Imagine Yourself Overflowing with Gratitude

Pleased & Thankful

Rainbows and chocolate,

Big smiles, love, and laughter.

Time spent with friends,

And then family, right after.

Sunsets and dancing and butterfly wings….

(Just like the classic song) These are a few of my favorite things.

Why is it so important to list and acknowledge our favorite things?

Because it helps us to remember to show gratitude for the many blessings and bright spots in our lives. Many times, it attracts new things for us to be thankful for!

An attitude of gratitude also helps us to keep our heads above water when life gets overwhelming. Just like filling up a piggy bank to help out when money gets tight, we can store up happy memories and people, places, and things that we’re grateful for to help out when life gets tough!

So, why don’t you try it? Think about a few of your favorite things, or even write them down so that you can go back through them when you really need them. Showing gratitude for every little thing can make a big, beautiful difference in life.

We will be forever GRATEFUL if you take a moment and listen to us as we gush about gratitude!

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Sandy Kovach :

Life can throw a lot at you, but imagine if your life were different, better, not because of what's coming at you, but because of what's coming from you. Let's get there together. Join us and imagine yourself. Hello, wonderful people. I'm Lanee. And this is Sandy. And, Lanae, what are we imagining today?

Lanée Blaise:

We are imagining ourselves grateful. I'm so grateful today. I can just barely wait to jump in.

Sandy Kovach :

Gratitude is the best attitude. Heck, talk to me, Sandy. You know what? That is how I sign off my show every night. Gratitude is the best attitude, and sometimes that attitude makes all the difference. Maybe not sometimes, maybe all the time.

Lanée Blaise:

That's why I'm grateful to have you as my friend and my fellow teammate.

Sandy Kovach :

And I'm grateful for you and grateful for the extended Imagine Yourself family, everybody that's joining us on the podcast.

Lanée Blaise:

Me too. Now I know we're talking about how grateful we are and how thankful we are, but anyone out there did you wake up this morning? Some folks wake up grateful. Anyone wake up grouchy?

Sandy Kovach :

Well, actually, is that before or after coffee? I would probably chain people's answers. Right?

Lanée Blaise:

Oh, lots of people that coffee is a big determination factor of of grateful or grouchy. What about this? What if we started off slow? And can you list 3 things that you're grateful for?

Sandy Kovach :

Well, I think like most people, I'm probably grateful for my family first. And there are definitely other things. I'm just not sure where they fit into the top 3. So can I kinda cheat and do that 1?

Lanée Blaise:

Absolute because yeah. Family covers the whole gamut. That's your at home family, your extended family that moves on to neighbors. We had a whole episode about loving thy neighbor before. What about other things though that you don't always think of right away as something that you're grateful for? Personally, I am grateful for cool things like I have this awesome device at my house, and it pumps in musical celebrities, their actual voices with actual songs directly into my own house or sometimes even my own car, and they sing directly to me. What? Yes.

Sandy Kovach :

Is this an app or something?

Lanée Blaise:

No. It's my radio.

Sandy Kovach :

Oh, is it an app? No. I guess kinda because you can get it by downloading an appradio.com. Actually,

Lanée Blaise:

there are people singing like Justin Timberlake or Sierra or Diana Ross or whomever. And even better, I said that I'm grateful that Sandy is my friend. But this device that I have, it has this number and it's like you you punch in 98.7, the Breeze radio. And my friend Sandy actually speaks, and she plays these songs for me on weeknights. I'm like, oh my gosh.

Sandy Kovach :

So this is tuned into a little radio promotion for me. Thank you very much.

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. And I I just want to share that with others so that on Monday through Friday evenings, when they want to listen to something, they can either go on radio.com or they if they live in Metro Detroit, they can go on 98.7 and listen to all of these wonderful celebrity singers come into their home via Sandy.

Sandy Kovach :

Alright. Well, thank you. We could continue on like this, but

Lanée Blaise:

I mean, I mean, it's I'm so all all this to say, I'm grateful for music. I'm grateful for radio. I'm grateful for television. I'm grateful for Netflix. I'm grateful for the arts. I'm grateful for there's so Lanee you can keep thinking of new things to be grateful for if you just put your mind to it a little bit. Coffee. Coffee.

Lanée Blaise:

How about laughter? Yeah. Comedians. Fun fact. A good, long, hearty laugh can give you the equivalent of rowing a canoe, you know, for those of us who are concerned about our ab muscles.

