So, I've been having a rough week with my vehicle overheating, and it's a long story. It's a drawn out story. I'm not going to go into it, but it continued today. Maybe it's solved today.
I don't know, but I've not had a good day, just not had a good day, and I've come in here and I have to record a podcast about gratitude. Well, so that takes imagination, doesn't it? Let me tell you what I did. I went to meta.ai, which is one of those AI programs where you can ask it to help you with stuff.
And I said, let me see what I wrote. Oh, please write 13 one sentence talking points about gratitude when it all seems to be going to shit. Let's see what it said. And welcome to the Daily Grateful.
I am Michael Croes, and by the way, I have not read any of this. I am blind reading all of this right now. We're not going to get through 13, but we're going to, you know, we're just going to go and we'll start with number one, which I have not read yet. Honest to God, I just typed this in, and by the way, you know, I read to you what I wrote for them to do.
Right here, here are 13 one sentence talking points about gratitude when all seems to be going wrong. I didn't say that. I said, when all things seem to be going to shit. That's what I said.
That's what I said. But look at them. Mark Zuckerberg cleaned it up for us. Let's go to number one, practicing gratitude helps shift our focus away from the negative thoughts and cultivates a more positive mindset, even in difficult times.
Hmm. I'm going to think about that one for a minute. Let's go to number. It's starting to make a little bit of sense.
This might turn out good. I don't know yet. I'm focusing on what we're thankful for can help us find hope and resilience in the face of adversity. Okay.
Let's go to number three. Gratitude reminds us that every experience, no matter how challenging, has the potential for growth and learning. I'm going to, darn it, I just hit the desk. You know, this desk is solid.
And when I hit it used to be, when I had an old desk, when I hit it, you could hear it on the microphone. You can hear this. But not like the other one. The other one I would do that.
It would just blast right through my headphones. So I got a good solid, solid desk here. I stole it from my son. Okay.
Let's make a sense. I'm like in that number four. When we choose to be grateful, we open ourselves up to receiving more joy and positivity in our lives. And yes, as much as I hate to admit it, that is true.
And you see, I'm still in a real pissy ass mood right now. Okay. I, I, I tell you what, I came home today after the experience of driving the vehicle overheating like crazy and I'm in a very busy traffic and I had to get this thing, you know, I'm calling the mechanic and I pull off on a side, oh God, it was, I limped the thing back to him. It would cool off a little bit.
I'm watching the gauge just enough for me. If I hit a red light, it would just start getting hot again. Oh my God. I was going to have a thrombo.
I swear to God, I was like seconds away from a thrombo, but I got it back to him. So when, like I said, when we choose to be grateful, we open ourselves up to receiving more joy and positivity in our lives. Yeah. Let's go to number five.
Gratitude helps us recognize that we are not alone and that others have supported us through tough times. And yes, that is true. My son's act has helped me through tough times. As a matter of fact, I wish he'd have been with me today, but he wasn't, but he's always, always right there.
My friends and family members who have assisted me with that. And out of the clear blue sky today, an old, old friend, his father was a good friend of mine. We were in the same business, same type of business. And the son is carrying on his business and he called me up today and we were, he was asking advice and we were talking and just had this most wonderful talk.
So, yeah, and it just made me realize I wasn't alone. Focusing on gratitude can help us develop a greater sense of self and awareness and self-acceptance. Maybe. Let's go to number seven.
Focusing on gratitude can help us develop a more optimistic outlook and increase our overall sense sense of well-being. Now, I've never understood what a sense of well-being is because remember the vitamin companies, this was all the thing because vitamins cannot make claims. You have a vitamin company that comes out and makes a claim. The FDA is going after them.
So, what they would always say is it gives you a feeling of well-being, a sense of well-being. And that's what they're talking about here. For practicing gratitude can help us develop a more optimistic outlook and increase our overall sense of well-being. Yeah, my well-being is heading back up.
That's good. I don't know what well-being is. But I feel as though it's heading back up. This is good.
It's heading back up. All right, number eight. When we practice gratitude, we are reminded that every day is a new opportunity to start again and make positive changes. There's this lady on TikTok.
She's a teacher and she practices something called SEL and I do not remember what that stands for. But I know that the conservatives hate it like poison and the liberals love it. But one of the things that she says, it's similar to this, and by the way, I have no opinion on SEL because I don't know anything about it. So don't get me started because I don't know.
