April 3, 2025 • 31 mins
What if your childhood dreams held the key to your life's purpose? For Michelle Joy, founder of the Global Joy Institute, a third-grade assignment revealed her destiny—she wrote that she wanted to "grow long legs and walk to Africa to help people." Decades later, that innocent wish has manifested as a philanthropic initiative bringing clean water, business opportunities, and educational support to communities in Uganda.
Michelle takes us on a fascinating journey from her introspective days growing up on a Midwest farm to traveling solo around the world and eventually creating an organization that brings joy to people across the globe. Her approach is refreshingly focused—rather than trying to solve every problem, she follows her specific calling and encourages others to do the same.
As both a therapist and coach, Michelle shares powerful insights about relationship communication that will transform how you handle conflict. Her simple yet profound advice about responding with curiosity rather than defensiveness provides an immediately applicable tool for deeper connection. "Can I disagree with you and try to understand you at the same time?" she asks, cutting straight to the heart of what makes relationships work.
For those feeling burned out or disconnected from their passions, Michelle offers a structured approach to rediscovering joy. Through practical exercises like journaling and addressing fears head-on, she guides clients back to what truly matters. Her message resonates deeply in today's high-pressure world: we're all born with unique purposes, and reconnecting with what brought us joy as children can illuminate our path forward.
Whether you're struggling with relationship challenges, feeling stuck in your career, or simply searching for more meaning, this episode delivers actionable wisdom wrapped in heartwarming stories of global impact. Listen now to discover how kindness and purpose can transform not just your life, but ripple outward to change the world.
#global #joy #givingback
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
Thank you so much for joiningme, for taking 30-ish minutes of
your day to listen to littleold me and my amazing guest.
(01:08):
If there's something in thisepisode that speaks to you, that
inspires you or motivates youor moves you, please feel free
to share it.
Share it with your friends,your family, your work
colleagues.
Perfect Strangers on the streetis great.
Just, you know, get the wordout and I would appreciate it.
(01:29):
And so let me talk to you aboutmy guest today.
My guest today is Michelle Joy,and she is a therapist, a coach,
a certified Enneagram We'llhave to talk about that one A
teacher and founder of theGlobal Joy Institute.
Her institute helps bring joyto people all over the world.
(01:53):
For those in developingcountries it looks like food and
clean water, and for othersit's helping people live their
dreams.
She has a philanthropicinitiative in Uganda Uganda I
guess I said that wrong whichwas a childhood dream of hers,
and she has traveled to over 35countries.
(02:14):
One trip was a solo trip aroundthe world and she helps her
clients live their best lives.
This is going to be such agreat show.
Welcome, michelle Joy.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Thank you, mike, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This is, and you know , I wish I had traveled to 35
countries, but I haven't.
But you know, traveling looks alot different nowadays, doesn't
it?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, it's been a while sincesince I did that, but you know,
I grew up on a, a farm, you know, in the in the Midwest and it
was.
It was an isolated area, but Iremember that I would kind of
lay on the hills and thepastures and I would look at the
sky and kind of ponder life.
Really I was like what is thebigger purpose?
As a kid I did that.
(03:02):
You know, why are we here?
What's this all about?
And I had a desire to expandand to see more and to
experience more.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
At that point, yeah, those are big thoughts for a kid
, though, why are we here?
I think some kids do it anyway,but I mean, that's a lot to
compliment, contemplate, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I can talk, really I can yeah, I was kind of kind of
thinking like introspective.
I've always been a prettyintrospective person and I
remember in the third grade I doremember this, but I also have
a written, written kind ofassignment still I saved it
where the teacher would ask usyou know, if you could do
(03:50):
anything, what would you do?
And this was in the third gradeI said I would grow long legs
and I would walk over to Africaand I would help the people.
And I don't know why I choseAfrica.
I don't know why at the time,but I had that in me, you know,
to have a bigger impact or tohelp people in other countries.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
At that point, yeah sure yeah, wow so that and you
did that event or where you'redoing that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Not just did it, but yeah, I, it's kind of
interesting evidence that I hadthat in me.
I think that points to the ideathat we're all kind of born
with a purpose.
You know, we're all kind ofinteresting evidence that I had
that in me.
I think that points to the ideathat we're all kind of born
with a purpose.
You know, we're all kind ofborn with something that I think
we we want to do and a reasonwhy we're here.
And you know, I'm doing a.
I'm the host and the creator ofa summit called the Life Purpose
Summit and I talked to 20different speakers and it's kind
(04:39):
of unanimous and we're talkingabout they're looking at your
fingerprints.
You know the guy who ownsRichard Unger, who owns the
Institute for Hand Analysis.
He's read 60,000 hands and he'slike you know, this is really a
blueprint and all thesedifferent.
Anyway, everybody says you know, we're all here for a reason.
We're all here to for a veryspecific, unique reason.
(05:00):
I think that kind of points tothat kind of remembering what we
were interested in as children.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, and I believe that.
I believe that you know, andhowever you want to frame that,
that we are all put on thisearth for a reason, and I think
some people they search theirwhole lives to figure out why
they're here.
Do you help with that?
(05:26):
Do you help people figure thatout?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I do, because I think what happens is, as
adults, we forget, we forgetwhat we were interested in as
children.
And it's so easy, especially ifwe're bogged down with working
full time or we have a family orall these stresses and
responsibilities.
It gets to be kind of the sameold, same old and survival mode.
And when we're in survival modeit really isn't conducive to
also being in touch with whatdrives us or what our passions
(05:52):
are.
So a lot of people say I don'treally know what my passions are
, or I forgot what they are, orI don't have any more.
And I think we just lose touchwith it because we get so
consumed with getting thingsdone and we go into survival
mode I have so much on my plate,right?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
yeah, is that, and that's, that's so cool.
Um, I had a question.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So now you are a big believer in joy so much so that
you changed your last name tothat well, yeah, you know, I
married into it, so I inheritedthis last name of joy yeah, oh,
I thought you changed it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Okay, never mind, I thought you legally changed your
last name to joy.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, well, I did, but it was a result of yeah, I
just kind of, I married this guyhis last name of Joy.
