SUMMARY
- We live in a world with constant bombardment of news
- Realize that there are bad things or inconvenient things that happen on a daily basis
- A Gratitude Journal keeps you focused on the positive things in your life
- Keeping gratitude journals is that you give less power to negative emotions.
TRANSCRIPT
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! And you’re listening to Mr. Hague’s podcast. Hello, everybody. And, yeah, I’m in a good mood. You want to know why I’m in a good mood? Because I am living in gratitude. Yes. The G word. And something that I kind of find many people in this world lacking. And you know who’s to blame?
Them? Because you’ve got social media, you’ve got the news, you’ve got all this information bombarding us daily with stuff happening in Russia, stuff happening in our backyard, stuff happening around that may not be very good for our souls. So I’ve been keeping what is known as a gratitude journal, and I do that for a few reasons. First of all, this last summer of 2022, I had some pretty amazing well, let’s just say trying times.
In late May, I found out that I have kidney disease, and the doctors are saying that if things don’t improve that I would have to go to dialysis. Wow. And I was like, whoa, that’s kind of, a, interesting thing to kind of absorb. So fortunately, I had a very good nephrologist who are the kidney doctors, and they basically took me off some medications.
It was the medications that was causing my kidney functions to go down. Well, ever since that started happening, the kidney stabilized. Then I was hit with a double whammy. Many of you, don’t know, but, a lot of you may know those who know me. Of course, if you’re listening to me for the first time, this is, obviously you wouldn’t know.
So I am a prostate cancer patient, and my prostate cancer was getting worse at first when I was diagnosed about seven years ago. I had low grade prostate cancer. They said that it was safe, unlikely that it would spread all this good stuff. So you kind of like, brush it off and okay, we’ll just kind of monitor it.
I was on active surveillance and see how it goes. Well, it started climbing, the numbers were climbing and then we decided that we’re going to take action. So I had the prostate removed and the cancer. Well, they’re optimistic that they’ve got it all. So we’ll have to keep testing. But at least I do know for a fact that I’m not going to die of this disease.
A week after the surgery, I got Covid. Great. That was awful. And I thought that I can get away from Covid because I’ve always been wearing the mask. I’ve got my vaccine, I’m double vaccinated. I’m boosted. What could go wrong? Well, well, something did happen. And, I was bedridden for about 3 or 4 days. Fortunately, they’ve got new drugs out there to kind of get you through it all.
And I came out. No problem. And the final was that I had a colon cancer scare. Woo! They actually found blood on. Well, anyway, so I won’t mention it, but yeah, they, they were kind of concerned that that could be a possibility. One went in for a colonoscopy and, what they found was just mere hemorrhoids. The thing is that while I was going through these trials and tribulations, never once did I think it was going to fail.
Never once did I show fear, or I was afraid. I, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was pretty darn concerned. You know what? If, all these things are happening in my mind, of course I was concerned how my family felt. there’s a lot of concerns, but in within me, I just felt. I felt that I was going to be fine.
And I was really starting to feel grateful because I saw things around me that despite the fact that I was in this conditions that I was very grateful for, I was grateful for a great staff at Kaiser. I was grateful for a good urologist who was very skilled with the robotic surgery. I was very grateful for the nurses and the health care.
Most importantly, I was grateful for my wife. She was a champion of everything. She was a champion throughout this whole ordeal that I went through. One after another, after another after another. She was right there. I was thankful for my mother in law. She was just really wonderful, very supportive. And of course, a lot of my friends who called me and said that everything’s going to be okay.
So I was grateful. Those are the things that made me grateful. Despite it all. And then once it was all over, I started keeping what is known as a gratitude journal. And it’s a journal that really I wish more of the world would do. Focusing on the good in your life really has a good impact, and when we focus on the good that happens to you on a daily basis, things start to change.
Your mind shifts. You improve your grades. If you’re a student, you improve your relationships. You build this aura around you. This aura of goodness. People want to be around you. It’s like you’re a breath of fresh air. Keeping this gratitude journal forces you to focus on everything that happened to you that day, that you appreciate, and you train your brain to always look on the brighter side of things.
I went through all these surgeries and as I mentioned, was I concerned. Hope you better darn well believe. Yes, I was. Was I scared? No, I really wasn’t. You know when you well, when you get wheeled into the surgery room, you have a humbling feeling like, wow, I’m human after all. And I was grateful for that. I was grateful for the care.
I was grateful for the technology. I was grateful for the fact that there are people out there who are surgeons and practitioners that are very skilled at what they do. So did I have confidence? Oh yes. And I remember a long time ago, I was skiing. I can’t do that now. I mean, I guess I could, but, yeah, when I took skiing lessons and this is a lesson that I’ve learned from my ski instructor and the one that really stuck with me more than, well, just about any other lesson that I learned.
She said that as you’re skiing downhill, turn your head and face the direction you want to go and you’ll get there. And I at that time, I was like, oh yeah, right. I’m going, I’m going to go down the ski. I’m going to speed. I’m going to be scared. I’m going to you know, okay. So I tried it.
