
He is a professor of music atYale University and there's a
couple of quotes in this book Ireally love that seem to really
apply right now.
There's a couple quotes in thisbook I really love that seem to

really apply right now (01:02:28):
"Music activates more parts of the
brain than any other humanactivity and emotional intensity
.
.
.
" which enthusiasm right.
To me, that's a form ofemotional intensity drives
creativity and nothing touchesemotion like music.

(01:02:54):
Does.

Love that quote.

Kellie (01:02:55):
I thought you would.
I love that too.
A nd in your book, you talkabout Pele - who Erin knows
really well.
.
.
"nthusiasm is everything.
It must be taught and vibratinglike a guitar string

I love that so cool, even the soccer legend
pele yeah, was talking aboutconnecting music to enthusiasm.

Kellie (01:03:17):
Yeah, isn't that cool.
Hey, Matthew, can you think ofa time in your life when music

(01:03:49):
helped you navigate a moment ofprofound personal loss or a
major challenge?

Yeah for sure .
Well, it's interesting becauseI got really sick in college, an
undergraduate, and I was anavid saxophonist.
But I got so sick I wasn't ableto play the saxophone.
That was so hard on me.
I actually didn't know if I wasever going to be able to play
again because I I got so weak,so that form of music was taken
away from me, like my love ofplaying the saxophone.

(01:04:18):
But how I connected to musicwas through continuing to to
listen to music.
So just think about a musicianhaving their primary instrument
like unable to play it for ninemonths actually.
So I was still able to connectwith music through listening.
But it was really interesting.
I thought about what would lifebe like if I couldn't ever play

(01:04:41):
the saxophone again.
It really led to a lot ofself-reflection.
I was about 22 years old or sowhen this happened and I started
thinking about what reallymatters in life and while, like,
playing the saxophone was likecentral to my identity, I came
to this conclusion that thatwasn't what was the most
important thing in life.
So, by having music taken away,it kind of led to a level of

(01:05:03):
like, well, what does matter themost?
And what I realized is thatlove is what matters the most.
To feel love, to have love, tobe loved, is uh, my 22 year old
self is what I discovered.
So it's a little bit of a twist, because it was like when music
was in a way taken away theability to play the saxophone.

(01:05:24):
So when I did, when I was ableto return to playing the
saxophone, I was consumed withgratitude.
I was consumed with gratitudeto be able to.
It was definitely, it wasdefinitely a get, and that
treasure of being able toperform, but not just perform
for others, but music is so ahealing for ourselves.

(01:05:46):
You know, whether you playguitar or piano or just sing or
sing in the shower, it's healingfor us.
The process of making music andliterally singing is incredible
, because when we sing and wereally open up, we are literally
igniting the vagus nerve.
So this is an unbelievablehealing.

(01:06:07):
Your body is healing whenyou're singing.
Isn't that amazing?

Erin (01:06:11):
That is amazing.

I thought about like choirs, right?
So you think about a group ofpeople singing together and you,
often, when you listen to achoir, you feel this presence,
this kind of energy, and peoplethat sing in choirs often feel
really connected to each other,right?
It's that vulnerable experience.
When you are a vocalist,there's nothing in between who
you are and the music you'recreating.
When I play the saxophone, Ihave this chunk of metal which

(01:06:35):
feels like an extension of me,but it's not me.
But when you sing, that's whoyou are.
It's very courageous.
But when we breathe togetherwhich musicians do, whether
you're in a band or a choir webreathe, we breathe in.
I call it the Upbeat!.
The up is when we breathe inand the downbeat is on the
exhale.
When you breathe together, youactually feel more connected,

(01:06:59):
and there's a reason.
That happens is because whenyou're breathing together,
you're creating oxytocin, oroxytocin is created, and
oxytocin is a brain chemicalthat connects us.
It's the feeling you get withlike a puppy that you're petting
and you cuddle, or that feelingwe all have with like holding a
baby, that like like closenessit's like it's because it's all

(01:07:22):
this oxytocin that's created.
So when we, when we singtogether, there's like this
overwhelming flood of oxytocinthat everyone's experiencing,
and it's magnified because it'sin a group setting, and so the
ability to be able to connectand make music with others is
another just beautiful pathwayfor healing, whether it's the

