Up next in 10
Poulsbo Rotary 8-22-14
May 1, 2024
http://www.thebrooker.com Every day I have the privilege of delivering an important message about the incredible power of gratitude. Check in once a day to see and hear how this amazing belief can transform, re-focus, and re-frame your life into one of appreciation and thankfulness. You will look at your life much differently, and will feel a level of joy that escapes so many people as they cope with the trials and tribulations of everyday life filled with struggles and challenges. I promise you, this power will change your life.
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Meredith will do our executive for our program
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Thank you, Rob. The past president of the Maybridge Island really great club sent me an email and said
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we heard a speaker and he was great and you should have him to come to your club
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So with that, I'm, where's Chris? I sent a message to Chris Madison and said
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can we sign him up? And there you go. So I'd like to introduce David Brooke
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He's that gratitude guy. Has been a speaker, teacher, life coach, and bestselling
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author for over 25 years. He is a former Nordstrom store manager
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and he might check that out, and has managed in the corporate world for over 30 years
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His coverage books include the brokers' daily got gratitude journal. Happiness starts with gratitude and gratitude nuggets to chew on
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He was recently featured on New Day with Margaret Larson on King TV
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and shared the stage of Bill Gates Senior at a district conference
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With over 450 gratitude videos posted on YouTube, thousands have seen his message
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and he has now considered a leading authority on gratitude and how living a life of gratitude can enhance and improve your life
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Thank you, David, for coming to speak with us. Thank you, Margaret
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Thank you, Merit. Oh, I think that you, thank you, Rob. Thank you, Meredith
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Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Dan. I'm very fortunate to be able to do a couple talks a week
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and I'm actually a member of Seattle Four as well, and I'm just thrilled to get this opportunity
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So let me start off and ask by show of hands, how many people here have suffered a significant personal loss in your life
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It's about 90%. I, as I mentioned, I'm fortunate to do a number of talks a week, and I get to go to high schools and do commencement speeches, and I get to go to rest homes from 18 to 95, thereabouts
2:06
And it's always a minimum of 50%, even in the high schools that raise their hands, and usually 100% at the rest homes
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So I want to tell you very briefly, very quickly about my personal significant loss in my life
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It was September 29th, 1998. It was a Tuesday. I woke up about 6.45 in the morning
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and I looked over and Dana, my wife was not next to me
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That's very strange. Just then my four-year-old, Connor comes in and goes, where's mom
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I go, I don't know. Let's go find her. So we get out and walk out to the hallway
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Kyle, my 14-year-old, same question, same answer. We don't know. So we look in a couple of rooms and we walk down the hallway
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We look downstairs. And there's Dana down in front of the washer and dryer and she's all crumpled over and it doesn't look good
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So we run down there and I turn her over and there's stuff. coming out of her mouth and Connor starts crying and I said Kyle go call the police call the
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fire within about five or ten minutes there must have been 30 people in our house and they had her
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on the floor and they had these tubes and those paddles and the electric shock and her chest is bumping up
3:09
in the air and all this kind of thing and it was the most surrealistic thing I'd ever experienced in my
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life all I'd ever been had seen before and something like that was on TV so for those of you that
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raised your hand and have been through something similar to that or anything involving losing
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somebody, one of the things I had no idea is you lose all perspective on time. And I didn't know
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how much time had gone by and this little short fireperson comes over and says, Mr. Brooke
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we've been working on your wife for an hour and a half. We still don't have a heartbeat
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You want us to continue. And even this little brain up here, the CPU, it's in shock
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it still manages to compute a little bit, compute. And I thought, wow, 90 minutes
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And I said, no, you can stop. And she was dead. And she was 38 years old
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As I mentioned, Connor and Kyle were 4 and 14. And what had made this so challenging for me
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even though that was the most significant personal loss in my life, that wasn't the first one
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I had lost so many people. this is getting ridiculous. My mother had passed away of cancer. My father, who actually was
4:25
Rotarian, was a very prominent Seattle attorney. He killed himself. Friends, Vietnam, high school
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It just was ridiculous. And I thought at some point, I'm going to have to do something if I'm