Lo and behold, she was right. I looked to my right and before I know it, I was moving to the right side. Look to my left. Same thing happened. Amazing what you learn from people. And you know, I’m going to put that in my gratitude journal tonight. Remembering that lesson of life that that ski instructor. I’ve never seen her since.
And more importantly, about keeping gratitude journals is that you give less power to negative emotions. You’re not giving. Now, I’m not saying that bad things don’t happen to you during the day. Of course they do. Is a thing called life. Things happen. I mean, you see an accident in front of you. You see a kid screaming. I mean, nothing bothers me more when I see a young baby crying out of their, you know, crying their lungs out when they’re about to get a, an injection or a shot.
You know, I just it breaks your heart. But the kid’s going to be okay. And, you know, usually accidents. Well, they’ll get over it. If nothing is too bad. I mean, I’ve seen really horrible things, but I don’t give it much power. And I guess it’s easy to say that when it doesn’t happen to you. And I’ll. I’ll talk about that in the in a few minutes or so when it does happen to you.
But when you live in gratitude and science have shown this, you sleep better, you work better, you obviously improve your self-esteem. You reduce stress. It basically improves your overall well-being. And isn’t that what life is all about? You improve and self nurture yourself. Now here I stand as a teacher. I love my students, want to see them excel, but I go beyond the lessons of my classroom.
I teach graphics and digital media. As I’ve always mentioned in just about every one of my podcasts, but I’m also a teacher of life. I don’t think I can go through the day without telling them something about life, and as an older adults, okay, whether you’re a stranger or not, if you’re a younger than me, I’m going to try to share some things with you that maybe you can enhance your lives.
Just like a ski instructor. So for the first time in my career, I’m actually going to offer extra credit for any student who keeps a positive journal, a gratitude journal for 80% of the semester. That’s right. I’m going to offer extra credit to my students who keep a gratitude journal, because if I get positive students, I get better performance from them, I get better productivity from them, and more importantly, they get better results.
Teach them to have gratitude now and it’ll carry with them for a long time. Students who are stressed out or have tough lives. Some are homeless, some have lost loved ones. This could lead them out of their situation or give them the strength to get them out of a situation that they don’t want to be. Because I always tell them, you guys are young.
You got a whole life ahead of you. You can get out of this, and once you do get out of the situation you’re in, you can look back and be proud of the fact that you have the strength and the stamina to get out of that rut that you might be in. And believe me, I know students are in big ruts and I try to do the best I can.
I’ve got students who are homeless. I’ve had students who are in abusive situations. I’ve had students who are in group homes. I’ve got students in who are, you know, they’re the situation is tough, especially during Covid when I’ve had students who lost family.
But by focusing on the positive, it strengthens them. It’s like their security blanket. They know that regardless of the bad things that happen in life, they can get through it. Let the universe guide you to improve your conditions. Perhaps they will empower their own families out of a situation. Perhaps they will empower their own friends and their own peers.
If an F student is empowered and say, you know what, I want to change? I want to start winning. I want to start getting A’s. And maybe their friends who, you know, birds of a feather flock together. You know, students who don’t perform well usually hang out together. But if one of them breaks out and say, you know what, I’m going to start doing good.
‘m going to start performing. It might impact their other friends and they’ll see. They’ll see how happy that kid is, how much productive that kid. And it might just work to improve all those around them. That, my friend, is what a true leader is. They impact for the better. All right. So how do you keep a journal? How do you keep a gratitude journal?
Well, very simple it could be or it could be complex. any way you want really, as long as you can kind of go back and see the days and reread things. I mean, any piece of paper will do, okay. Any, any, any kind of notepad. I for one use my iPad, perhaps on a notebook, just dedicated to the journal.
Okay. That’s the key thing is that no matter what you use, make sure is dedicated to only your gratitude. Journal, even if it’s in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. You know, you may want a password protected or something like that. I mean, it’s it’s like a diary in a way, but it’s really for you to reflect on and show the good again that you that you’ve had all day long.
Okay. And you can always go back days and. Wow. Yeah. That happened. That was really good. And then you have more positive energy coming your way. So what are you going to be gratitude of. What do you write about okay. That I’m breathing. Well yes that’s a big thing. I mean breathing trust me. I’m glad I’m breathing after what I went through.
I am so happy that I’m standing here breathing, talking, you know, in a in a sound booth and a microphone. Okay. It’s really, really gratifying in many ways. So what are the things that a student or a young adult can write about? Well, what if you made a new friend? That’s pretty big. Making new friends. That’s awesome. Something maybe even smaller than that.
Smelling the roses. Hey, you walked past the a bed of roses and you’re thinking, oh, this is nice. You know, it really calms you. Or going out to your favorite restaurant, whatever restaurant that may be, or if you’re concerned about your blood pressure and you do a reading and suddenly your blood pressure’s normal. Hey. And I was thankful because a high blood pressure is one of the ways that a kidney can deteriorate.
So you really got to watch your blood pressure in so many ways. And if your blood pressure is stable, well, that’s a good thing. Or how about you resisting something like resisting the temptation to eat an unhealthy snack? Those Doritos there are those Takis that I see the students just gorging upon. My God, or those brownies think. Or maybe you ignored someone who could give you trouble.