(01:07:44):
loss of a loved one or the lossof a pet.
And one of the deepest losses mywife and I went through about
three years ago now was the lossof our dog, olive, and we got
Olive from a pet rescue inJanuary 2020.
And, of course, this was beforethe pandemic, but she was with

(01:08:07):
us for only two years and shewas only about five and a half
years old when she passed, whichwas way too young.
But she was the first indoordog we ever had and the first
time we ever had sleep in ourbed, and since we don't, we
don't have children.
So for us it was, she was ourbaby, and we just had this
incredible connection with her,as if she was like she was an

(01:08:29):
angel, and when we lost her itwas, you know, one of the
deepest grieving moments I'veever gone through, but music was
a way for me to kind of tapinto my grief and listening to
music that moves me, like Adagiofor Strings by Samuel Barber.
Yeah, sometimes you just needto feel into that sadness by
Samuel Barber.

Erin (01:08:48):
Yeah, sometimes you just need to feel into that sadness
and it's okay.
It is okay and we actually havethat conversation a lot Kellie
and I do on and off air about.
It's okay and everybody's griefjourney is very uniquely theirs
and you referenced this beforethat it's okay to be up in all

(01:09:11):
those feels and in all of thatemotion.
And there's no timeline ongrief.
There's no right or wrong.
And I think it was Ginny Thomasthat also said don't make your
grief.
Or maybe it was Wendy and herepisode that said don't make
your grief, my grief and mygrief is not your grief, right?

(01:09:35):
And that's exactly what Kellieand I realized when we started
having these conversations aboutexperiencing the loss of our
mom the same loss in wildlydifferent ways.
We had very differentexperiences.
We're seven years apart andwe're different human beings,
we're wired differently.

(01:09:55):
And Marcus said somethingreally incredible that has
resonated with me deeplyactually since the moment he
said these words and he said youcan turn grief into gratitude
as soon as you choose to, and itwas such a powerful statement

(01:10:16):
and, again, there's no timelineon that, but we've talked a lot
today about that choice and it'sokay to choose to sit in the
heaviness of grief when you needto do that and it's also okay
to find the joy and smile whenyou do that.
I really hope that ourlisteners continue to take that

(01:10:42):
little nugget away from ourepisodes to just allow them
their grief to be very uniquelytheir own.

Kellie (01:10:51):
On the heels of that, Erin, I'm really glad, Matthew,
that you brought up theintensity of the feeling and the
emotion of the loss of Olive,and the reason is anybody who
has ever had a pet that once ina lifetime pet dog, cat, turtle,

(01:11:13):
bird, fish, whatever it may beand especially sharing that you
know you don't have children,and so she was she really filled
that spot in your hearts.
People really feel that at avery, very deep and intense
level and I've seen that toowith our own son, Reis, and his

(01:11:35):
beautiful girlfriend Molly.
She adopted a rescue dog, frank, a big American bulldog, and
he'd been at a drug house andhad been abused and he was
running the streets of WesternColorado and she saw him and
they kept trying to catch himand they did and she literally

(01:11:57):
left, work and drove and didn'tleave until they let her take
Frank home with her.
And when Reese came intoMolly's life, frank had a really
hard time accepting Reesebecause he had.
He became Molly's child right.
Those two were extremely bondedand then Reis and Frank built

(01:12:20):
their relationship and Frankdied very unexpectedly just
about a year ago and those twohuman beings loved that dog like
a child and they miss him stillto this day.
Like a child he filled a hugeplace in their hearts.

(01:12:41):
Erin and I have experiencedthat with some of our own pets
and so that is a real, real,tangible loss for a lot of
people, and the way that youdescribed music helping you move
through that grieving processwas really beautiful, and I'd

(01:13:01):
love to know if you have anyadvice for listeners who can use
music as a tool for healing,growth or mindfulness in their
own everyday losses.

Yeah, I'm just so glad that we're talking
about these very real, authentictopics that touch everyone.
But not everybody ever talksabout these things.
I just love what the two of youare doing.
One thing that can be reallyspecial is if you can think of
music that maybe connected youand the person you lost.