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going to raise these two little boys in order to make some sort of a difference in this world
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And I've got to start by surviving myself. So I walked upstairs about two or three days after Dana
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passed away and I'd gotten a little bit of my senses if you will and the shock had worn off
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and I remember pinching my skin and looking out at the sky and thinking I'm just a guy with some
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flesh and bones and whatever and I don't know how I'm going to do this and then I realized for the
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first time of my life now I see why people kill themselves because it's overwhelming and I sat there
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by myself and looked out at this sky and I thought about it for five minutes and I thought you
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know what? I'm not going to do that. I got to raise these two kids and they decided
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nope, I'm not going to do it. And once you make a decision not to do something, it's not an option
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anymore. So I thought, I'm going to go forward with this, but I also, I realize one of the key
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things is it depends on how you look at something. It's all about your attitude
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So I'd like, I know it's early, but I'd like you to all stand up if you'd be so kind. and I want you to take your right hand
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Everybody had a nice breakfast and stretch out a little bit and start turning it up like this in a clockwise manner
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Now, I do see a clock over there, but if anybody's not sure, here's a watch
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And let me tell you, the kids in school have no idea what clockwise is. They go, we have digital
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We don't get it. So I have to stroll them. It's this direction. So get it going clockwise
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Now just keep a stretch down. Now start bringing it slowly down. Slowly down to the top of your head, your eyes, chin
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chest, waist. Now what direction is it going? Counterclockwise. Okay, you can sit down
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Thank you. There's always, I always love this part. There's always two or few people going like
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what's going on there? I have these fraternity brothers I've been close to
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for 45 years, and one of them says me the day, you know, we've seen your little presentation
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and frankly, we're not that impressed. But then he proceeds to ask me, how does that work
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And I go, I thought you're so smart, Mr. Ph.D., Mr. MBA, Mr. all that
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I said, it's just the difference between that and looking at a glass half full or half empty
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It's my way of saying, we have a choice, and we do have a choice
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And what happened to me along the way is I thought, you know what? I'm going to have to figure out something, as I mentioned earlier
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And ultimately, gratitude came into my life. But gratitude is all about how you first
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the thoughts in your mind. Are we focusing on what we have? Are we focusing on what we don't have
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So I'm going to do a little exercise, and I know it's going to be a stretch. There's a three-by-five card on your table. I'd like you to grab a three-by-five card, and you're going to need a pen
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So I know a lot of you will have pens, but if you don't have a pen, Meredith, would you be kind
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enough to kind of help me? There's some bunch of pens in there, and grab a pen and get a partner
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So you're going to need the partner up. Pen, three-by-five card. Who all needs
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Pens, raise your hand if you do, and I know this is always a little cumbersome here, but Mary
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it'll get around to you. A couple more. And for those of you that already have pens, in the upper left-hand corner of the card, I want
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you to write, I see you as. Those four words. Upper-left-hand corner, I see you as
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Sorry, we're getting the rest of the pens. and then to the right of I see you as write your partner's name
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All right, and then lastly, in the lower right-hand corner, sign your name. Sign or write your name so that you know who's writing it
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Okay, Dan needs a pen. Okay, hopefully everybody's got this. So I see you as upper-left-hand corner, the partner's name in the right-hand side
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and your name down to the bottom. Now here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at your partner
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Now, some people try to talk when they're doing this, and this is just about writing, and I want you to describe them, I see you as
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I don't care if you've known them for 30 years or known them for five minutes. Energetic, happy, whatever
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However you see that person, I want you to write that down, and I give you 30 seconds go
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I was like the laughing. Okay, stop. Now what I want you to do is I'll give you 60 seconds and I want you both to take turns reading
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what you wrote about the other person. Go. That works
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Thank you. Okay, and stop