So that's how it happened, butI've used it, you know, I think
it happened to align withsomething I believe in.
So it was kind of a coincidenceor synchronicity, because I
think that part of our quest inlife as humans is like how can
(07:04):
we feel more joy?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
But, again.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I think it's.
I think it's kind of tuninginto what we're, you know, what
drives us, what we're passionateabout.
So you asked earlier, you know,about my philanthropic
initiative or my interest inhelping people in other
countries.
You know, when I, when I movedinto adulthood and I was on my
own, I found myself volunteeringa lot and I volunteered from
everything to make a wishfoundation, which I was very
(07:29):
passionate about, to spendingtime with Holocaust survivors,
just you know, it really made mefeel good.
And then I but I've always hadan interest in helping people in
(07:50):
other countries and so I didfound a philanthropic initiative
in Uganda and I call it globaljoy giving, and we've been able
to do some great things so far.
We've brought clean water, We'veput in a clean water well to
hundreds of people, and one ofthe way that was when I was
first starting out and the way Idid that was it was my birthday
(08:10):
and I went on Facebook and Isaid, guys, I have a birthday
wish.
I would love if you woulddonate to my cause and here's
what it would do and it wouldbring clean, clean water that
was the project we were workingon to these beautiful people in
Uganda.
They don't bring clean water.
That was the project we wereworking on.
To these beautiful people inUganda, they don't have clean
water, and I saw there was avideo that's showing what
they're doing instead.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And so I was able to raise funds for that for then,
and we've since done a lot ofother great things at that
location.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, and your organization, your Global Joy.
You do a lot of work withhelping people in Africa start
their own businesses right sothat they can be self-sufficient
.
I love that idea.
I've heard about it before.
I absolutely love that.
Can you tell me more about that?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
love that.
Can you tell me more about that?
Yeah, so another aspect thatwe've helped with is to for
people who have small businessto start small businesses so
that they can support theirfamilies.
So we've done things likeprovide sewing machines and
fabric to some people there andthey turn that into a business
and that's how they can supporttheir families.
So really helping empower womenand helping get you know being
able to provide for theirfamilies.
(09:26):
We've also brought somescholastic supplies and food to
the children in school and theattendance has really grown
since then.
So that's feeding, you know,hundreds of children in school,
yeah, yeah, so we've had acouple different projects and
it's really been gratifyingcouple different projects and
(09:49):
it's really been gratifying.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I'm wondering now, with the world as it is, with
the news and everything, do yousee an opportunity for Global
Joy now that some people arepulling back from that space,
you know, like with the closureof USAID, do you see an
opportunity for GlobalJoy to bemore of a player in that area?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Possibly, so I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I ambushed you with that question and I apologize.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, if I understand what you're asking, um,
possibly so it's.
It's a very small organizationright now and I actually like it
that way, because I can seeexactly where any funds that I'm
donating goes.
I can tell any donate donatedonators, I can show them where
their funds are going withphotos and videos.
Um, so, yeah, I so okay I likethe size of it right now.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I don't want to be some huge multinational
corporation or LLC or org orwhatever the case may be.
I get it.
I understand that.
I mean yeah, so talk to meabout your.
I'm losing my.
(11:12):
I've lost my hearing, I think.
Talk to me more about the workthat you do as far as mentoring
or coaching.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Sure, sure.
I just wanted to say one lastthing about the philanthropic
initiative before I forget, andthen I'll move into the coaching
part, which is, you know, alongthe way, a lot of people say,
like why don't you help thehomeless people up the street?
You know, I think just right inyour own town, you know people
need help and it's true, but I'mkind of a believer in doing
(11:50):
what we feel called to do really, and what I feel a passion for.
So I think people need help allover the place.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Oh for sure, In terms of the coaching I mean there
are.
Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.
There is so much need all overthe world and I don't think
anybody can fault one person forfocusing on one area versus
another.
I know I talked to a guyearlier today that is trying to
(12:18):
just end school lunch debt inhis area.
We each have a thing that we'recalled to do and I don't think
anybody should be able to judgethat.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I think so too.
Like I said, I'm a believer ineach person kind of doing what
they're called to do, and Ithink that's why we're here, and
that's a little bit about whatI would say in terms of you
asked about the coaching andmentoring, and that's really
what I help people do.
So I do a few different thingswhen it comes to coaching and
mentoring.
One of them is I help peoplecommunicate better with each
(12:52):
other.
I think that's really importantbecause it provides peace in
the family and peace in the homefor children to grow up in.
I think when we are in arelationship, we kind of go off
of what we learned when we werekids.
We watched our parents andthey're just our parents.
We're all doing the best we can,but nobody really teaches us
(13:13):
how to be respectful with eachother, how to communicate, how
to be heard.
So I'm very passionate aboutteaching people communication
and conflict resolution to bringmore peace.
I think that has a rippleeffect outside the home.
So that's one portion of what Ido yeah, on that subject.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
What do you see the most often in your business in
that area?
The communication that peopleare doing wrong.
A couple comes to you and aredoing wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
A couple comes to you and yeah, here's a pretty key
area that a lot of people aredoing wrong is because I don't
agree with you.
I have to interrupt what you'resaying and get defensive.
So let's say, my partner tellsme I'm controlling.
Let's just say that and thenit's like okay, I'm going to get
defensive, I don't agree withyou, rather than saying tell me
(14:12):
more.
When do you think I'm that wayand what's?
How's that feel toward you andwhat are some examples.
And I think if we just getdefensive, we miss an
opportunity to understand ourpartner and maybe to to grow
right and to become a betterperson and a better partner and
improve our relationship.
To become a better person and abetter partner and improve our
relationship.
So that's probably the numberone.
Can I disagree with you and tryto understand you at the same
(14:35):
time?
That's probably a core piece ofimproving communication.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Oh sure, yeah, I know , and you started to say that
and I held up this mirror andI'm like, yeah, I'm totally
guilty of that.