(01:13:36):
Maybe you used to listen tomusic together, or maybe there's
a song that makes you think ofthat person.
Because I think, Erin, it is soimportant to remember, to
remember the memories, the funnytimes, the hard times, all of
it, everything, anything thatmakes you connect and feel

(01:13:56):
connected to that person,because, yes, their body has
left the earth, but I don'tthink their spirit has.
Their spirit lives in you, andthat music can really help you
stay connected, which is what Ithink we all want to do is stay
connected, and music is anincredible connector.
Maybe it is the ultimateconnector.
It's like the glue or the bindsus together with those memories

(01:14:20):
, those common memories.
So that's what that's what Iwould share with with listeners
is find music that makes youremember that person and maybe,
if you want to dance, dance, ifyou just want to listen and
reflect, awesome.
But use music to continue toremember who they are and who
they were.

Kellie (01:14:40):
What about some actionable tools or daily
practices that people can startto integrate more music into
their life?
And then, on the heels of that,I would love to have you give
us some background about howUpbeat! became kind of your

(01:15:03):
calling card.
Your, what is that.
.
.
What am I.
.
.
What's the word I'm looking for?
It's your name for everything,because there's a really fun
story.

Nice, yes, there really is.
There really is.
Well, accepting that music ismeaningful and powerful and
purposeful, it can make a hugedifference in your life.
Some of us can just build musicinto your life as a practice.
So you know we've heard of likehabit stacking.
So, like now, if you're workingout, make music part of that.

(01:15:35):
If you enjoy reading and thelight music helps, you know
focus, include music there.
You know music impacts peoplein different ways.
Sometimes music can help peoplefocus.
Some people it's a distractionbecause they listen to the music
and they can't do the work.
So find out what works for you.
But I love this idea of thesoundtrack of our life.

(01:15:56):
Think about the soundtrack ofyour day.
You know how can music help you,energize you?
Some people know that afterlunch they have a decline in
energy.
Well, if you know that but youneed to get your energy up
choose music to listen to.
Oh, that's going to pump you upand music can impact, as we

(01:16:17):
even said, at a cellular level.
There's a reason we feelenergized when we listen to
Upbeat! music and there's amusic that touches our heart
strings when we want to justhave that reflective time.
So choose music to listen to,almost like your playlist for
yourself, and it's going to askyou to.
You know, listen to differenttypes of music and just notice

(01:16:39):
how you feel.
How does this make me feel?
You can even journal on itListen to different styles and
how does it impact me.
What am I noticing inside?
And then including that in yourdaily routine and it'll be
amazing to see the impact.
It's your daily fulfillment.
I think including music, yeah.

Kellie (01:16:58):
And how about journaling , the practice of journaling,
and do you journal to music?

I personally don't.
I want to share for me, as amusician who's conducting music,
studying music, listening tomusic so much I also value and
treasure silence, like veryintentional about silence, and I
think that's important becausemusic is actually painted on a
canvas of silence.

Kellie (01:17:24):
Oh, that's so beautiful.
That is so beautiful.
Will you repeat that?

Yeah, so music is painted on a canvas of
silence.
So you think about that, thecomposer, and see, music, we
think, is just pure sound allthe time.
But it's not Great.
Music has repose and moments ofsilence, like I just conducted
a concert a couple of days agoand there's these incredible
like impact climax points.
There might be a fermata wherethe music holds out, sustains a

(01:17:52):
chord, and then we release andthen you just listen to the
chord resonate and it might befollowed by literal silence and
then you breathe and you bringthe music back in, and so
there's an alternation betweensilence and sound.
But music always starts fromsilence and then it stems from
being painted on the canvas ofsilence, and so in my own life I

(01:18:14):
really treasure and valuesilence.
See, our lives right now are somuch louder than they ever were
.
You know, if we could go back500 years ago, you know
pre-technology that we think oftoday.
Just think about how much morein tune we were with nature.
I had big constructionhappening out in front of my

(01:18:34):
house right now.
In fact I had to like get thetractors to move out of the way
so they could pull out of mydriveway this morning, and it's
just constant, loud.
And then think about all theelectronic noises we hear.
So you have to be intentionalto have spaces of silence and in
that silence, actually, whenyou start to like it's almost
like listen to the silence, youwill hear the music within the

(01:18:58):
silence.
For example, I like to beginthe morning now that the weather
is nicer.
I like to meditate outside.
I like to begin the morning nowthat the weather is nicer, I
like to meditate outside and Ibegin my morning meditating
barefoot, with my feet on the onthe grass is how we really
connect and center, if we canconnect to nature.
Our bodies are meant to to bethat way, to connected and
barefoot on the soil, and so Imake a start, start of the day