Sandy Kovach :

Oh, Which would be all of us probably.

Lanée Blaise:

Just just as an extra gratitude thing. Back I wanna see how far you can go back. Back in the mid nineties, do you remember when Oprah Winfrey introduced an idea of gratitude journals?

Sandy Kovach :

I do remember that, and I hear about that a lot. People swear by gratitude journals. Do you do 1?

Lanée Blaise:

I did back in the nineties when she first introduced it.

Sandy Kovach :

Did you put it in your fanny pack?

Lanée Blaise:

Oh, gosh, Betsy. And you

Sandy Kovach :

were listening to New Kids.

Lanée Blaise:

I still have. Oh my gosh. She's okay. You're throwing me back too far. Thank you. Alright.

Sandy Kovach :

Alright. Well, we'll get out of the nineties and back to gratitude journals. Alright.

Lanée Blaise:

Okay. But I do still have a fanny pack. My kids joke on me. You gotta

Sandy Kovach :

take it for when you

Lanée Blaise:

go to the amusement park or something like that. You gotta have 1.

Sandy Kovach :

You have a fanny pack.

Lanée Blaise:

I have 2.

Sandy Kovach :

That's awesome, Lanee. Thank you. Thank you for that visual. Okay.

Lanée Blaise:

So but no. Okay. What does a gratitude journal do? What does it actually do?

Sandy Kovach :

Well, you write down things that you're grateful for, and it reminds you of things that you're grateful for. Isn't that the idea? How about

Lanée Blaise:

it forces you to count your blessings? How about it opens your mind to even find some blessings that you probably had taken advantage of or taken for granted in the 1st place?

Sandy Kovach :

That does. Yeah. Because it's right there in front of you. You have to think about it. Yeah.

Lanée Blaise:

It could be just like you were saying, a little thing like listening to the radio or drinking coffee or things that just make you feel good, and then the big things like your family and other things that extend from that. And how about back to that radio part? So how did you like the way I explained it as some really over the top concept, which we take it for granted that we turn our switch and radio comes on. But even electricity, even the fact that we, you know, have a radio or the television, how do little tiny people get inside this little box?

Sandy Kovach :

Little tiny people. It's hilarious.

Lanée Blaise:

It's I mean, these are things that we just are now so passe, but and I know one time we talked about air conditioning. I mean, we really take that for granted. There are human acts of kindness. There are having food, having a home. There are so many things to be grateful for.

Sandy Kovach :

That we just don't think about because they're part of our everyday life. I mean, there's nothing that guarantees that you're gonna have a warm house in the winter or a warm coat in the winter, or, on the other side, air conditioning in the summer, or your phone that literally has anything and everything on it now, there is nothing that you can, wonder about. Back in the day, like, if somebody said, hey. I wonder what year that guy was born. Haven't we seen him in a movie before? Or wait a minute. I recognize that song. And so there's Google. There's Shazam.

Sandy Kovach :

There's all these other things now that we can get instant answers to, like, every question, and we carry them around, little computers.

Lanée Blaise:

Yeah. And our and and do you really think about that? You carry this around an encyclopedia, you know, Britannica, full set, in your pocket nowadays. I'm grateful for these little things. Again, that gratitude journal, it forces you to do it. This episode today forces you to open your mind and really think about how blessed we are and how we can really be full of gratitude instead of waking up grouchy. And even if we do wake up grouchy, don't stay there.

Sandy Kovach :

Right. You

Lanée Blaise:

know? Right. Actually, move to a place of sunshine. But I have to get realistic. I'm very good at being grateful when things are good and when the sun is shining, but what about when things are heavy and they do go down, where there are illnesses or death of a loved one or watching some of the awful things that that happen on the nightly news around this world, in those cases, we still have to understand that we're human, and we can take time to to mourn. Even in the bible with all of its inspiration, it still encourages us to rejoice with those who rejoice, but mourn with those who mourn.

Sandy Kovach :

That's just being real. You can't expect somebody who's in the middle of something to have a smile on their face and write in their gratitude journal Yeah. About their coffee.

Lanée Blaise:

You know? Exactly. And so we realize that, and we value that. We honor that. But we do also you know, here imagine yourself. We're always encouraging. After the mourning period, there will be we have to remember there's gonna be times where the sun is gonna peak out again. There's gonna be rainbow that shows that the storm has passed, and there's still gonna be things to be grateful for. I have a quote

Sandy Kovach :

Okay.