That’s right. It’s positive to avoid someone who’s negative. Now, I’m not saying that just because you’re positive and you keep a gratitude journal and all of a sudden you got this energy of positivity around you that somebody may try to knock it down. You better watch out, because there those people exist. So you want to avoid them. And if they want to be impacted by you, they choose to.
You don’t force anyone to be positive. That could actually lead to problems. You just be yourself and you go about the day standing tall, being proud, and whoever comes your way. If they want to be impacted by you, they will. How about getting good grades? Wow, now that’s a good one. Getting good grades. Okay, how about reading a book?
What book? Or maybe you read part of a book. Okay, I’m I’m having a really hard time getting people to read books or, I mean, in this day of the digital age with social media and all, do we really read all that much anything of quality besides the news feeds and the and the chats? How about a really nice book?
Or maybe you earn praise from a teacher? Oh, that be awesome. You know, growing up I didn’t get much praise from teachers, so I give it my all to my students. Now. And I love this one. Getting an moment. In other words, getting that wow moment, that wow, that’s something else. When I hear a nice quote or a nice, talk that kind of like, makes me think.
Or how about having just a nice thought? Wow, that puppy was cute. Wow, that drive was really nice. Or, you know, I love having this car because I can listen to good music. Or just when you’re driving in from work, you hear your favorite song starting to play. Wouldn’t that be cool? Or maybe you got the opportunity to play the hero.
You you kept the door open for someone, or you help someone to their car, or somebody dropped something. You reached down and picked it up for them, or you helped someone with their homework. There’s so many opportunities for positivity during the day. Now, of course, there are some concerns. You might say, well, what if nothing good happens while you’re breathing?
You’re standing. Isn’t that good? you got to really kind of focus. I mean, think about it. If you can’t think of something, that means you’re kind of in the beginning stages and you’re not used to thinking or looking at the positivity. So a good way is to start now. Maybe, you know, with the gratitude journal, if you list five things a day, five things a day, that’s your gratitude for breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe.
I’ve got my health, I got my health, I got my health. I got my start something. My car started. Oh, it rained so hot and humid I say it rained. Okay, maybe some things you don’t control over. Like I said, the weather. Or maybe, you know, I didn’t listen to the news today. Yay! And then, of course, another cancer.
Well, what if somebody reads it? Well, what if somebody reads it? They can get impacted too, in a positive way. And, you know, of course there are some things you may not want them to read like, okay. Yeah. You know, it made me happy to finally, be with somebody that my parents disapprove of. Okay. Well, that is kind of like,
Well, you have to ask yourself, why do they disapprove of that person and you don’t want to sneak around? Of course, if your parents read that journal, they may not be happy about it. But then you also got to remember that, the positive is that they they probably have their reasons to not want you to be with someone.
And maybe you can write that down. They’re just concerned. And you really got to look at that. But so many people have gotten married that their parents disapprove of. So many people have been together for years. Okay. And that works especially in the gay community. Hey, imagine the trauma and the and you know, that they faced growing up.
But I know gay couples have been there together for decades. And how about interracial? Okay. I mean, that was a crime not too long ago, but they stood strong and they persevered. And they they held their unbreakable bond together and had children and many generations of happiness. So I’m just saying that if somebody reads it, let them. And then you have more of a challenge to prove them wrong.
But if somebody reads it most of the time and they see that, oh, yeah, I read a book. Oh yeah, I ate something healthy. Oh my goodness. I smiled a lot today. Okay, they may look at that and say, wow, okay, that’s really good stuff there. And they’ll ask you about it. Now of course you might be in a traumatic situation at the moment.
So does that mean you stop and write gratitude stuff? Does that mean you stop and look for the good in something? No. If you’re in a very, very strongly traumatic situation, like a relative died or you found out that you had cancer like I did, of course you don’t write in a gratitude journal. If you can’t, you know, force yourself to write a gratitude journal.
You got to be with your trauma. You got to be with whatever it is that’s hurting you at that moment. But the thing is that if you develop that positive energy around you from doing things like gratitude journals like Eating Healthy and by winning, by getting the good grades, things of that nature. It makes you a stronger minded person.
Your willpower carries you. It carries through thick and thin. Okay, so I’m just saying that, right? Keeping a gratitude journal makes you focus on the good things in life, and I certainly hope you do that. Start today. Just five things a day. Start out, you know, maybe open up Google Docs and keep it private. If you’re wanting anybody reading it and just start writing good things.
What good things happened to you today? And if you want to write to me and share it with me, I love it. I love hearing other people’s gratitude. I love reading about them. When someone comes up to me, especially when a student comes, hey, mister, hey, I made the basketball team. Awesome! That is so wonderful. You feel happy for them.
And when you feel happy for someone, you get happy. The positive energies come pouring into you. So do your gratitude journal and I am, of course, utmost gratitude that I have a podcast, that I have a listening audience and that, well, it’s the end of the day. I get to go workout. I get to go home and eat some good dinner.
This is Mr. Hague or Mr. Hague’s podcast, Live in Gratitude. Over and out.