(01:19:21):
that way.
But when I close my eyes, eventhough you know you might think
it's silent, you realize no,it's not silent, but you know
what I hear?
I hear the birds, I hear therustle of winds.
I hear a squirrel running acrossthe top of the fence, right
that you know, and the rustle inin the leaves and the trees,
and then you start to realizethat life is music, right, and

(01:19:45):
music's all around us.
If we just open up our ears, itdoesn't have to be an
instrument or voices.
Even in New York City, with allthe noises there the traffic,
the honking of the horns if youjust close your eyes and listen
to it, it can become a symphonyof sounds.
And so, once you realize thatmusic is everywhere, whether

(01:20:06):
it's formal music or just thiscollection of sounds, you can
hear music all around you.

Kellie (01:20:39):
I love that you brought up nature, because we like to
spend a lot of time in natureand I find that listening to
everything that you justdescribed, but particularly the
songs of birds, thecommunication that they have
with each other, the beauty thatthey're emitting out into the

(01:21:01):
world, is such a great way forme to connect in what isn't
silent but it's silence.
It's not instrumental music,but it's the music of nature,
and Marcus sent this to meactually just yesterday.
Listening to birds reducescortisol, slows your heart rate
and triggers parasympatheticcalm.

(01:21:21):
Why?
Because for over 100,000 years,bird song meant you're safe.
Your body still remembers, wow.

That's absolutely right.
Yeah, I actually just readsomething very similar to that
in a beautiful book called ThreeSimple Steps, and he was
literally talking about TrevorBlake I think he's the author
and he literally talked aboutthe exact same thing that we are
connected to bird songs.
Yeah, it reminds us that we'resafe, isn't that amazing?

Erin (01:21:50):
Very cool.
That is really cool.
For me, one of my favoritenature sounds is running water.
So I like being like by a riveror creek, like I love that
sound of running water to me,that there's a lot of music in

(01:22:11):
that for me.

Absolutely.
Water is very calming andgrounding, especially for folks
like me that are very driven andwe think about, like, the
different elements.
An acupuncturist that sharedthat I'm wood energy if you
think of Chinese medicine, woodenergy, which is very like, can
get very top goal oriented Right.
And she actually advised meMatthew, you need to spend a lot

(01:22:35):
more time near water to to kindof balance me out.
So when I lived in Fort Collins,I would go on purposeful walks
by the river for that reason andanytime I'm near a lake I'm
jumping in or the ocean is justso soothing, and I will even
sometimes, if I'm by a creek orsomething, I'll actually
literally do a video recording,even if it's like 90 seconds, so

(01:22:56):
that I can go back and listento that, that sound of the water
.
You know, I think we come fromthe water, so we're just
naturally connected and you'reright, there's so much, there is
so much music in the bubblingand the movement of the water
and it's it's always changing.
Yeah, like if you really gotinto this, never the same, it's
always slightly different.

Erin (01:23:16):
Yes.

The ocean waves change every time.

Erin (01:23:19):
Exactly, Matthew.
I would love for you to sharewith us and with our listeners.
How can we all live more Upbeat!?

Yeah, I love that, Erin.
I'll share a little bit of abackground on how the idea of
Upbeat! even came to me, becauseit's really amazing and and it
follows my lovely, beautifulwife Merilee too as just
creative inspiration.
And so here's how it came to be.
I was fascinated with the topicof creating positive cultures

(01:23:55):
in music, in music education,and I was invited to give a talk
in Utah in early 2018.
And my talk was titled"Creating a Positive Culture in
Band, and I'd spent some timeinterviewing various band
directors and asking them thatquestion hey, what do you do to
create a positive culture?