I know exactly what you'retalking about, and, yeah, your
life, your relationship would beso much better if you listened
(15:00):
more obviously.
And so it's asking open-endedquestions, is that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, it's really open-ended questions.
Is that?
Yeah, it's really being exactly.
It's being curious and seekingto to understand our partner's
reality, even if we don't agreewith it.
We always think, oh, I have toagree with what you're saying.
It's usually like, no, that'snot fair, and you're, I don't
agree with how your paint thepicture of me.
Me is inaccurate, and then it'sjust off and and I think that
can really stifle relationships.
(15:31):
And I think if we wantcloseness, connection, conflict
resolution, understanding, itreally takes a willingness in
myself to withstand thediscomfort of hearing my
partner's truth and their ownperspective, because we're two
different people, it's going tobe different.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So it takes a willingness to be comfortable
yeah yeah, yeah, absolutely okay.
So that was one aspect of it.
Talk to me more yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So then the other aspect and I feel equally
passionate about this too is,you know, having people kind of
live their best life.
You, you know, I don't think.
I know that we haveresponsibilities and things that
we need to do, but there's somuch more to life than that and
I just, I don't know for me,I've always tried to stay
plugged into that.
I haven't always beensuccessful.
I have gone off track myself,I've gotten lost.
(16:22):
I've been lost, but I just feelso passionate about, um,
staying plugged into the ideathat there idea that there's a
lot to life and there's morethan just the stress that's in
front of us and a higher way ofviewing things.
So I help people understandwhat their passions are, what
their purpose is, what theirgifts are, and to help them
(16:44):
really feel like they'reexpressing that and living their
life in alignment with that.
I work with a lot of people.
I live in northern california.
This is where silicon valley is, you know a?
lot of the corporations andstuff, and it's it's.
There's a lot of stress goingon around here, maybe in all
parts of the world, but a lot ofpressure, a lot of comparison,
a lot of.
(17:04):
So I work with a lot of peoplewho burn out and feeling like I
have to stay at this job becauseof A, b and C, or I need to do
this, there's no other options,and I just don't have the
quality of life that I'm seeing.
I just don't think that this isthe way to go.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Like the tech industry.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, just in general , I think we can get burned out
in any industry.
I mean as a, as a therapist,I've gotten burned out before,
so I think we just have to beaware of you, know what we're
doing and and you know trying totake breaks and is this really
the career that I want to be in?
A lot of people aren't in thecareer that they want to be in,
(17:47):
but they feel forced to do it.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I know my son has been doing the same type of work
for probably 15 years.
We were talking the other dayand he says I can't do this
forever.
I can't keep doing this.
I have to find a new job.
And I'm like you know, whateveryou want to do is great.
I can't advise you.
I mean 20 years ago, I was letgo from a job and and I said to
(18:22):
my wife she was my fiance at thetime I said, okay, I want to
start my own business.
What do you, what would youlike to do?
And she said I've alwaysthought about owning a cleaning
business.
I'm like, really, because I hadnever, ever considered it and I
bet we've been doing it now for20 years and I'm every day.
I'm happy to go to work becauseI get to see the difference
(18:47):
that we make on other people'slives.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
See exactly and something like that, like
whatever feels fulfillingbecause I think it should be
fulfilling and we say like howcan I look forward to getting up
in the morning?
But see what you just said, youfeel like you're making a
difference in other people'slives.
I think in some way we have tohave that kind of meaning in our
life or that kind of purpose,like something greater than
yourselves is unfolding throughthe work that we're doing or the
(19:16):
actions we're taking.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Absolutely.
We clean for busy parents, busypeople that have children and
families, and I look at that andI go, okay, I'm taking one more
thing off of their to-do listfor that week or what have you.
And I know that when they comehome and they walk into a house
(19:42):
that's cleaned and there's notoys on the floor and the dishes
aren't in the sink no toys onthe floor and the dishes aren't
in the sink that I made apositive difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We made a positive sorry, honey, we made a positive
difference in their lives.
You know, oh, absolutely, andI'm hearing loud and clear what
you're saying as being so true,not only because I'm one of
those people I mean, I'm married, have a child, and I'm one of
those people but also the many,many hundreds of couples I've
come across where that is somuch the case, where they would
probably bow down to you rightnow and say thank you so much
for taking, you know, for help,Because, boy, we get so busy and
(20:19):
bogged down.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh, yeah, yeah it is.
And you walk in at the end ofthe day without a house cleaner
and you know the house, maybefive minutes after you get home,
may be completely destroyedagain.
But for that brief moment intime everything was perfect.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Right, it never stays that way.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, no, you let the dogs out, you let the kids get
home from school.
A backpack goes over there andthere's a peanut butter sandwich
on the counter and yeah, itdoesn't stay that way.
But yeah, I mean.
So how do you lead somebody?
And you got a hundred differentclients that are going to have
(21:03):
a hundred different answers buthow do you lead somebody to find
that joy in their life?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I'd like to give you an example, I think, of
something I ended up walkingmyself through.
So this was years ago.
I mean, I love traveling, right.
I love just getting out andseeing the world, but in one
case I had a passion to do it bymyself.
I'm like no, I want to go aloneand I want to be gone for about
six months and I don't want tostay in one place, I want to
(21:34):
kind of hop around, and that wasreally scary for me.
It was a scary thought.
I also figured that's God,that's irresponsible.
Look at all the money you'regoing to waste.
It felt to me like wastingmoney.
You're responsible.
It was scary.
What if something happens?
And so it kept me stuck for awhile, but I am a believer in
(21:59):
hey, if this thing is coming toyou so strongly that it's meant
for you to do it, I'm just abeliever in that, and so I was
saying no to it for a very longtime because of all the things I
just told you.
So it was like a battle betweenhey, you should do this versus
no, I'm scared.
Yeah, exactly.
So I really kind of I startedfirst with number one, believing
that if I have a stronginclination to do something, I
(22:21):
think I should do it.
I just think for me that's howlife is supposed to be.
And then step two is okay, Ihave to address the fears or the
things that are in the way.
So I got them out of my head,wrote them all on paper, got
them, got them down Some of themwere.
