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What My Daughter's Brain Surgery Taught Me About Gratitude · Groove with Portia

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome to Group Porsche, the podcast that uncovers the hidden
0:09
Speaker 1: treasures within grief. I'm your host, Porsche the Producer, and
0:13
Speaker 1: I'm inviting you to join me on a transformative journey
0:15
Speaker 1: where we were exchange laughter, of course the best medicine
0:18
Speaker 1: of them all, reflect on cherished memories, Remember that time
0:21
Speaker 1: that the little boy grabbed my hand instead of his
0:23
Speaker 1: mother's at the amusement park yikes, And of course, discover
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Speaker 1: gratitude while navigating one of life's hardest challenges lost. So
0:31
Speaker 1: get ready to gree with me, Porsche the Producer, let's
0:35
Speaker 1: dive in. Hello everybody, and welcome back to Grow with Porsche.
0:47
Speaker 1: I am your host, Porsche Booker, and as always, don't
0:49
Speaker 1: forget to like, share and subscribe to keep it with
0:52
Speaker 1: all things Grew with Porsche. You, guys, I can barely
0:56
Speaker 1: contain my excitement because today's episode is very special close
1:00
Speaker 1: to my heart. I've shared this with many of you. Then,
1:03
Speaker 1: when both of my parents made their transitions, I took
1:06
Speaker 1: time to dedicate a page to each of them in
1:09
Speaker 1: my gratitude journal, and my gratitude practice started the Christmas
1:14
Speaker 1: before my mom took her last breath. I started with
1:17
Speaker 1: simple things of being grateful for that good cup of coffee.
1:20
Speaker 1: You guys know I love my coffee, dark like my
1:22
Speaker 1: soul in sense of humor, and also being able to
1:25
Speaker 1: take a breath of fresh air. This past summer, I
1:29
Speaker 1: cleaned out my car and I found an old bottle
1:33
Speaker 1: of a bilify that I was prescribed years ago when
1:36
Speaker 1: I was really struggling with my mental health, and I
1:39
Speaker 1: took a minute to celebrate how far I've come in
1:42
Speaker 1: my life today. So I have the honor of being
1:46
Speaker 1: joined by a woman who also shares the same sentiment
1:50
Speaker 1: that I do around gratitude. She's the author of the
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Speaker 1: book A Simple Seed, and she just as an overall
1:58
Speaker 1: amazing person. So welcome to group, miss Katie. Would Katie,
2:02
Speaker 1: how are you today?
2:03
Speaker 2: I'm good. Thank you so much for having.
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Speaker 3: Me, Katie. It's an honor.
2:07
Speaker 1: As I'm brought up in the beginning, Katie, gratitude is
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Speaker 1: that life jacket that keeps us afloat during these challenges
2:15
Speaker 1: and trials in our life. It's not the rose colored glasses.
2:18
Speaker 1: I think so many people mix gratitude up with that.
2:22
Speaker 1: Correct Before we dive more into your book, Katie, one
2:25
Speaker 1: of the things I know your book was inspired after
2:29
Speaker 1: your daughter had a life saving brain surgery. And I'm curious, Katie,
2:34
Speaker 1: for our audience, what was going on for you emotionally
2:39
Speaker 1: during that time and how did no pun intended gratitude
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Speaker 1: become the seed planted in your garden of all the
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Speaker 1: chaos during that time for your daughter.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, oh man, you said it perfectly. So yeah, So
2:55
Speaker 2: you know, like so many of us, life will throw
2:58
Speaker 2: curveballs and hit you out of no. And I'm a
3:01
Speaker 2: very big believer, and it's not what happens to us
3:03
Speaker 2: in life, it's how we respond. It's the word responsibility,
3:06
Speaker 2: your ability to respond. So for me, that showed up
3:09
Speaker 2: very loud eight years ago when our third daughter, Gabriella
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Speaker 2: had a life saving surgery ear to ear, eight hour surgery,
3:17
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty stitches. Bring you to the floor.