(01:24:15):
I create a positive culture.
But they all kind of came upwith something that they were
proud of, that they felt createda positive culture.
So I was kind of integratingall that plus all my research on
culture, bringing it alltogether, but I thought that's
an okay title.
But I want something with alittle more pizzazz.
You know, like how somerestaurants just come with like
a one word name and it's so cool, like this breakfast place in

(01:24:36):
Colorado called Snooze.
I'm like brilliant, right, plusit's really good.
But you know, a lot ofrestaurants are coming with like
these one words and there's somany cool names of restaurants
there and often they're just oneword, right, it could be a
coffee shop or it could be likea food place, just super unique.
And so I said to Marilee and Iwas literally in this location

(01:25:00):
where I am right now, so I'mliterally in our dining room,
dining room table I was workingon my computer that I'm facing
right now and I was working onthe slides and the presentation
and I said to Marilee, who wasjust in this other room she was
through, this door is thekitchen and I said to Marilee, I
said, marilee, what do youthink would be like a snazzy.

(01:25:23):
One word title, just to make ita little more peppy.
It one word title, just to makeit a little more peppy.
It's right now.
It's called creating a positiveculture and band.
Do you have any ideas?
And she comes into the, intothis room where I'm at right now
, and she just turns to me.
She says, "hat about Upbeat!?
And I just my jaw dropped, Islammed the table and I was like
, oh my gosh, now she did notexpect that kind of response.

(01:25:46):
I mean, I was like over themoon, excited, as if, like you
know, she, just like I don'tknow, discovered the cure to
something you know and uh.
And so she looks at me a littlequizzically and says does it
also have a musical meaning?
So, just share that.
My wife, you know, wasn't inband or choir orchestra growing

(01:26:07):
up and and I always share, sheis an amazing musician.
Like you should hear herwhistle like she can whistle any
like classic rock piece, likeperfectly on pitch, with all the
nuances and stuff, and I'm like, wow, amazing.
So so she is a great musicianbut just not trained right.
So she says to me, does Upbeat!have a musical meaning?
I'm like yes, and so thisdouble entendre, because she

(01:26:30):
just was sharing "Upbeat! as inpositive, like a synonym for
positive, like you think of anUpbeat! person.
But I took it and ran with it.
I was like no see, Upbeat! inmusic has tons of meanings.
We might often think of Upbeat!as Upbeat! tempo, which we're
going to think of as a fastertempo.
Upbeat! music is usually, youknow, quicker, right.
And in music we might think ofa tapping our foot on the

(01:26:50):
downbeat.
We tap our foot on the downbeatand then we lift it on the
Upbeat!.
So if you're tapping your footto the music, boom, boom, boom,
boom, you're literallyexperiencing the downbeat.
When your foot touches thefloor, foot comes up.
That's called the and beat.
So it's one and two and threeand four and all the and beats
are literally called Upbeat!,but here's the kicker.
So glad you asked Erin.
So the kicker is as a conductor, when we give the Upbeat! to a

(01:27:15):
piece of music you may call itthe preparatory beat, but I call
it the Upbeat! we breathe inand then, when we breathe out,
that's the symbol.
And and when the hands comedown to where we started, so we
started what we call like thetable, we lift up and then we
return.
And when we return to where westarted, then the music's
created, whether it's violin,string, orchestra or the band or

(01:27:38):
the voices, all right happen onthat downbeat.
But here's the magic see,music's always created twice
First in our head, in our mindwe hear it first, and then it's
created secondly with the voicesor the instruments.
Much like a composer composing apiece of music.
They'll hear it in their headand then they write it down.
So when I study a piece ofmusic, my goal is to internalize

(01:28:01):
the piece of music ahead oftime.
So when I stand in front of theband or orchestra or choir, I
hear the music that I want tocreate first.
I already hear the whole thing,or at least that first note.
I want it to sound how I wantthe articulation to be I want,
how I want the dynamics, thevolume to be, the colors that I
want, the music, the emotion,the mood, the energy that I want
is all in the Upbeat!, forexample.

(01:28:26):
Like I could create joy withthe Upbeat!.
Like this, I could do somethingthat's going to be maybe pain
or angst, right, and I'm goingto tap into that.
I'm going to shift everything.
So I'm going to right and justgo to another place and now all
of a sudden change the sound ofthe music, right, by the way,
could you tell the difference?

Kellie (01:28:46):
Absolutely.

Yeah.
So the goal is to like,communicate all of that to the
musicians and then they reflectit in their performance.
So what I realized is I tookthat metaphor of the Upbeat!,
where we hear it in our headfirst and then it's created.
I thought, well, what if wetook the Upbeat! outside of
music for a moment?
And I thought, well, you know,in sports the throw of the
football is the Upbeat!, thecatch is the downbeat.