I looked at them.
Okay, some of them areirrational.
Is it really irresponsible?
I think those are old voicesfrom my past.
(22:42):
I learned that from people frommy past so kind of worked on
those.
And then some of them were werereasonable.
Like what, if you're not safe,that's a reasonable thing.
Okay, what can I do here?
So I found ways to kind of geton certain websites and talk to
other in some cases helpful totalk to other women, or were you
safe as a woman in this country?
Uh.
(23:02):
And got some, got some realgrounded planning under my belt
and say, okay, if I go to Egypt,maybe I won't go alone, maybe
I'll have a friend come or joina tour group there for things
like that, so that helped withthose fears Nice.
Yeah, so I think it's thatprocess, a similar process.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
So taking a I'm sorry , taking a very precision,
deliberate approach toaddressing the things that have
you stuck, so that you're notstuck anymore.
That was a really simplisticway to look at it.
I get it, but I mean, is thatbasically what we're talking
(23:44):
about here?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think that's at least part of it.
I mean, sometimes people don'treally know what they want to do
or what drives them or what'sinteresting.
And I'll say I think we have toget back in touch with what we
enjoyed doing as kids and orspend some time alone, get out
of the rat race, get out of thebusy, busy, busy and really
spend some time with eitherjournaling and writing it down
(24:07):
or being alone in nature andseeing what surfaces and
beginning to ask ourself youknow what would really bring me
joy every day.
It doesn't have to be somethingbig.
I'm not telling people to goand travel around the world.
That's not my point at all.
You know, sometimes it'ssomething we start with,
whatever it is.
I would like to, you know, have10 minutes a day to go stand
(24:30):
outside in the sun.
I don't know what it is, butjust something, what can bring
me joy.
And sometimes it's like, ifit's not big, I'm not going to
do anything.
But we start with, just go withthe small stuff.
We start judging these thingsin our head instead of just
going with it.
So to me, it's that getting intouch with what we want.
And then, yes, the second partis we're always going to hear a
(24:52):
yeah, but, yeah, but, and so wehave to get that out of our head
, put it on paper and then lookat it one at a time and say this
is what's keeping me stuck.
What can I do about thissituation?
Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You were talking about writing down your fears
and then going through with thelist, and I immediately thought
of journaling.
That's a huge help forsomething like this, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It's a huge help because I think when it's in our
head, god, anxiety can swirlaround and around and around.
But getting it out now we'veexternalized it and I think if
we get it out of our head, wecan look at it more objectively,
because it's not just in, weput it down, we can see what it
is and it allows for us todiscover or explore what can we
do with these things?
(25:39):
Well, some of this is alegitimate concern.
You know.
This one's not just anirrational fear.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, so it comes up with a game plan and helps us
get unstuck yeah, for sure, um,and I, I I've been there and
with the wheel around in yourhead and and oh, we all have
been.
I guess I shouldn't say it.
It's not unique to me, but yeah, it oftentimes looks a lot
(26:13):
different when you're looking atit written down than when it's
swirling around in your head,right?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Absolutely.
And something else that I'vedone is I've written it down,
gotten those things out of myhead, put them down, and then
I'll wait for about a week, andI've even mailed myself a letter
before.
In the past I've mailed myselfa letter and thought pretend
that somebody is mailing you aletter and you're the wise
wizard and they need help withfiguring out how to navigate
(26:42):
these things.
And then I'll just pretend it'snot me and I'll write back, and
then I'll wait another week andI'll read it and see if that is
a higher way of looking at itor I'll just do it right on the
spot too.
But I think putting some spacein there is helpful, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
It gives you perspective, right.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, but sometimes we can't do that stuff on our
own and we need the help of anoutside person who is not in it,
where they can see things moreclearly, because we all have
blind spots and sometimes wedon't know how to sidestep them.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
so, like a coach or a mentor something is helpful I
was gonna say, that's where youcome in yeah nice.
Uh, one last thing before wewrap up.
Talk to me about Marriage Prep101.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, marriage Prep 101 is a bit of a subsidiary of
the first sort of way that Ihelp people, which is helping
people have great relationships,and I work with a lot of part
of the population I work with ascouples and sometimes they've
been together 25 years and I seewhere they've gotten off track
and if only we could havestarted off on a different foot
(27:55):
in the beginning.
It would make a difference.
So I'm real passionate abouthey, when you're first dating,
or you're before you're married,or you're newlyweds, let's
learn some really effectivetools that may not be common
knowledge for you to instill soyou can start off on a positive
trajectory in your relationship.
And if you both decide to thatyou're going to do this from
(28:18):
this day forward, you know itcan really make a difference in
the longevity of yourrelationship.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
It's a seven hour, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
What longevity of your relationship.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, it's a seven-hour.
I'm sorry what?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's a seven-hour structured program where we walk
through like just some mainparts of a relationship and you
know what's helpful tounderstand about each other,
tools to learn and things likethat.
So that's just another servicethat I offer.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
tools to learn and things like that.
So that's just another servicethat I offer, just another
service from the many faceted,michelle Joy.
Oh, michelle, it was so lovelyhaving you on and speaking with
you.
I absolutely love everythingyou're doing and you're making
such a positive difference inthe world.
I really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Thank you and thank you for what you're doing as
well.
I really appreciate you.
Thank you and thank you forwhat you're doing as well.
I love the message behind whatyou're doing.
I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I, yeah, thank you.
The more people who can hearabout and and maybe be inspired
by, by kindness of others, Ithink it's certainly a good
thing.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yes so.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I appreciate you.
Your episode will come out thefirst week of April and we'll
talk in between there.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Okay, wonderful, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're welcome, take care.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Okay, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I want to thank you for taking this time to listen
to this episode with my guest,michelle Joy, and I hope that
you're able to take somethingpositive from the time that you
shared with us.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
(30:08):
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends, your family,
your work colleagues.
Strangers on the street?
No, okay, maybe not.
That might not be a good thing,but you know I'm always
striving to offer you a betterpodcast and so, in that vein,
feel free to give me somefeedback.