3:21
Speaker 2: If you are a parent listening, we all know you're
3:23
Speaker 2: as happy as you're sad as kid and umbilical cord
3:25
Speaker 2: is never cut. And that was a very dark, scary
3:28
Speaker 2: time in my life. So from the time she was
3:31
Speaker 2: diagnosed to the time she had her surgery, my brain
3:34
Speaker 2: spiraled to very dark places, like didn't like where it
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Speaker 2: was going. You know it flooded with negativity. It was loud, right,
3:42
Speaker 2: And so that's kind of when I had this awareness
3:45
Speaker 2: of how the mind works. And I think this is
3:48
Speaker 2: really important for people to understand that our brains are
3:52
Speaker 2: created to survive, not thrive. It's constantly scanning the world
3:55
Speaker 2: for what's wrong to protect us right. And that's a
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Speaker 2: beautiful thing in one way, but on the flip side,
4:01
Speaker 2: like we don't have to live in that space, but
4:05
Speaker 2: that won't happen by just hoping and wishing. So that
4:08
Speaker 2: was the point where a book called Miracle Morning fell
4:11
Speaker 2: into my lap and I started studying the mind and
4:16
Speaker 2: the science of happiness. So I would wake up in
4:18
Speaker 2: the morning and practice reading something positive. Gratitude, prayer was
4:23
Speaker 2: big in my life. I am statements like all these
4:26
Speaker 2: things that were scientifically proven to help shift the mind
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Speaker 2: and see what's right instead of what's wrong. And gratitude
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Speaker 2: was the key. So it is the antidote to fear.
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Speaker 2: You cannot live in a state of gratitude and fear
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Speaker 2: it's actually impossible. And gratitude is simply to me, a
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Speaker 2: perspective shift. It's it's your one hundred percent right, It's
4:47
Speaker 2: not all my life is perfect. I have this, this,
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Speaker 2: and this. I'm so thankful. It's so much deeper. It's
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Speaker 2: it's actually choosing to see what's right when everything almost
4:57
Speaker 2: feels wrong. And that's the choice. And the more you
5:01
Speaker 2: practice it, I believe, the more your life, you know,
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Speaker 2: shows up to give you opportunities to practice and be thankful.
5:08
Speaker 2: So gratitude saved me. Long story short, went on to
5:13
Speaker 2: create a journal to help kids after my daughter came
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Speaker 2: down early one morning during COVID in my routine, saying
5:20
Speaker 2: can you teach us how to do this? And it
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Speaker 2: really hit me at that moment, like, how have I
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Speaker 2: not taught my kids this?
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Speaker 1: This?
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Speaker 2: How to send to your mind? How to focus on gratitude.
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Speaker 2: I believe you know, you learning that as a kid
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Speaker 2: will build those daily habits to serve you as an
5:37
Speaker 2: adult because life's gonna definitely throw you some curveballs.
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Speaker 3: Ooh, Katie, I feel that.
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Speaker 1: I mean, when you were just describing the lengthy surgery,
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Speaker 1: probably so many different doctor consults, long waiting hours, your
5:53
Speaker 1: stomach's growling, you're crying, you're praying, asking God, what the heck?
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Speaker 3: What did I sign up for?
6:00
Speaker 1: And you're taking that opportunity to shift your perspective. I
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Speaker 1: absolutely love that because it's true gratitude gives you that
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Speaker 1: opportunity to pause and focus on what is before me,
6:13
Speaker 1: not all the things that I'm waiting to get right,
6:16
Speaker 1: for my daughter to get better, for her to heal,
6:18
Speaker 1: for us to finally go back home and sleep in
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Speaker 1: our own bed, and not sometimes the uncomfortable hospital stuff
6:24
Speaker 1: and then spelling, you know, all.
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Speaker 3: The bleach and the cleaners and all the.
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Speaker 2: Right all that I'm gonna give me right now, Yes.
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Speaker 1: I remember all that right, And so it's it's given
6:36
Speaker 1: you that opportunity to stay grounded in so much chaos.