But one of the things that she says today is a new day and it gives us a new opportunity to start again and open up all these wonderful possibilities. And that's what basically they're saying there. We practice gratitude and every day, it reminds us that every day is a new opportunity. So good.
I got to take some time to learn about this SEL stuff. I got grandkids in school. Let's see. All I know is that the liberals love it and conservatives hate it.
And I'm neither of those. I don't know what I do. I'm an open minded person. Let's see.
Number nine. I love number nine. I haven't read it yet. But number nine is one of my favorite numbers.
So I think I'm going to like this. Let's read it. Gratitude helps us appreciate. What's going on with my screen?
Oh, gratitude helps us appreciate the small, often overlooked blessings in our lives. Let's read that again. I got to see if I understand this. Gratitude helps us appreciate the small, often overlooked blessings in our lives.
I don't know. I'm pretty open to all the little blessings that I have. I'm pretty grateful for all the little blessings that I have. I was talking to my daughter on phone and I heard my granddaughter cooing in the background.
She's seven. She's autistic as can be. And she was just feeling good and she was just making this pleasant noise and it just made me smile. And I was very grateful for that.
Let's go to number 10. Focusing on what we're grateful for can help us develop a greater sense of empathy and compassion for others. Holy shit. Pardon me.
I get a call from Doc tonight. Doc is the president of our computer club. And we have a mutual friend who I will not name who's been going through a lot of struggles. And she needs help.
She just needs help. And him and I were just having this very empathetic talk about her and feeling, you know, trying to come up with ways to help her. And one of the things, she just turned 65 and she thought somebody had put her on Medicare and set up with a supplement or a advantage plan. And as it turns out, they hadn't, it got past her and she had a doctor's appointment today and she couldn't go because the doctor's office had no records.
And I said, we got to help her right away. He got his Medicare person on the call, you know, and he's contacting her. And we're both following through to make sure that she gets that taken care of tomorrow. So yeah, a greater sense of empathy and compassion for others if we're focusing on gratitude.
And the person that I'm talking about has helped me immensely in the past with technical things on the computer. I mean, you know, I used to be really good technically on computer. And then I got sick in 2013 and I had four general anesthesia that I just wasn't as sharp as I used to be. And she has helped me immensely get sharp again, lover for that.
Okay. Number 11. How are we doing on time? Yeah, are we going to get through this?
I got to go a little faster. Okay. Gratitude reminds us that we are strong and capable of overcoming obstacles. Yeah.
What the hell? Bring it on. Damn it. Bring it on.
I'm going to Tampa tomorrow. If that truck starts to overheat, bring it on. I'm after it. Okay.
I was going to say something really. I shouldn't say something. Number 12. Practicing gratitude can help us find peace and calm in the midst of chaos.
Today was chaotic itself. I'm going to tell you that honest got truth. I came home and I got home from the mechanic. I came in.
I walked in the house. I walked back to my medicine cabinet and I pulled out Asanax and I took it and I sat on the couch waiting for it to kick in. And by the way, I am such a whistle when it comes to any kind of medication, Tylenol PM will put me out for two days. So that's Anax kick in and it's the lightest one that you can get.
And then I went to bed for like two hours. So yeah. And I was grateful to have this anax. Number 13 and final is we are really going past our time here.
When we choose to focus on gratitude, we create a ripple effect of positivity that can impact those around us. More positive you are. More positive everybody else around you is so be grateful and then you're going to be more positive and you're going to have that ripple effect. I just, I'm so glad I sat here and did this and I'm sitting here sharing this with you and it's making me feel better.
I'm going to sleep well and I have to go write a newsletter. So I thank you for that. That is, that is good. And then they say, the last thing they say, I hope these talking points inspire you to cultivate gratitude and even and even in the challenging times.
Yeah, so do I. I think they will. Sometimes you just need to talk it out, right? You just need to talk it out.
That's what I just did. 13 things blind read, talk it out with you. I hope maybe that helped you. I hope maybe if you were having a shit day as I was having the talking to sound and talking about gratitude helps you.
I know it's kind of helped me. I'm going to go have an ice cream cone. I'll see you tomorrow.