(30:28):
Let me know how you think I'mdoing.
You can email me, you can leavea message on my socials.
Anything at all would mean theworld.
Also, feel free to follow us onsocials like Facebook,
instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
(30:48):
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or have a podcastalready and are looking for a
supportive network to join,check out maydaymedianetworkcom
and check out the many differentshows like afrocentric spoil,
(31:10):
my movie generation mixtape in apickle radio show, wake up and
dream with d anthony palin,stacks of packs and the time
palettes.
We'll be back again next weekwith a new episode, and we would
be honored if you would join us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
(31:31):
I am your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizations,that are simply striving to
make their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free, Go
ahead and follow us on all ofyour social media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the showeverybody.
Thank you so much for joiningme, for taking 30-ish minutes of
your day to listen to littleold me and my amazing guest.
(01:08):
If there's something in thisepisode that speaks to you, that
inspires you or motivates youor moves you, please feel free
to share it.
Share it with your friends,your family, your work
colleagues.
Perfect Strangers on the streetis great.
Just, you know, get the wordout and I would appreciate it.
(01:29):
And so let me talk to you aboutmy guest today.
My guest today is Michelle Joy,and she is a therapist, a coach,
a certified Enneagram We'llhave to talk about that one A
teacher and founder of theGlobal Joy Institute.
Her institute helps bring joyto people all over the world.
(01:53):
For those in developingcountries it looks like food and
clean water, and for othersit's helping people live their
dreams.
She has a philanthropicinitiative in Uganda Uganda I
guess I said that wrong whichwas a childhood dream of hers,
and she has traveled to over 35countries.
(02:14):
One trip was a solo trip aroundthe world and she helps her
clients live their best lives.
This is going to be such agreat show.
Welcome, michelle Joy.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Thank you, mike, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This is, and you know , I wish I had traveled to 35
countries, but I haven't.
But you know, traveling looks alot different nowadays, doesn't
it?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Absolutely, yeah.
Yeah, it's been a while sincesince I did that, but you know,
I grew up on a, a farm, you know, in the in the Midwest and it
was.
It was an isolated area, but Iremember that I would kind of
lay on the hills and thepastures and I would look at the
sky and kind of ponder life.
Really I was like what is thebigger purpose?
As a kid I did that.
(03:02):
You know, why are we here?
What's this all about?
And I had a desire to expandand to see more and to
experience more.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
At that point, yeah, those are big thoughts for a kid
, though, why are we here?
I think some kids do it anyway,but I mean, that's a lot to
compliment, contemplate, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I can talk, really I can yeah, I was kind of kind of
thinking like introspective.
I've always been a prettyintrospective person and I
remember in the third grade I doremember this, but I also have
a written, written kind ofassignment still I saved it
where the teacher would ask usyou know, if you could do
(03:50):
anything, what would you do?
And this was in the third gradeI said I would grow long legs
and I would walk over to Africaand I would help the people.
And I don't know why I choseAfrica.
I don't know why at the time,but I had that in me, you know,
to have a bigger impact or tohelp people in other countries.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
At that point, yeah sure yeah, wow so that and you
did that event or where you'redoing that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Not just did it, but yeah, I, it's kind of
interesting evidence that I hadthat in me.
I think that points to the ideathat we're all kind of born
with a purpose.
You know, we're all kind ofinteresting evidence that I had
that in me.
I think that points to the ideathat we're all kind of born
with a purpose.
You know, we're all kind ofborn with something that I think
we we want to do and a reasonwhy we're here.
And you know, I'm doing a.
I'm the host and the creator ofa summit called the Life Purpose
Summit and I talked to 20different speakers and it's kind
(04:39):
of unanimous and we're talkingabout they're looking at your
fingerprints.
You know the guy who ownsRichard Unger, who owns the
Institute for Hand Analysis.
He's read 60,000 hands and he'slike you know, this is really a
blueprint and all thesedifferent.
Anyway, everybody says you know, we're all here for a reason.
We're all here to for a veryspecific, unique reason.
(05:00):
I think that kind of points tothat kind of remembering what we
were interested in as children.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, and I believe that.
I believe that you know, andhowever you want to frame that,
that we are all put on thisearth for a reason, and I think
some people they search theirwhole lives to figure out why
they're here.
Do you help with that?
(05:26):
Do you help people figure thatout?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I do, because I think what happens is, as
adults, we forget, we forgetwhat we were interested in as
children.
And it's so easy, especially ifwe're bogged down with working
full time or we have a family orall these stresses and
responsibilities.
It gets to be kind of the sameold, same old and survival mode.
And when we're in survival modeit really isn't conducive to
also being in touch with whatdrives us or what our passions
(05:52):
are.
So a lot of people say I don'treally know what my passions are
, or I forgot what they are, orI don't have any more.
And I think we just lose touchwith it because we get so
consumed with getting thingsdone and we go into survival
mode I have so much on my plate,right?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
yeah, is that, and that's, that's so cool.
Um, I had a question.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So now you are a big believer in joy so much so that
you changed your last name tothat well, yeah, you know, I
married into it, so I inheritedthis last name of joy yeah, oh,
I thought you changed it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Okay, never mind, I thought you legally changed your
last name to joy.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, well, I did, but it was a result of yeah, I
just kind of, I married this guyhis last name of Joy.
So that's how it happened, butI've used it, you know, I think
it happened to align withsomething I believe in.
So it was kind of a coincidenceor synchronicity, because I
think that part of our quest inlife as humans is like how can
(07:04):
we feel more joy?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
But, again.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I think it's.
I think it's kind of tuninginto what we're, you know, what
drives us, what we're passionateabout.
So you asked earlier, you know,about my philanthropic
initiative or my interest inhelping people in other
countries.
You know, when I, when I movedinto adulthood and I was on my
own, I found myself volunteeringa lot and I volunteered from
everything to make a wishfoundation, which I was very
(07:29):
passionate about, to spendingtime with Holocaust survivors,
just you know, it really made mefeel good.