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Speaker 3: And Katy, I love too.
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Speaker 1: That your daughter, during COVID, when the world was shut down, right,
6:50
Speaker 1: took the time to ask you, like, hey, mom, how
6:52
Speaker 1: can we create these magical mornings?
6:55
Speaker 3: Right?
6:56
Speaker 1: And Katie, what for our audience? What does your magical
7:00
Speaker 1: morning look like?
7:00
Speaker 4: Now?
7:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? So I'm so I'm such a believer too. Like
7:04
Speaker 2: if if you, as a parent aren't practicing gratitude, please
7:07
Speaker 2: do not expect your kids to understand gratitude like you
7:11
Speaker 2: hear constantly today like why are kids so ungrateful? Why
7:14
Speaker 2: are kids so untitled?
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Speaker 1: Like?
7:15
Speaker 2: Are we as parents spending the time actually teaching them
7:19
Speaker 2: and practicing it ourselves. Like it's a really important question
7:22
Speaker 2: to ask because I think gratitude, you know, it's this
7:25
Speaker 2: word that gets thrown a lot around a lot, But
7:29
Speaker 2: when you stop and pause and think about why it's
7:32
Speaker 2: so important and you take the time to actually practice it,
7:36
Speaker 2: then you start to feel the difference. I think it's
7:38
Speaker 2: just you're right, Like it's a pause, right, like what's
7:41
Speaker 2: in front of me right now. But you know, when
7:44
Speaker 2: we were in COVID, I have I was nursing or
7:47
Speaker 2: nursing a newborn, homeschooling three kids. My husband's a first responder,
7:51
Speaker 2: Like it was so chaotic, and my kids knew that
7:56
Speaker 2: if I did not start my day with this routine
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Speaker 2: that I'll tell you about, I was a mess. Mom
8:02
Speaker 2: set the tone like it's just another thing on our resume,
8:05
Speaker 2: like we set the tone for the day. If we
8:07
Speaker 2: are off, everybody's off. And so I look at it
8:10
Speaker 2: as I have no choice but to start my day
8:13
Speaker 2: by you know, I would read something positive, whether it's
8:16
Speaker 2: like an excerpt from a book. My prayer is like
8:19
Speaker 2: a five minute app gratitude. I simply just have a
8:23
Speaker 2: journal that I write it down, it's and and really
8:26
Speaker 2: the dividends are in the details. It's the little things
8:30
Speaker 2: that you really focus on. And then your I am
8:34
Speaker 2: your self talk like we all have this voice, and
8:37
Speaker 2: what follows your i ams, it follows you and so
8:39
Speaker 2: many of us are like, I'm tired, I'm not good
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Speaker 2: at this, blah blah blah, and we don't realize that,
8:45
Speaker 2: like our brain is looking for evidence to support what
8:49
Speaker 2: we tell it. And until you have that awareness, then
8:52
Speaker 2: you start to shift the story you tell yourself. So
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Speaker 2: it was reading gratitude, you know, my coffee, my im statements,
9:01
Speaker 2: and then the last thing is you know, whose day
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Speaker 2: can I make better? Just kind of being intentional. And
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Speaker 2: I started doing this when I felt like the world
9:10
Speaker 2: was crashing on me. Would go out and try to
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Speaker 2: make someone else's day better. And it could be a
9:15
Speaker 2: simple compliment, a simple kind act, whatever it may be.
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Speaker 2: But that always that's a win win, right When you
9:21
Speaker 2: help someone, it helps you too. So those that's how
9:24
Speaker 2: I would start my day and to this day still do.
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Speaker 1: And you know what, that habit sticks with you even
9:30
Speaker 1: as you're in It's like a muscle. I describe it
9:33
Speaker 1: kind of similar to remember Katie, when we were in
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Speaker 1: school and you're learning all the different types of math,
9:38
Speaker 1: whether it's the Fibonacci sequence, geo a tree, you know,
9:44
Speaker 1: balancing the equations. I always use the Y was MX
9:48
Speaker 1: plus B, which is slope intercept form.