(01:29:09):
In basketball, the shot is theUpbeat!, the swish is the
downbeat.
In track and field relays, thehandoff of the baton is the
Upbeat! and the catch is thedownbeat.
And then I took it back intomusic catch is the downbeat.
And then I took it back intomusic.
I thought, well, the way theband, orchestra or choir takes
the stage, is the Upbeat! to theperformance?

(01:29:30):
Right?
And then I realized, like, theattitude we bring to any
situation is the Upbeat!.
So think, like the Upbeat! youbring to a music where the, the
attitude you bring to a musicwhere it's going to affect how
that rehearsal goes, theattitude you're going to bring
to a conversation with a friendMaybe you're meeting somebody
for coffee Set your intentionahead of time.
What intention do I want tocreate.

(01:29:51):
What energy do I want to bring?
That's setting your Upbeat!.
Maybe it's a meeting with aclient.
Well, what attitude are yougoing to approach that client
with?
Maybe you're meeting a friendthat you haven't talked to in
years and you set your intentionof what you want to create.
That's your Upbeat!.
The first thoughts we have inthe morning upon waking are
literally the Upbeat! to the day.

(01:30:12):
Isn't that cool?
Yes, we talked about gratitude alot today and you mentioned
that you begin the day withgratitude.
Well, that's your Upbeat! andI'll share with people.
The first thoughts that yougreet the day is the Upbeat! to
the day, but it also sets thetrajectory for the rest of your
day right, and that's why I alsohave a meditation routine
before going to sleep and I andI reflect on what I'm grateful

(01:30:33):
for, because that's priming,like your body and your mind,
for a beautiful sleep also.
So that's my Upbeat! to sleepand then my Upbeat! to waking up
, and so your day is filled withUpbeat! to down, beats as you
change events.
So, like, maybe you have ameeting with a client, followed
by a personal workout, followedby this, you know, whatever your
different events in the day,you go pick up the kids or you

(01:30:53):
make dinner, but you're allevery day of an opportunity to
choose your Upbeat!.
So this comes down to thisfollowing theme that I share,
which is our thoughts are theUpbeat! to our actions.
Our attitude is our Upbeat! toany situation, and we choose our
thoughts and our attitude.
We choose our Upbeat! and that'show I've chosen to live my life

(01:31:17):
, and Upbeat! is, rather thanfocus on what is wrong.
Focus on what you want tocreate and think about that.
That's even different than,rather than focus on what is
wrong, focus on what is right,focus on what you want to create
.
That's a whole other level.
That's being a solution finder.
That's where you like seethings differently when you get

(01:31:39):
in that state of like, what dowe want to create here?
And that incites a wholedifferent level of conversation
where you can really you'reliving a legacy when you begin
to live that way.
It's about being a thermostatrather than a thermometer.

The Sisters (01:31:55):
Yes.

And choosing to change the weather.
By the way, I do want to sharethat Upbeat! isn't about
ignoring the hard things in life.
It's not about putting on rosecolored glasses at all.
It's not toxic positivity.
It's about being real andauthentic and recognizing that,
yes, life is hard, but we canfind a positive path forward.

(01:32:17):
We can still find something tobe grateful for.
We can find a light pinprick oflight in the darkness, and
that's a beautiful thing, is?
It just takes a little bit oflight to transform darkness to
light and you can be that light,and that's how you can live an
Upbeat! life.
Leadership always comes fromwithin.
Most of my leadership trainingis more about leading ourselves
than even about leading others.
I focus so much on the internalworld first, because, really,

(01:32:40):
how we treat others is areflection of how we treat
ourselves.
How we lead others is areflection of how we treat
ourselves.
How we lead others is areflection of how we lead
ourselves, and so everything islike a manifestation of
everything that's internal.
So we begin with ourselves andthen we can lift impact, inspire
others.

Wow.
Thank you for sharing yourwhole self with us today.
You're welcome for sharing yourwhole self with us today.
Thank you for sharing yourwisdom, your passion, your
motivation, your inspirationwith us, with our listeners, and
for making a difference in thelives of others every single day
.
You truly have dedicated yourlife to that, and I know that

(01:33:22):
the takeaways from today'sepisode will be great for many.
So, as we come to a close, wewant to express our enthusiastic
gratitude for the treasure ofthis conversation today, and the
last thing we have for you aswe close is do you have a P-I-G?