Lanée Blaise:

From Helen Keller, and she lived by this quote. This was like her little motto, and it's people have heard it before. I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

Sandy Kovach :

Oh, I've heard that. That's powerful. Yeah. We went about way smaller things than no shoes. Then we should yeah. How many pairs of shoes do you have, Lanee? A lot.

Lanée Blaise:

Okay. If you count flip flops and house shoes of at least 50.

Sandy Kovach :

Oh my gosh. Okay. What Imelda Marcos? Was that the Oh gosh.

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. Oh, you really are taking us back to the nineties.

Sandy Kovach :

I know. I know. She how many pairs of shoes did she have?

Lanée Blaise:

Was it, like, 200 or I don't know.

Sandy Kovach :

Way more than that. It was ridiculous. Oh, gosh.

Lanée Blaise:

I don't know.

Sandy Kovach :

Not the 200 is not I think 50 is ridiculous.

Lanée Blaise:

See, this is where I want everybody out there to Google and find you know, in their in their handy dandy pocket Britannica smartphone.

Sandy Kovach :

How many pairs of shoes?

Lanée Blaise:

Does Imelda Marcos own?

Sandy Kovach :

Right. So but back to a very serious point, we whine about these little things when there are people in much worse circumstances. How about let's go back to Helen Keller?

Lanée Blaise:

She was blind and deaf. We can't forget that she was famous, and she was an activist and a speaker and an author and had quotes like this.

Sandy Kovach :

Yeah. Oh, very many inspirational quotes. Yes. How did she stay so positive? And you hear about other people like that. Right. So she

Lanée Blaise:

has to go through life without the gift of sight and hearing, which we, once again, wanna make sure we don't take for granted. Right? Right. And yet she did stay so positive. She strikes me as the type of person who who really woke up, and I know you know, again, in the Bible, very inspirational book of Psalms. It's like, this is the day that the lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. So this has to hopefully, resonate that people, like you said, who are in other situations and what we feel to be more unfortunate situations still have light and still have gratitude and still find things to be thankful for.

Sandy Kovach :

Absolutely. I found a quote too since we're doing quotes.

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. Indeed.

Sandy Kovach :

William Arthur Ward. This has always been one of my favorite quotes. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. So is it enough that we just feel the gratitude? Or how do we take it to the next level and express it? I mean, because there are people that we are grateful for and grateful to who make a lot of things possible in our lives as well.

Lanée Blaise:

And can you imagine never, you know, letting our whole life go by and we never share that with them fully?

Sandy Kovach :

Whether they're our parents, whether they're our friends, whether they're our family. Teachers. Oh my gosh. Teachers. Teachers.

Lanée Blaise:

They're your foundation and many times don't get the credit or gratitude that they deserve. Neighbors sometimes.

Sandy Kovach :

Neighbors can be very helpful. Yeah. Yeah. People who have your back. Friends. How about even

Lanée Blaise:

your best you know, your BFFs?

Sandy Kovach :

Yeah.

Lanée Blaise:

What about, though, can you ever be thankful for things that on the surface don't look like a good thing?

Sandy Kovach :

You know, we should be, because we look back at things and say, hey. That changed my life. But at the time, that was a hard road to go through, and then we feel gratitude. But can we feel gratitude in the moment for things like that? I don't think that's

Lanée Blaise:

Maybe not.

Sandy Kovach :

I would love to say, hey. Yeah. But I'm guessing that's that's a no.

Lanée Blaise:

I have a story where I was, like you said, immediately, no. I was diagnosed with having real foot problems, hereditary, from my wonderful father. And the doctor explained it was really bad. They were gonna have to do surgery on both feet. I would have to do 1 at a time. It was gonna take a year long process. Big chunks of it, I wouldn't be able to, of course, drive, but or walk or do anything to be homebound, bedbound. So initially, no.

Lanée Blaise:

Not you know, painful, long, frustrating, not happy. Woah. But something some peace did come over me, and it was like a little message from God saying, Lanee, take it and be grateful because when you're finished with this, you are going to slow down some. I'm still kinda you know me. I'm all over the place. Right? But slow down some and savor your family and your mother, because my mom, I don't thank her nearly enough. It's not that I take her for granted necessarily, but I didn't realize she was a real mother. She had to take care of me like a little baby, you know, when I couldn't get around with my feet.

Lanée Blaise:

Wow. And I'm really, really grateful that we got to spend time sitting and drinking tea and talking and laughing together because I couldn't go anywhere.