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All right, now, give the partner, your partner, the card that you wrote about them, exchange card, so you have what they wrote about you
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card so you have what they wrote about you and I want you to look briefly and what
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that person wrote about you they just told you but I see you as and I heard compassion
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I think Scott was saying something to Rob I'm not sure but you can hear that
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how many people looking at that card may hold on to that card once again most
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everybody now this little experiment works everywhere I've tried it except in high
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schools because they go I see you as an idiot And I think they're a little young to understand that
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But the whole point of this exercise, if you hang on to that card
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I recommend embracing gratitude. I recommend a gratitude journal. I sell my own gratitude journal
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You can buy them afterwards. But I don't care. If you get a spiral notebook and write down every day
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takes five minutes to write what you're grateful for, and I'll get to that in a second. But the idea is, you look what's on that card
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That's what embracing gratitude does for you. It makes you focus on everything you have
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And this is how a friend sees you. I've taken a lot of words out of my vocabulary
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One of them was L-O-S-E-R. H-A-T-E was another one. And I used to call myself an L-O-S-E-R
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and I thought, this is ridiculous. You say stuff to yourself you'd never say to a friend
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Well, that's what gratitude does. It focuses on those great things. And I hear it
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I hear you happy, energetic, passionate. I hear as I go around the room when I do workshops
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and I'll hear the people saying what they're actually writing. But that's why it's so important. So one of the first things I talk about is finding something that you can grasp onto that can help you get the right frame of mind
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In this case it's gratitude. The second thing is it takes as long as it takes
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Artists, you look like you're 50 years old and I happen to know you're a little bit older. That is so freaking impressive to me. I can't even stand it
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I am 64 years. I'll be 65 in January and I know Meredith was looking early at me going man he didn't look a day over 63 and
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That's why when I met artists I'm thinking I'm doing this till 74 84 84. It takes as long as it takes
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I wanted to be a speaker when I was 19 years old That was 45 years ago. That's why Colonel Sanders and so many of these people are heroes of mine
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So I'm managing a Lowe's home improvement store and I quit and I said I'm gonna be a speaker. This is a couple years ago. I come walking home and
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and Connor driving home, I should say, Connor is 17 and I walk in, well, I quit Loz
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He goes, well, that's good, dad. I said, what are you going to do
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I'm going to be a speaker. And he goes, well, that's just dandy. What are we going to do for food
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I said, Connor, it's okay. I said, if you're passionate about something, but it takes as long as it takes
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I don't care how old I was when I started this or when I wanted to do it back then
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or I didn't get gratitude to a while ago, but it takes as long as it takes
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And so many of you have seen examples in your life of people who don't give up. I'm going to mention briefly in a few minutes
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about Robin Williams that upset so many of us, including yours truly. I was doing a talk at a Rotary and Fidelgo Bay last week
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and a friend texted me right in the middle of my talk, and I'll tell you about that in a second
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about Robin Williams. But Connor really struggled when Dana passed away. I had to hold him back in first grade
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he had to go through all these tests and things, and they said, you know, your son is messed up
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The people that sort of assessed him at school. I said, his mother just died six months ago
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Well, yeah, whatever, but he's messed up. So they put him through all these things
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They said, we need all these extra educational programs and so forth. But he did struggle
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He had a tough time with first grade the second time around. But he wanted to play sports, and he tried all the sports
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and none of them worked. He tried baseball. How many people here have kids
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There you go again, the majority. So when you play baseball, the first thing you start with, I think it's T-ball
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Well, when you hit, the ball doesn't even move. It just sits on the T. How do you miss the ball
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And Connor couldn't hit the ball. And he'd be swinging and he'd be up here and he'd just look, Dad, how am I doing
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I said, well, you're not doing well, you're not hitting the ball. You know, and so finally he'd lower it and he finally goes too low
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He hits the T. The ball rolls off. He goes, Dad, I've got to hit. Okay, Connor