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Speaker 3: Right.
9:51
Speaker 1: I never understood it using a graph, but I use
9:55
Speaker 1: it every day.
9:55
Speaker 3: To solve problems.
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Speaker 1: Right. The RYE is where I'm trying to get to.
10:00
Speaker 1: The MX plus the B is the formula I need
10:03
Speaker 1: to get to the Y.
10:04
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love that, right, yep.
10:07
Speaker 1: And Katie, I just love too that you said that
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Speaker 1: mom sets the tone. You're the thermost that you are
10:13
Speaker 1: legitly the thermost you are.
10:16
Speaker 2: Whether you like it or not. It's like we have
10:17
Speaker 2: so much on our plate already, and now we set
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Speaker 2: the tone. Like Mom's off, everybody's off, and it's for me.
10:24
Speaker 2: It's like I can't afford to not center myself in
10:27
Speaker 2: the morning. It's it's it. There's it makes such a difference.
10:31
Speaker 2: And my kids know, like when I start my morning
10:34
Speaker 2: right and when I don't, it makes that much of
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Speaker 2: a difference. How you start your days, how you end
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Speaker 2: your day.
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Speaker 3: Well, say that again, because that is so true.
10:43
Speaker 2: It's how you start your day is how you end
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Speaker 2: your day. It's it's all connected.
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Speaker 1: I start my day with gratitude, and I ended too,
10:50
Speaker 1: even for the not so great things, right, And that's
10:54
Speaker 1: the other thing with gratitude. So a couple of years ago, Katie,
10:57
Speaker 1: I spoke at a retreat and I created a gratitude
11:01
Speaker 1: ABC will So you spin the wheel and lands on
11:05
Speaker 1: a letter, whether it's x YZ, whatever, and you mentioned
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Speaker 1: something in your life based on that letter that you're
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Speaker 1: grateful for, right, mind just happen to land on the
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Speaker 1: letter t So right, I'm grateful for toilet paper. Okay,
11:19
Speaker 1: some of us have every blue moon, we get the
11:22
Speaker 1: whisker clan. Uh, So I'm grateful for tweezers.
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Speaker 3: Right.
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Speaker 1: So sometimes it's in those things, right. And I'm curious,
11:32
Speaker 1: Katie too, I noticed the title of your book.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, simplicity a simple steed. Yeah. And when we think
11:41
Speaker 3: about I'm not a parent.
11:43
Speaker 1: I have a four legged kid, if that counts mister Fletcher,
11:46
Speaker 1: he's my dog.
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Speaker 3: But we think about the world.
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Speaker 1: Today where a lot of these kids are raised by
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Speaker 1: social media TikTok influencers. When you think about your book
11:58
Speaker 1: and the longevity of it, what seeds do you hope
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Speaker 1: to plant in children in their families in the years
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Speaker 1: to come.
12:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I love that you asked that. We called
12:11
Speaker 2: it a simple seed because it's first of all, a seed, right,
12:14
Speaker 2: a mustard seed, as small as it is, can turn
12:17
Speaker 2: out to be the biggest, most beautiful thing. It just
12:20
Speaker 2: doesn't happen overnight. Right, the day you plant the seed
12:22
Speaker 2: is not the day you eat the fruit. Like, there
12:24
Speaker 2: is growth that needs to happen. So the cover of
12:27
Speaker 2: this book encompasses acorns. And the cool thing about an
12:31
Speaker 2: acorn is that if you go outside, you'll see acorns everywhere,
12:37
Speaker 2: like they're just lying on the ground. Sometimes they're tripping
12:39
Speaker 2: on them, like you can roll your ankle on one,
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Speaker 2: Like there are acorns everywhere. But within every acorn is
12:47
Speaker 2: the opportunity for an oak tree, which happens to be
12:50
Speaker 2: the greatest, mightiest tree in the forest. But why do
12:54
Speaker 2: so many acorns lay dormant on the ground. And the
12:58
Speaker 2: same concept is for all of us, Like inside every
13:01
Speaker 2: single one of us, we have that ability, right, we
13:05
Speaker 2: have that great mighty oak tree. But unless you do
13:09
Speaker 2: the work, it's never gonna bloom. It's it will always
13:12
Speaker 2: stay in acorn and many people do, and maybe you're
13:15
Speaker 2: fine with that, but just kind of go through life
13:18
Speaker 2: on autopilot. Where getting to that great o like mighty
13:23
Speaker 2: oak tree, which every kid has the ability and potential
13:26
Speaker 2: for you got to do the work. And that's the gratitude,
13:30
Speaker 2: the ship, the story you're telling yourself, the belief, the confidence,
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Speaker 2: the service, mentality, the reading something positive so that you
13:38
Speaker 2: can choose to see the good even when life is
13:40
Speaker 2: hard and doing all those steps and it takes five minutes,
13:44
Speaker 2: so it's simple to do, but it's also simple to
13:47
Speaker 2: not do. But when you plant that seed and you
13:49
Speaker 2: do it over and over again, it can bloom into
13:53
Speaker 2: the most the biggest, strongest tree with deep roots so
13:57
Speaker 2: that when the storms come, when life's hits, you're not
14:00
Speaker 2: knocked down and you're not a victim of the world
14:03
Speaker 2: like you were. Choosing to see the good no matter
14:05
Speaker 2: how hard the situation is. And that's not toxic positivity.
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Speaker 2: It's just it's a mental shift. It's a choice and
14:14
Speaker 2: then going you know, taking your mess and turning it
14:16
Speaker 2: into a message. But without doing the work, that's not.
14:19
Speaker 1: Going to just happen, right, You can't wish it to,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know, you know, that's like I think of the analogy,
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Speaker 1: Katie of the kids in the cartoons where they'd put
14:29
Speaker 1: the little fishing rod on their head and the hot
14:33
Speaker 1: dog in front of them and they're chasing it around, right,
14:36
Speaker 1: But it's it's always that one kid who You're not
14:38
Speaker 1: going to get the hot dog by running around with
14:41
Speaker 1: it dangling.
14:42
Speaker 3: Front of it. You have to stop it, just pull
14:45
Speaker 3: it from the string. Yeah, you know.
14:48
Speaker 1: And I love Katie to the reminder of the foundation.
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Speaker 2: Right.
14:53
Speaker 1: I was raised by my great grandmother, who was born
14:55
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen, Okay, and so she's seen so many
15:00
Speaker 1: different historical changes in her life, Right, the assassination of
15:05
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King, the first black president, Right Watergate nine
15:10
Speaker 1: to eleven.
15:11
Speaker 3: Right, she lived through the Great Depression.
15:14
Speaker 2: Amazing.
15:15
Speaker 1: I'm surprised, Katie, not to be funny, that she didn't
15:17
Speaker 1: have money imprints tattooed on her, because remember they used
15:21
Speaker 1: to put money under the mattress.
15:23
Speaker 2: Amazing, you know.
15:25
Speaker 1: But I think about her resilience and the roots and
15:30
Speaker 1: the strong foundation she had in her faith. But I
15:34
Speaker 1: think sometimes today a lot of these young people don't
15:39
Speaker 1: have that resilient foundation because they're on social media.
15:45
Speaker 3: All the time.
15:46
Speaker 1: They're getting flooded, right with so many different definitions of
15:51
Speaker 1: what gratitude is. Sure, right, And I'm curious, Katie, because
15:57
Speaker 1: we're in this age of the digital world.
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Speaker 3: It's not gonna go away right.
16:01
Speaker 2: Now, Nope.
16:03
Speaker 1: How can young people and their parents utilize social media
16:11
Speaker 1: for what it is but also find that balance to
16:15
Speaker 1: incorporate more hands on activities such as gratitude, to start
16:21
Speaker 1: building that mental muscle instead of it just letting it
16:26
Speaker 1: kind of stay dormant because everything's right before them and instantaneous.
16:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I think it's like, I think that
16:35
Speaker 2: it's really important for kids to understand that the Instagram
16:40
Speaker 2: algorithm works just like your mind. So like if you
16:44
Speaker 2: look open Instagram right now, right, like like you would
16:48
Speaker 2: see my Instagram feed is, uh, you'll see mindset tips,
16:54
Speaker 2: You'll see athletes, you'll see recipes. Right, these are things
16:58
Speaker 2: that I am searching for. So the algorithm is like,
17:01
Speaker 2: this is important to her, Let's give it to her. Right,
17:04
Speaker 2: So those are things that you know and tips for
17:07
Speaker 2: like my kids like parenting. So that's what shows up
17:10
Speaker 2: your mind works. It is an Instagram algorithm. There's something
17:14
Speaker 2: in particular activating system I think the first step is
17:17
Speaker 2: kids have to understand this concept. The RIS, that reticular
17:21
Speaker 2: activating system in the back of our brain. It wakes
17:23
Speaker 2: up when you wake up, and it literally is the
17:26
Speaker 2: algorithm saying what do you want to focus on today? Like,
17:29
Speaker 2: what do you want to focus on? I'm going to
17:31
Speaker 2: do the work to filter out the nonsense and give
17:34
Speaker 2: you what you're looking for. And that's the algorithm of Instagram.
17:38
Speaker 2: It gives you what you're searching for. So when you
17:40
Speaker 2: wake up and you write down your self talk, your gratitude,
17:44
Speaker 2: you write down your im statements, you write write down
17:46
Speaker 2: these power words, right, your brain is like, okay, let's
17:50
Speaker 2: go on a hunt and support what you're thinking about.
17:54
Speaker 2: I want to give you that. It's like the example
17:56
Speaker 2: they always give about the red Jeep. Right, you're looking
17:59
Speaker 2: for a new car, you're driving, all of a sudden,
18:02
Speaker 2: every single car is a red Jeep, right, because you
18:06
Speaker 2: told your brain that was important. So that's the concept.
18:10
Speaker 2: I think it's it's teaching kids first of all, that
18:12
Speaker 2: they work the same way. So social media. Like my daughter,
18:17
Speaker 2: she's not even on social media, she's fourteen, you know,
18:21
Speaker 2: I but I will save things on my phone and
18:24
Speaker 2: start showing her how I use it for good, how
18:28
Speaker 2: I will empower me, how I use it to help
18:30
Speaker 2: empower others. Where this is a tool that's helping my life,
18:35
Speaker 2: not you know, depleting.
18:37
Speaker 1: It absolutely, And I love Kadie that you gave that example.
18:42
Speaker 1: You're the second person I've heard talk about the reticular
18:46
Speaker 1: activation system. I did an interview with someone years ago
18:50
Speaker 1: who brought up that same thing about how it works.
18:53
Speaker 1: If your brain is focused on the negative, that's what's
18:57
Speaker 1: going to keep searching for where if you and they
19:00
Speaker 1: actually did like a brain scan, I forget them. It's
19:04
Speaker 1: a company there. They focus on holistic retreats. Yeah, and
19:08
Speaker 1: so they have this cool like brain scan thing that
19:12
Speaker 1: shows your brain when it's in a state of gratitude,
19:16
Speaker 1: when it's depressed.
19:17
Speaker 3: I mean, I was like fascinated.
19:20
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
19:21
Speaker 3: You know.
19:22
Speaker 1: It's kind of the same thing when people talk about tears.
19:26
Speaker 1: There's different types of tears that you have, but the
19:29
Speaker 1: crystallization in the actual tears that come out of your
19:32
Speaker 1: eyes are different when you're happy, when you're depressed.
19:35
Speaker 2: Amazed at the above, it's amazing.
19:38
Speaker 1: So, Katie, for our audience, before we move on to
19:41
Speaker 1: the next part of the show. If they want to
19:42
Speaker 1: obviously connect with you, get a copy of your book
19:45
Speaker 1: A Simple Seed. How can our audience connect with you today?
19:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. So on Instagram it's Katie would underscore
19:53
Speaker 2: Simple Seed and then growth Goodness dot Com is our
19:58
Speaker 2: website where you can find Simple Seed a Simple Seed
20:01
Speaker 2: School edition, so there's one for home, one for school,
20:05
Speaker 2: and then we also have a journal for higher level
20:08
Speaker 2: athletes teaching the same concept the gratitude self talk. But
20:12
Speaker 2: that's for higher level athletes.
20:15
Speaker 3: And I love that.
20:15
Speaker 1: So for our audience, Katie would underscore a Simple Seed
20:19
Speaker 1: on Instagram. Also you can find her you can do
20:23
Speaker 1: a Google search, as we mentioned AI as our friend
20:26
Speaker 1: these days.
20:27
Speaker 3: Yes, Katie, this has.
20:29
Speaker 1: Been a fantastic conversation and I thank you for coming
20:32
Speaker 1: on the show. I have one more question for you.
20:34
Speaker 1: As I brought up in the beginning, you and my
20:36
Speaker 1: mom shared something in common. Both of you taugh special education.
20:40
Speaker 1: And as we're entering this new school year for parents,
20:45
Speaker 1: how can they in educators right because it's a partnership,
20:49
Speaker 1: Chrisause my mom used to tell me sometimes some of
20:52
Speaker 1: the parents were not always on the same page and
20:55
Speaker 1: there was often sometimes that struggle. Yes, And I'm curious, Hettie,
21:00
Speaker 1: what do you think educators and parents can do today
21:05
Speaker 1: to help their children, even their athlete children right develop resilience,
21:10
Speaker 1: curiosity in a growth mindset.
21:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they're all skills like confidence is a skill,
21:17
Speaker 2: mental strength is a skill, Gratitude is a skill. It's
21:20
Speaker 2: all a skill you need to work on. It won't
21:22
Speaker 2: just happen. And I think the biggest thing is teaching
21:25
Speaker 2: kids how to think right. So many school is what
21:29
Speaker 2: to think, but our mission and that's there. This journal
21:33
Speaker 2: is in schools helping teachers and students start their day
21:37
Speaker 2: the first five minutes of getting your brain in the
21:41
Speaker 2: right place. This is what I've spent so many years
21:43
Speaker 2: doing and studying, and I've seen a huge difference in
21:46
Speaker 2: my life and my own kids that when you start
21:49
Speaker 2: your day with gratitude, with kindness to yourself and others,
21:53
Speaker 2: with positive self talk, it may it changes the whole
21:57
Speaker 2: climate of the school, It changes the culture, it changes
22:00
Speaker 2: the classroom because it's teaching kids how to get their
22:04
Speaker 2: brain in the right place.
22:06
Speaker 3: And when you get.
22:07
Speaker 2: Gratitude, you're less likely to act out, you're less likely
22:10
Speaker 2: to bully, you feel better about yourself, you feel better
22:13
Speaker 2: about others. So often we're like taking I feel like
22:17
Speaker 2: so often we're like, oh, the bully did this, Now
22:19
Speaker 2: here's the punishment. When let's just let's focus more on
22:22
Speaker 2: the root, the root of it all, right, Like the
22:24
Speaker 2: root of the bully is sadness, is low self esteem.