And then I but I've always hadan interest in helping people in
(07:50):
other countries and so I didfound a philanthropic initiative
in Uganda and I call it globaljoy giving, and we've been able
to do some great things so far.
We've brought clean water, We'veput in a clean water well to
hundreds of people, and one ofthe way that was when I was
first starting out and the way Idid that was it was my birthday
(08:10):
and I went on Facebook and Isaid, guys, I have a birthday
wish.
I would love if you woulddonate to my cause and here's
what it would do and it wouldbring clean, clean water that
was the project we were workingon to these beautiful people in
Uganda.
They don't bring clean water.
That was the project we wereworking on.
To these beautiful people inUganda, they don't have clean
water, and I saw there was avideo that's showing what
they're doing instead.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And so I was able to raise funds for that for then,
and we've since done a lot ofother great things at that
location.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, and your organization, your Global Joy.
You do a lot of work withhelping people in Africa start
their own businesses right sothat they can be self-sufficient
.
I love that idea.
I've heard about it before.
I absolutely love that.
Can you tell me more about that?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
love that.
Can you tell me more about that?
Yeah, so another aspect thatwe've helped with is to for
people who have small businessto start small businesses so
that they can support theirfamilies.
So we've done things likeprovide sewing machines and
fabric to some people there andthey turn that into a business
and that's how they can supporttheir families.
So really helping empower womenand helping get you know being
able to provide for theirfamilies.
(09:26):
We've also brought somescholastic supplies and food to
the children in school and theattendance has really grown
since then.
So that's feeding, you know,hundreds of children in school,
yeah, yeah, so we've had acouple different projects and
it's really been gratifyingcouple different projects and
(09:49):
it's really been gratifying.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I'm wondering now, with the world as it is, with
the news and everything, do yousee an opportunity for Global
Joy now that some people arepulling back from that space,
you know, like with the closureof USAID, do you see an
opportunity for GlobalJoy to bemore of a player in that area?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Possibly, so I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
I ambushed you with that question and I apologize.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, if I understand what you're asking, um,
possibly so it's.
It's a very small organizationright now and I actually like it
that way, because I can seeexactly where any funds that I'm
donating goes.
I can tell any donate donatedonators, I can show them where
their funds are going withphotos and videos.
Um, so, yeah, I so okay I likethe size of it right now.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I don't want to be some huge multinational
corporation or LLC or org orwhatever the case may be.
I get it.
I understand that.
I mean yeah, so talk to meabout your.
I'm losing my.
(11:12):
I've lost my hearing, I think.
Talk to me more about the workthat you do as far as mentoring
or coaching.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Sure, sure.
I just wanted to say one lastthing about the philanthropic
initiative before I forget, andthen I'll move into the coaching
part, which is, you know, alongthe way, a lot of people say,
like why don't you help thehomeless people up the street?
You know, I think just right inyour own town, you know people
need help and it's true, but I'mkind of a believer in doing
(11:50):
what we feel called to do really, and what I feel a passion for.
So I think people need help allover the place.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Oh for sure, In terms of the coaching I mean there
are.
Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.
There is so much need all overthe world and I don't think
anybody can fault one person forfocusing on one area versus
another.
I know I talked to a guyearlier today that is trying to
(12:18):
just end school lunch debt inhis area.
We each have a thing that we'recalled to do and I don't think
anybody should be able to judgethat.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I think so too.
Like I said, I'm a believer ineach person kind of doing what
they're called to do, and Ithink that's why we're here, and
that's a little bit about whatI would say in terms of you
asked about the coaching andmentoring, and that's really
what I help people do.
So I do a few different thingswhen it comes to coaching and
mentoring.
One of them is I help peoplecommunicate better with each
(12:52):
other.
I think that's really importantbecause it provides peace in
the family and peace in the homefor children to grow up in.
I think when we are in arelationship, we kind of go off
of what we learned when we werekids.
We watched our parents andthey're just our parents.
We're all doing the best we can,but nobody really teaches us
(13:13):
how to be respectful with eachother, how to communicate, how
to be heard.
So I'm very passionate aboutteaching people communication
and conflict resolution to bringmore peace.
I think that has a rippleeffect outside the home.
So that's one portion of what Ido yeah, on that subject.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
What do you see the most often in your business in
that area?
The communication that peopleare doing wrong.
A couple comes to you and aredoing wrong.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
A couple comes to you and yeah, here's a pretty key
area that a lot of people aredoing wrong is because I don't
agree with you.
I have to interrupt what you'resaying and get defensive.
So let's say, my partner tellsme I'm controlling.
Let's just say that and thenit's like okay, I'm going to get
defensive, I don't agree withyou, rather than saying tell me
(14:12):
more.
When do you think I'm that wayand what's?
How's that feel toward you andwhat are some examples.
And I think if we just getdefensive, we miss an
opportunity to understand ourpartner and maybe to to grow
right and to become a betterperson and a better partner and
improve our relationship.
To become a better person and abetter partner and improve our
relationship.
So that's probably the numberone.
Can I disagree with you and tryto understand you at the same
(14:35):
time?
That's probably a core piece ofimproving communication.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Oh sure, yeah, I know , and you started to say that
and I held up this mirror andI'm like, yeah, I'm totally
guilty of that.
I know exactly what you'retalking about, and, yeah, your
life, your relationship would beso much better if you listened
(15:00):
more obviously.
And so it's asking open-endedquestions, is that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, it's really open-ended questions.
Is that?
Yeah, it's really being exactly.
It's being curious and seekingto to understand our partner's
reality, even if we don't agreewith it.
We always think, oh, I have toagree with what you're saying.
It's usually like, no, that'snot fair, and you're, I don't
agree with how your paint thepicture of me.
Me is inaccurate, and then it'sjust off and and I think that
can really stifle relationships.
(15:31):
And I think if we wantcloseness, connection, conflict
resolution, understanding, itreally takes a willingness in
myself to withstand thediscomfort of hearing my
partner's truth and their ownperspective, because we're two
different people, it's going tobe different.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
So it takes a willingness to be comfortable
yeah yeah, yeah, absolutely okay.