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he kept trying. Coach pitch and he went through all, and he because he never played. He was always in the dugout, but he just kept trying
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Five years old, six years old, seven years old, all the way through it. Finally, we had to May 31st, 2005. He's like 11
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He's playing with the league. I'm there in the stands all the time. And there is bottom of the seventh, they're down seven to six, and I think the coach is out of players
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So he goes, yeah, get Brooke out of the dugout. So here comes Connor swinging a bat like he's Babe Ruth or something, like he's a big
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hitter and then he goes dad I'm up and I go what kid talks to your parents in the
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stands he don't even know we're there so he gets up and it's ball one ball two
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strike two it's full count and then there's a guy in second third two out bottom
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of the seventh the next pitch comes in he rips it down the third baseline goes
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in the left field the guy from third comes in and scores the guy from second round third comes in the home here comes the ball the catcher the guy catcher the
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guy catches it, they crash to the plate, the ball pops out
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And they win the game 8 to 7. And here's Connor standing out on second base
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Dad, I got a hit. I remember that like three seconds ago
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And all the whole dugout came in and put them on the shoulders and carried them off the field
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And we went home that night. We'd been through a lot with Dana and so many of our things
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And same with Kyle. all the losses we'd put up with. And I said, Connor, it was never, ever about baseball
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It was the fact you never quit. And he went on to play baseball
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He graduated from Botthal High School last year. He's in college in San Diego. He was a lead-off hitter on the team last year
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and he had a 3.5 average. And it just proves the same thing with Kyle
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the same thing I try to explain to people. Yes, you have to have a vehicle
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I believe in gratitude. I believe it's a healthy coping mechanism in a world of so many
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terrible, destructive, deadly coping mechanisms. Dana died of a prescription pill overdose
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Vicodin and Oxycontin. I heard it talking as I drove. I live in Issaquoise. I was up early this morning driving over
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Now they're going to sort of reclassify Vicodin and that stuff is nasty. She had like 50 pills in her stomach
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It's just unbelievable. But I think you have to have this never, ever, ever, ever give up
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Winston Churchill. and it takes as long as it takes. One of the things, Rob asked me
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everybody asks me, every time I do a presentation, do you have a PowerPoint? No
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Because I like to look at Rob. I like to look at Bob. I like to look at Shane. I like to look at Scott
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I like to look at Meredith. I can tell you a lot more names around here just by paying attention
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And I like to look at people eyes because everybody has a separate journey Never ever ever compare yourself to somebody else I do a video every single Monday at 7 it 2 minutes
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And sometimes if I get cards, you can sign up 40, you can sign up over on my where I have some books and I'll send it to you
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But last week, the video was going to be, the best things in life aren't things
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And I always try to think about good, catchy topics, but I changed at the last
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minute, and I did one about Robin Williams. And it's the biggest video open I've ever
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had, just because of the struggles that he had. And I've had a lot of this
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manic depression, bipolar stuff in my life. My mother suffered from that. I got pieces of it
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But gratitude has helped me really change that. And it's all about, it takes as long as it
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takes, and never given up. Never given up. That's the second thing. Third thing
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you've got to make room for gratitude. You've got to get the junk out of your brain. I used to live out in the north end of town
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and I'd go by these big fancy houses and they have these three square things in the front of their houses
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I believe they're garages. I believe they're for cars. But you drive by and the doors are up and they're just floor to ceiling boxes
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And they're just like this little space like this. And I'd see the people going like this to get a box
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You know, why do you have so much stuff? You've got to get rid of stuff
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And when you go back out in those cars today, notice that the windshield is about two feet deep
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and it's about four or five feet wide. It's pretty good size
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But then notice the rearview mirrors about this size. Well, that's kind of a good proportion for your life
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Mostly pay attention to what's in front of you and a little bit to learn what was behind you