Sandy Kovach :

How old were you when this happened?

Lanée Blaise:

Oh, honey. This was just, 2 years ago.

Sandy Kovach :

Oh my gosh. So you're talking about your mom and daughter thing as a grown woman?

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. And that meant which meant she had to also take care of my kids because this was before my daughter could drive. So my mother had to get them off to school, had to do everything. My husband, you know, was there also, but sometimes the mother's touch is, you know, that's

Sandy Kovach :

But your mom was there for you the whole time.

Lanée Blaise:

Absolutely. For both surgery. You know, she had to come back the 2nd time and do it all

Sandy Kovach :

over again. Not unlike when she was she was

Lanée Blaise:

raising you. Exactly. Yeah. And that's another one. Sometimes when we're raising our children, it's so hard. They cry. They get the fever. They get these middle of the night nightmares that you're you're dealing with.

Lanée Blaise:

But when it's over, it was all so very worth it. And even those tough times on the surface when you're in it, it may not be great at all. But there are so many people who will say that afterwards, they were able to see the blessing and feel the gratitude.

Sandy Kovach :

Right.

Lanée Blaise:

And we're just encouraging that.

Sandy Kovach :

Do you think there's a way that we can remind ourselves of that in the middle of these trials and tribulations and things that go on in our life? Or can we do something to see the positive? I think I have to go back to even if it's not an absolute gratitude journal, I wonder if,

Lanée Blaise:

I mean, lots of people, of course, stick inspirational quotes and affirmations and things like that up on their bathroom mirror or in their room or before you go to sleep or when you wake up, something to we do we're humans. We have to have something to remind us physically. Yeah. I can put that big old boot that I wore on my foot on top of my refrigerator. That'll remind me. You know? There there has to be something in your own personal life that you overcame that maybe can be your go to inspiration.

Sandy Kovach :

We just had the masters with Tiger Woods Yeah. Making a comeback. And, I mean, he went through all manner of

Lanée Blaise:

things. Frustration

Sandy Kovach :

and dark times. Yeah. I mean, not and things that weren't good, that we're not saying everything that that happened to him, like, he was the best.

Lanée Blaise:

Some of it was awful stuff.

Sandy Kovach :

But he turned everything around. And I what an inspirational story, and I love the picture. They compared the picture of him with his dad when he won the 1st masters and then him with his kid. Yes. I mean, if you weren't crying on that one Yes.

Lanée Blaise:

And that, you know, that inspirational fist bump, that smile was back. He got his mojo back. He got his oomph back. And I hope and pray that that is something that he will use as his personal inspiration that we can use too.

Sandy Kovach :

I don't even watch golf or anything. Right. My husband's into it. Some people say my husband actually looks like Tiger Woods. What do you do you think so? I don't know. But Put a little

Lanée Blaise:

Nike cap on him. Yes, sir.

Sandy Kovach :

So we love Tiger Woods in our house. And, obviously, we're disappointed when things did not go well for him.

Lanée Blaise:

And did you hear how so many people said he will never be the same Tiger Woods again? He will never win another masters again. And that is an example of not letting the negativity of the world grab you by your ankle and yank you down. Keep pressing. Yeah. I am so glad you mentioned that. That is just a beautiful I I will use that one for me too.

Sandy Kovach :

Tiger Woods. Yeah. Even the people that don't follow golf like myself.

Lanée Blaise:

And there are so many other situation. You know, we mentioned Helen Keller also. We mentioned The Man With No Feet. You know, you just keep your eyes focused on anything positive that you possibly can and just and and you allow yourself the grace to go through when you don't feel that way.

Sandy Kovach :

Right? Exactly.

Lanée Blaise:

And you keep pushing.

Sandy Kovach :

Now there is a quote that I love, and I pull this out because I like quotes. I like posting quotes. As you know, I'm I'm, like, the positive quote lady.

Lanée Blaise:

Yeah. I like that.

Sandy Kovach :

I pull this out in Thanksgiving a lot. It's, for a John f Kennedy quote. And he says, as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. So not just to express gratitude as we were saying in the the other quote. Yes. You wanna do them, but living. How do you live in gratitude? That's another level. Right? That is the level.

Sandy Kovach :

That's the whole purpose. Right? Yeah.

Lanée Blaise:

And that makes me feel like you kinda go outward to others. Start with thanking them. And the how about the pay it forward method? Do it that way. The pay it forward method, the better to give than to receive. You know? Sometimes, you

Sandy Kovach :

know that.