Well, I love purpose, intention, gratitude.
I love that and I want tosecond it.
And I do think about my purposehere and I think thinking about
my purpose and lifting andencouraging others to achieve
their full potential has been mypurpose for many years and that
gives me inspiration to wake upevery morning, to show kindness
, to encourage someone.
And you don't have to get upand feel like you need to change
the world, you just need to getup and show up and be all in,

(01:34:13):
and when you do that and youlive in purpose, you become a
shining light for others andalong the way, you'll be lifting
others.
I just love that idea.
And then your whole thing aboutintention.
That's completely in alignmentwith with Upbeat!, right, it's
about being intentional.
So many people live their lifelike a I call it like the pin,
the pinball machine, like likethe ball, and a pinball machine

(01:34:34):
that's kind of seems so random,like boom, boom, boom, like you
never know where it's gonna go.
I know there's pros out therethat I have the whole thing
figured out, but when I play itit feels like you're always
reacting and I don't want tolive life reacting, I want to
live life with intention.
And yes, we can't controlothers, and that's important
thing to realize in life.
The only person you can changeis yourself, with intention.

(01:34:55):
But when you live withintention, then you can set your
intention for the day.
I want to be grateful, I want toshow kindness, I want to lift
others up, I want to encourageothers.
I want to lift others up, Iwant to encourage others.
That's how we can beintentional and create what I
call a ripple effect ofpositivity.
And then, of course, it goeswithout saying, g for gratitude,

(01:35:18):
amen.
Just what a beautiful way tolive our lives.
I think gratitude is part ofprobably almost every religious
text.
You know, what's amazing is thateven babies and children
naturally show gratitude foreach other.
We are meant to do that ashuman beings.
Sometimes we get away from that, so sometimes we just need a
reminder, because that's trulywho we are.
We will resonate as who we'remeant to be when we feel
gratitude and share it.

(01:35:39):
I think the world needs a lotmore sharing of gratitude and a
lot more sharing of celebrationsfor each other, because there's
so many beautiful thingshappening in the world and I
think that we are a lot morealike than we are different,
even though it seems likethere's forces out there that
try as hard as they can to makeus be divided and to highlight
our differences.
But there's love in everyoneand there's beauty in everyone,

(01:36:03):
and while we might not agree oneverything politically or
religiously, or how to raise achild or something like that, we
still want the best for ourkids and our family, and I just
think that's important toremember that we are much more
alike than different.

I am so grateful for you, Matthew, and for your
life and for the legacy that youare living.
Thank you for sharing it withus today.

You're so welcome.
It's been a joy and an honor tospend time with both of you
Folks.
This has been such a greatconversation.
I hope you've enjoyed it asmuch as I have.
If you'd like to stay connected, I encourage you to go to
powerofgetcom.
It's so amazing.

(01:36:47):
You're going to have anopportunity to take the Get
Leadership Quiz.
It's four questions and theresponses are tailored to you.
You'll get them and then I'llbe able to stay in touch with
you.
You'll get to hear about allthe upcoming events.
I share weekly emails justencouragement and leadership
tips.
So that's fabulous.
My website is Upbeat! and youmay have fun perusing that as

(01:37:11):
well, and I'm on all the socials, whether it's Facebook,
linkedin or Instagram, and justlove to be connected with you.
So it's all about connection.

Hearing the stories of others helps us create a
more meaningful connection toour own.
We hope today's conversationoffered you insight,
encouragement or even just amoment to pause and reflect on
the story you're living and thelegacy you're creating.
If something in this episodemoved you, please consider
sharing it with someone you love.
A small share can make a bigimpact.
You can also join us onInstagram, facebook or LinkedIn

(01:38:08):
and connect further atthepigpodcastcom.
And if you're enjoying thispodcast, one of the most
meaningful ways you can supportus is by leaving a five-star
rating, writing a short reviewor simply letting us know your
thoughts.
Your feedback helps us reachothers and reminds us why we do
this work, because the PIG isn'tjust a podcast.

(01:38:30):
It's a place to remember that,even in the midst of grief, life
goes on, resilience matters andlove never leaves.
Thanks for being on thisjourney with us.
Until next time.
Hogs and kisses everyone.

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