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Now, if you see flashing blue lights, I understand. You got to pull over
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So pay attention. But so many people, when I get to do workshops
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I've just blown away. We drive over stuff. We pick it up from being
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behind us and we put it in front of us, we drive over it again. And where's the young man that was talking about his really great PowerPoint
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Where did he go? Richard. There, he's always way back there. So for a minute, I thought maybe that was the first wife
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And I went, wow, that's amazing. You've got a picture of it turns out it is your other wife
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And I will tell people, and they'll say, you know, you don't understand. Wow, I wouldn't put a picture up for the next one
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But no, but it was neat to hear that story because I will tell people to say
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no, listen Dave, you don't understand. This B.I. whatever, ex-wife, ex-husband, and I go, wow
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I said, you got some issues here. So when did you get divorced? 1988? You're still talking about it
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So you've got to get rid of that stuff. And it's just one of those things that makes such a difference to face forward
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So I talk about embracing gratitude. I talk about it takes as long as it takes
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never give up. I talk about making room for gratitude, getting rid of the junk
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and the next thing that I mention which is so important is a gratitude journal
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Now I tell people it takes five minutes a day to write in this gratitude journal
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And by the way, I think about another reason why Robin Williams was so powerful for me
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is here's a guy that was pretty universally liked, it seemed like, and he suffered from these demons
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and it brought to mind about, aren't we all kind of looking for happiness
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Isn't that one of the things I think a lot of people are looking for? and I remember hearing the quote from John Lennon
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When John Lennon was five, his mother said, I'm going to tell you the most important thing I'm ever going to tell you
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Your number one goal in life is to be happy. So John Lennon thought, wow, that's pretty good
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So a few years later, he's in grade school, and they're going around the room
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and the teacher says, John, what do you want to be when you grow up? He looks at the teacher, and he goes happy
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teacher looks back at John Lennon and says you don't understand the assignment
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John Lennon looks at the teacher and goes you don't understand life
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I can just see John Lennon saying that but really ultimately I think in so many ways we're looking for ways to make ourselves happy
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but life is I mentioned I do these commencement speeches and I talk to these 18 year olds
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this is that whole new generation this is life it's like that
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what would have I liked to have known at 18 I know now at 64
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wow I'm sure I can speak for a lot of even there's a lot of things would be cool if you knew it back then
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but this is the way life goes this is fun this isn't fun this is where everybody wants to be again
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but this is where the lessons are learned and so to me
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when you are thinking about what lesson did I learn I think about well again back to like a gratitude thing
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and how can I be happy so one of the things the reason that I did this a buddy of mine says to me let me ask here how many people have
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ever heard of a gratitude journal wow it's more and more thank you that is because I
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had never heard one so this buddy says you know you're not right I said well you know I did lose my wife a couple years ago and he says yeah but you need to get
23:11
your life on track you need to get a gratitude journal so I got one I ordered it and
23:15
then I put it on the shelf and they didn't touch it which is always kind of ridiculous but I thought you know what I better try this and I started writing
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and took me five minutes a day just writing what you're grateful for. And I noticed this change kind of came over
23:28
And as I had to put all this stuff behind me back to that rearview mirror, I noticed
23:33
what happened and I started writing it. So I did my own and this journal, this happens
23:38
to be my personal one, and it has the day and the date on the left-hand side, then it
23:43
has your daily number, which we'll get to in just a second, and then it has a couple
23:47
of lines on special occasions or current events so you don't have to have a diary
23:52
necessarily. What you're grateful for, the highlight of your day, and then this is your gratitude
23:58
and tensions. That's what you're going to be grateful for tomorrow. Because your subconscious mind
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which resides in your prefrontal cortex up here, does not know the difference between what
24:11
you think's going to happen and what actually happens. And when you write, I'm so grateful for
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something that before it's even happened, it's amazing how often you will manifest that in your mind
24:21
and then in your life. So daily number, let's give me another audience participation one
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Daily number is this. One to ten. Ten is the best day of your life