Lanée Blaise:

Make your life an example and make your life, in some ways, dedicated to helping others and serving others.

Sandy Kovach :

If you were given a certain comfortable comfortability that's not a word. And you are I'm making up words now.

Lanée Blaise:

We need to go back in our smartphone. It's That's

Sandy Kovach :

right. Is comfortability a word? If you have been given a a certain level of being able to help other people, then no one can demand it from you. But I feel like you need to.

Lanée Blaise:

You're kinda talking about using your gifts that you're given also, I believe.

Sandy Kovach :

Using your gifts, whether they're financial or maybe they're not financial. Maybe you don't have a lot of extra money. Maybe you just have the gift of being a great teacher, so you help out at your child's school. Yes. Yes. There is many things.

Lanée Blaise:

Or your next door neighbor who you know is struggling within a certain area, you offer to to lend a hand and do some free tutoring or there's so many ways.

Sandy Kovach :

There's so many ways. It doesn't always have to be financial. But I definitely believe in the the paying it forward when you can, or if you can give an extra tip to your server, because those people work so hard. And just knowing people who work in the service industry and the dining industry, they depend on those tips. So I always try to, you know, extend a little more with that too. But I mean, so you've got paying it forward, maybe buying someone's coffee at Starbucks, tipping a little bit extra. Yes. Helping your neighbor.

Sandy Kovach :

If you have the means to make larger financial contributions to do that. Yes. Things like that.

Lanée Blaise:

I love it. These are ways of being living examples of people who are full of gratitude and willing to share that mindset and brighten this world. And I'm thinking it's takeaway time.

Sandy Kovach :

Okay. When you say it's takeaway time, I'm ready to get my notebook out.

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. Get your notebook out. Turn to page 3. Here are takeaways for the day. Thank you, doctor Lanee. So these are very simple little starting points. I'm gonna call them try to takeaways.

Sandy Kovach :

Okay.

Lanée Blaise:

Let's try to fall asleep every night by reflecting on all the things that we're grateful for, till we just pass out from exhaustion.

Sandy Kovach :

Pass out from exhaustion of things that all Yes. Things. Or at least can we think of a few things?

Lanée Blaise:

As many as possible. Instead of counting sheep, count blessings.

Sandy Kovach :

Okay.

Lanée Blaise:

Okay? Let's try to wake up in the morning, and that part where it's still hazy and your eyes are still kinda closed and unfocused, and just give a quick simple thanks to God for waking you up in the morning.

Sandy Kovach :

Alright.

Lanée Blaise:

Let's try to, during the day, have little moments where you're thankful for loved ones, and you share that gratitude for them while they're still here and alive. And you're grateful for your home, your basic shelter and food and water, and you're grateful for things like we mentioned with music and laughter and people who have come to this world who have shared their light. Like it? Let's try to, after the tragedy strikes, and we've taken our time to mourn, to just eventually take a day and look back and intentionally search to find that one possible little golden nugget of something to be thankful for even when we were back in the thick of it.

Sandy Kovach :

That'd be a little more difficult. That's a hard one. It's a doable one.

Lanée Blaise:

Yes. Even remember, think of Tiger Woods. He can think back to some of those terrible parts and think about how he was able to overcome and how maybe it made him appreciate where he really is and where he'd been all those other times more. Just just saying. And the last 1 is let's try to pass on this spirit of gratitude to others in a real living way, and and also in a patient and loving and beautiful way. We don't wanna shut it down anyone's throat.

Sandy Kovach :

That's right. No. That's true. Because sometimes if people are in a bad mood and you're just smiling and, oh, not to all be grateful today. I mean, like That can be obnoxious. So

Lanée Blaise:

Yeah.

Sandy Kovach :

Just by being extending kindness and patience and understanding may be the most the best thing you can do.

Lanée Blaise:

The best way to really show that gratitude and and be a living example instead of forcing it. You know, like you said, just listening.

Sandy Kovach :

Sometimes that's all people need is somebody to hear them. Exactly. So, overall,

Lanée Blaise:

imagine yourself overflowing with gratitude and thankfulness. Thanks for listening.

Sandy Kovach :

Now we'd like to hear from you. Got an idea for the show? Wanna share your story or just say hello? Make sure you connect with us. You can do that at imagine yourself podcast.com, and we'll talk to you again next time when we have something new to imagine.

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