So that was one aspect of it.
Talk to me more yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So then the other aspect and I feel equally
passionate about this too is,you know, having people kind of
live their best life.
You, you know, I don't think.
I know that we haveresponsibilities and things that
we need to do, but there's somuch more to life than that and
I just, I don't know for me,I've always tried to stay
plugged into that.
I haven't always beensuccessful.
I have gone off track myself,I've gotten lost.
(16:22):
I've been lost, but I just feelso passionate about, um,
staying plugged into the ideathat there idea that there's a
lot to life and there's morethan just the stress that's in
front of us and a higher way ofviewing things.
So I help people understandwhat their passions are, what
their purpose is, what theirgifts are, and to help them
(16:44):
really feel like they'reexpressing that and living their
life in alignment with that.
I work with a lot of people.
I live in northern california.
This is where silicon valley is, you know a?
lot of the corporations andstuff, and it's it's.
There's a lot of stress goingon around here, maybe in all
parts of the world, but a lot ofpressure, a lot of comparison,
a lot of.
(17:04):
So I work with a lot of peoplewho burn out and feeling like I
have to stay at this job becauseof A, b and C, or I need to do
this, there's no other options,and I just don't have the
quality of life that I'm seeing.
I just don't think that this isthe way to go.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Like the tech industry.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, just in general , I think we can get burned out
in any industry.
I mean as a, as a therapist,I've gotten burned out before,
so I think we just have to beaware of you, know what we're
doing and and you know trying totake breaks and is this really
the career that I want to be in?
A lot of people aren't in thecareer that they want to be in,
(17:47):
but they feel forced to do it.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I know my son has been doing the same type of work
for probably 15 years.
We were talking the other dayand he says I can't do this
forever.
I can't keep doing this.
I have to find a new job.
And I'm like you know, whateveryou want to do is great.
I can't advise you.
I mean 20 years ago, I was letgo from a job and and I said to
(18:22):
my wife she was my fiance at thetime I said, okay, I want to
start my own business.
What do you, what would youlike to do?
And she said I've alwaysthought about owning a cleaning
business.
I'm like, really, because I hadnever, ever considered it and I
bet we've been doing it now for20 years and I'm every day.
I'm happy to go to work becauseI get to see the difference
(18:47):
that we make on other people'slives.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
See exactly and something like that, like
whatever feels fulfillingbecause I think it should be
fulfilling and we say like howcan I look forward to getting up
in the morning?
But see what you just said, youfeel like you're making a
difference in other people'slives.
I think in some way we have tohave that kind of meaning in our
life or that kind of purpose,like something greater than
yourselves is unfolding throughthe work that we're doing or the
(19:16):
actions we're taking.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Absolutely.
We clean for busy parents, busypeople that have children and
families, and I look at that andI go, okay, I'm taking one more
thing off of their to-do listfor that week or what have you.
And I know that when they comehome and they walk into a house
(19:42):
that's cleaned and there's notoys on the floor and the dishes
aren't in the sink no toys onthe floor and the dishes aren't
in the sink that I made apositive difference.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We made a positive sorry, honey, we made a positive
difference in their lives.
You know, oh, absolutely, andI'm hearing loud and clear what
you're saying as being so true,not only because I'm one of
those people I mean, I'm married, have a child, and I'm one of
those people but also the many,many hundreds of couples I've
come across where that is somuch the case, where they would
probably bow down to you rightnow and say thank you so much
for taking, you know, for help,Because, boy, we get so busy and
(20:19):
bogged down.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh, yeah, yeah it is.
And you walk in at the end ofthe day without a house cleaner
and you know the house, maybefive minutes after you get home,
may be completely destroyedagain.
But for that brief moment intime everything was perfect.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Right, it never stays that way.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, no, you let the dogs out, you let the kids get
home from school.
A backpack goes over there andthere's a peanut butter sandwich
on the counter and yeah, itdoesn't stay that way.
But yeah, I mean.
So how do you lead somebody?
And you got a hundred differentclients that are going to have
(21:03):
a hundred different answers buthow do you lead somebody to find
that joy in their life?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
I'd like to give you an example, I think, of
something I ended up walkingmyself through.
So this was years ago.
I mean, I love traveling, right.
I love just getting out andseeing the world, but in one
case I had a passion to do it bymyself.
I'm like no, I want to go aloneand I want to be gone for about
six months and I don't want tostay in one place, I want to
(21:34):
kind of hop around, and that wasreally scary for me.
It was a scary thought.
I also figured that's God,that's irresponsible.
Look at all the money you'regoing to waste.
It felt to me like wastingmoney.
You're responsible.
It was scary.
What if something happens?
And so it kept me stuck for awhile, but I am a believer in
(21:59):
hey, if this thing is coming toyou so strongly that it's meant
for you to do it, I'm just abeliever in that, and so I was
saying no to it for a very longtime because of all the things I
just told you.
So it was like a battle betweenhey, you should do this versus
no, I'm scared.
Yeah, exactly.
So I really kind of I startedfirst with number one, believing
that if I have a stronginclination to do something, I
(22:21):
think I should do it.
I just think for me that's howlife is supposed to be.
And then step two is okay, Ihave to address the fears or the
things that are in the way.
So I got them out of my head,wrote them all on paper, got
them, got them down Some of themwere.
I looked at them.
Okay, some of them areirrational.
Is it really irresponsible?
I think those are old voicesfrom my past.
(22:42):
I learned that from people frommy past so kind of worked on
those.
And then some of them were werereasonable.
Like what, if you're not safe,that's a reasonable thing.
Okay, what can I do here?
So I found ways to kind of geton certain websites and talk to
other in some cases helpful totalk to other women, or were you
safe as a woman in this country?
Uh.
(23:02):
And got some, got some realgrounded planning under my belt
and say, okay, if I go to Egypt,maybe I won't go alone, maybe
I'll have a friend come or joina tour group there for things
like that, so that helped withthose fears Nice.
Yeah, so I think it's thatprocess, a similar process.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
So taking a I'm sorry , taking a very precision,
deliberate approach toaddressing the things that have
you stuck, so that you're notstuck anymore.