22:28
Speaker 2: Who knows what's happening at home? So if we can
22:31
Speaker 2: start in my perfect world, in my perfect school, and
22:34
Speaker 2: we're in three hundred schools, I speak to students and
22:37
Speaker 2: teachers everywhere. My mission is, let's spend five minutes just
22:41
Speaker 2: getting these kids to understand the mind, how to get
22:44
Speaker 2: in a state of gratitude, kindness. That brain right that
22:48
Speaker 2: you just talked about, like, get it. Those neurons firing
22:51
Speaker 2: in a positive way. It makes the biggest difference in
22:55
Speaker 2: the classroom for the teacher and the students. And I'm
22:58
Speaker 2: very passionate about the teacher because they got I think
23:00
Speaker 2: they are sometimes forgotten about. We spend billions of dollars
23:05
Speaker 2: on kids, we spend very little on helping teachers. And
23:08
Speaker 2: a mission that I have become very passionate abou because
23:10
Speaker 2: I was a teacher for ten years and now I'm
23:13
Speaker 2: a business owner. Never once did I leave a professional
23:16
Speaker 2: development feeling like on top of the world and empowered,
23:19
Speaker 2: like I want to go conquer the world. And when
23:21
Speaker 2: I come in, it is forty five minutes of filling
23:23
Speaker 2: up those teachers' hearts and souls with a story of
23:27
Speaker 2: running the Boston Marathon in a monsoon for the hospital
23:30
Speaker 2: that saved my daughter's life, worst weather in marathon history.
23:34
Speaker 2: And I talk about the ups and downs and how
23:37
Speaker 2: that is teaching. That is life, that is relationships. It's
23:41
Speaker 2: all up and down. That's Gabby scarr ear to ear
23:44
Speaker 2: up and down, the ekg up and down. This is life.
23:48
Speaker 2: And when you're up, enjoy it because it's not gonna last.
23:51
Speaker 2: But when you're down, how do you get back up?
23:54
Speaker 2: You know you're not buried, You're actually planted. This is
23:57
Speaker 2: where growth happens. This is where we're millions happens. This
24:01
Speaker 2: is where confidence is built. Character is built in the lows.
24:04
Speaker 2: Only if you handle it correctly, only if you learn
24:07
Speaker 2: the lesson, Only if you build your way back up
24:09
Speaker 2: through positive mindset, gratitude, all these steps. That is what
24:14
Speaker 2: develops a resilient kid. Not the kid who wins all
24:16
Speaker 2: the time, the kid who's been in the dirt and understands, Okay,
24:20
Speaker 2: this is where I grow, This is how I move forward,
24:24
Speaker 2: this is how I build confidence. And unless that's taught,
24:27
Speaker 2: it's just a problem. Is always a problem unless it's
24:30
Speaker 2: learned right, and it's just going to keep showing up
24:32
Speaker 2: until you get it. And so that's where I really
24:35
Speaker 2: am trying to help these kids and teachers just take
24:38
Speaker 2: a few minutes to center themselves. It makes an enormous difference.
24:43
Speaker 1: You're the quarterback that all the teachers need in the classroom, Katie,
24:46
Speaker 1: because because I mean it's tough out there for a
24:50
Speaker 1: lot of educators, especially with social media in the classroom.
24:54
Speaker 3: AI. You know, they want everything, okay, all the above.
25:00
Speaker 1: Yeah wow, And I love Katie too. The analogy that
25:06
Speaker 1: you just brought up that your daughter's scar literally is
25:09
Speaker 1: like the lifeline, right, the machine that's in the hospital
25:12
Speaker 1: that tells you your.
25:13
Speaker 3: Vitals to eat eat. I absolutely love that.
25:16
Speaker 1: I think everybody can see that and can apply that
25:19
Speaker 1: to how life really works. The ups and the downs,
25:22
Speaker 1: but everything that comes down must go back up correct.
25:26
Speaker 2: It's all how you handle it. If it's a flat line,
25:28
Speaker 2: which we all wish it was, you're not living and
25:31
Speaker 2: that's the reality of at all. So you better just
25:34
Speaker 2: learn to embrace it because this is the way life
25:37
Speaker 2: was created. It's just how you handle it.
25:40
Speaker 3: It's all about perspective. It didn't well.
25:43
Speaker 1: Everybody that was Patie Wood, the author of a simple
25:48
Speaker 1: Seed that you heard from today on, grew with Portia.
25:51
Speaker 1: And that concludes our conversation. And until next time, everybody
25:55
Speaker 1: piece and hair grease.
25:55
Speaker 4: Everyone wins
26:11
Speaker 3: In sens