That was a really simplisticway to look at it.
I get it, but I mean, is thatbasically what we're talking
(23:44):
about here?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think that's at least part of it.
I mean, sometimes people don'treally know what they want to do
or what drives them or what'sinteresting.
And I'll say I think we have toget back in touch with what we
enjoyed doing as kids and orspend some time alone, get out
of the rat race, get out of thebusy, busy, busy and really
spend some time with eitherjournaling and writing it down
(24:07):
or being alone in nature andseeing what surfaces and
beginning to ask ourself youknow what would really bring me
joy every day.
It doesn't have to be somethingbig.
I'm not telling people to goand travel around the world.
That's not my point at all.
You know, sometimes it'ssomething we start with,
whatever it is.
I would like to, you know, have10 minutes a day to go stand
(24:30):
outside in the sun.
I don't know what it is, butjust something, what can bring
me joy.
And sometimes it's like, ifit's not big, I'm not going to
do anything.
But we start with, just go withthe small stuff.
We start judging these thingsin our head instead of just
going with it.
So to me, it's that getting intouch with what we want.
And then, yes, the second partis we're always going to hear a
(24:52):
yeah, but, yeah, but, and so wehave to get that out of our head
, put it on paper and then lookat it one at a time and say this
is what's keeping me stuck.
What can I do about thissituation?
Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
You were talking about writing down your fears
and then going through with thelist, and I immediately thought
of journaling.
That's a huge help forsomething like this, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
It's a huge help because I think when it's in our
head, god, anxiety can swirlaround and around and around.
But getting it out now we'veexternalized it and I think if
we get it out of our head, wecan look at it more objectively,
because it's not just in, weput it down, we can see what it
is and it allows for us todiscover or explore what can we
do with these things?
(25:39):
Well, some of this is alegitimate concern.
You know.
This one's not just anirrational fear.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, so it comes up with a game plan and helps us
get unstuck yeah, for sure, um,and I, I I've been there and
with the wheel around in yourhead and and oh, we all have
been.
I guess I shouldn't say it.
It's not unique to me, but yeah, it oftentimes looks a lot
(26:13):
different when you're looking atit written down than when it's
swirling around in your head,right?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Absolutely.
And something else that I'vedone is I've written it down,
gotten those things out of myhead, put them down, and then
I'll wait for about a week, andI've even mailed myself a letter
before.
In the past I've mailed myselfa letter and thought pretend
that somebody is mailing you aletter and you're the wise
wizard and they need help withfiguring out how to navigate
(26:42):
these things.
And then I'll just pretend it'snot me and I'll write back, and
then I'll wait another week andI'll read it and see if that is
a higher way of looking at itor I'll just do it right on the
spot too.
But I think putting some spacein there is helpful, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
It gives you perspective, right.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, but sometimes we can't do that stuff on our
own and we need the help of anoutside person who is not in it,
where they can see things moreclearly, because we all have
blind spots and sometimes wedon't know how to sidestep them.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
so, like a coach or a mentor something is helpful I
was gonna say, that's where youcome in yeah nice.
Uh, one last thing before wewrap up.
Talk to me about Marriage Prep101.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, marriage Prep 101 is a bit of a subsidiary of
the first sort of way that Ihelp people, which is helping
people have great relationships,and I work with a lot of part
of the population I work with ascouples and sometimes they've
been together 25 years and I seewhere they've gotten off track
and if only we could havestarted off on a different foot
(27:55):
in the beginning.
It would make a difference.
So I'm real passionate abouthey, when you're first dating,
or you're before you're married,or you're newlyweds, let's
learn some really effectivetools that may not be common
knowledge for you to instill soyou can start off on a positive
trajectory in your relationship.
And if you both decide to thatyou're going to do this from
(28:18):
this day forward, you know itcan really make a difference in
the longevity of yourrelationship.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
It's a seven hour, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
What longevity of your relationship.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, it's a seven-hour.
I'm sorry what?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's a seven-hour structured program where we walk
through like just some mainparts of a relationship and you
know what's helpful tounderstand about each other,
tools to learn and things likethat.
So that's just another servicethat I offer.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
tools to learn and things like that.
So that's just another servicethat I offer, just another
service from the many faceted,michelle Joy.
Oh, michelle, it was so lovelyhaving you on and speaking with
you.
I absolutely love everythingyou're doing and you're making
such a positive difference inthe world.
I really appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Thank you and thank you for what you're doing as
well.
I really appreciate you.
Thank you and thank you forwhat you're doing as well.
I love the message behind whatyou're doing.
I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I, yeah, thank you.
The more people who can hearabout and and maybe be inspired
by, by kindness of others, Ithink it's certainly a good
thing.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yes so.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I appreciate you.
Your episode will come out thefirst week of April and we'll
talk in between there.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Okay, wonderful, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're welcome, take care.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Okay, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I want to thank you for taking this time to listen
to this episode with my guest,michelle Joy, and I hope that
you're able to take somethingpositive from the time that you
shared with us.
Maybe you'll be inspired, maybeyou'll be motivated, maybe
you'll be moved.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
(30:08):
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends, your family,
your work colleagues.
Strangers on the street?
No, okay, maybe not.
That might not be a good thing,but you know I'm always
striving to offer you a betterpodcast and so, in that vein,
feel free to give me somefeedback.
(30:28):
Let me know how you think I'mdoing.
You can email me, you can leavea message on my socials.
Anything at all would mean theworld.
Also, feel free to follow us onsocials like Facebook,
instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
(30:48):
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or have a podcastalready and are looking for a
supportive network to join,check out maydaymedianetworkcom
and check out the many differentshows like afrocentric spoil,
(31:10):
my movie generation mixtape in apickle radio show, wake up and
dream with d anthony palin,stacks of packs and the time
palettes.
We'll be back again next weekwith a new episode, and we would
be honored if you would join us.
You've been listening to theKindness Matters Podcast.
(31:31):
I am your host, mike Rathbun.
Have a fantastic week.
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