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One is the toughest day of your life, or one of the toughest days of your life. So I want you to think about what your number is right now
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It's all those things, personally, professionally, physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, all those big chunks of your life
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And I want you to get that number in your mind. So by show of hands
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If you're a one to five, don't raise your hand. I don't want to embarrass anybody's having a tough day
24:55
But do we have sixes? Okay? Got a couple. Sevens. Pretty good chunk of sevens
25:03
Eights. A little better chunk of eights. Nines? Wow. That's cool. And any tens
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Wow. One, two, three, four, five. Tens. Good job. Okay, here's what I'd like you to do
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And I normally write this down, but I have limited time. So we're just going to do this to your mind
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Here's what I want you to do. I want you to think. And this, again, is just use. just you, yourself, and I, the three of you, not your partner
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What is the number one thing you're most grateful for in your life? Just, you know, keep it to yourself
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If you could pick one thing. Okay? Get that in your mind
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And then the second thing is, what are you second most grateful for
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If you can only pick two things. Okay, and put that in your mind too. And then the last thing is, I know it's still early
25:46
Times it's like eight. What was the highlight of your day yesterday? What was the absolute best thing that happened to you yesterday
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Okay, so I want you to re-go through those. Best thing you're most grateful for
25:57
Second thing you're most grateful for in the highlight of your day yesterday. So think about all three of those things and see if your number has changed at all
26:06
So I'm going to do six. How many people are sevens? Okay
26:12
Eights. Okay, quite a few more. Nines? Wow, a lot more nines
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And tens. About four or five more tens. That is just an example by not even writing it down
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And there's something about writing it down. I have friends that say, well, you know, I think about gratitude
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And I go, that's fine, but it's not like writing it down. It starts with a thought in your brain
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It goes to your heart, your arm, your hand, the pen, the paper, and you write it down. I am so grateful for Chris, for Meredith, for Rob inviting me here, for Dan inviting me here
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There's something different. A survey came out the other day. Even typing on a keyboard is not the same as writing it
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So I highly recommend it. And the thing, it's the same fraternity brothers, call me
26:54
handing a dose to the broker. That was my nickname they gave me. First thing I say, have you written in the gratitude journal yet
27:00
Well, no, I have, right? You can call me back. It's that powerful. But that daily number gives you a good idea of how it can transform you I was doing a day I was scheduled to do a talk at Burlington Chamber of Commerce and I woke up and I was a two I was really depressed and I got that for my mother A lot of people are depressed
27:21
That's one of the things you found. That's why the Robin Williams thing bothered me so much and I just cannot take a pill. I watch those pills kill my friends, kill my wife, all this craziness out there
27:31
You got a problem, just take a pill. I'm not saying there isn't, I'm not a doctor. I'm not saying
27:35
there is no way and no time and things are right. But for me, it didn't work
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So I thought, well, you know what? You better do something about this. So I went down to Starbucks
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I took my gratitude journal. And I wrote in it, and I went back home, and it bumped me up to about a four or five
27:51
Then I went up to the Burlington Chamber. I did a talk. It was a pretty good size group. I about 150 people
27:57
And when I was done, the people come up, and they talk to me, and they tell me stories, and they buy books and things like this
28:02
But this gal says to me, My name is Janice. You just changed my life
28:09
I went, wow. And I said, well, Janice, I said, thank you. I said, I don't know if I changed your life as much as maybe gave you some tools
28:15
But she said, well, you did. And she was crying. And she said, can I give you a hug? And, of course, I'm single
28:20
So you can imagine I'm always looking for a free hug. But it was interesting because then she said, I wanted my son
28:27
Got some issues and so forth. So I gave her a hug. And then I talked to some other people
28:31
And I went out and got in my car to drive back to Seattle. And I thought to myself
28:35
If you ever wonder who your best friend is, who's the first person you call when you get the best or worse news
28:42
I think that's one litmus test. And I wanted to call Connor first
28:46
I wanted to call Kyle second. I just changed somebody's life. And I thought, nope, I'm not going to call anybody
28:51
I'm just going to enjoy this. And I'm driving back, and I got a smile on my face. I realize I'm a nine
28:56
I've gone from a two to a four or five to a nine. Didn't drink a beer
29:01
Didn't snort any powder. Didn't take whatever you take. and I thought, man, that is something that I got to remember
29:07
because that type of thing, that visceral feeling of change in life
29:11
can make such a difference. So I highly recommend a gratitude journal
29:16
Last thing. Oh, and by the way, as I said, I do, I have some of my business cards in the table
29:21
and I have books over here and you can sign up for the video. I love referrals. That's why when Dan said, yeah, I think I gave your name to Chris
29:26
I so appreciate that and so on. Because I'm very, very privileged to be able to do this work
29:31
And it's a heck of a lot more fun than, run in a Nordstrom store, which was a decent job
29:37
But when you get to impact people and they tell you their stories about their kids and their brothers and their sisters and their parents and the people that have struggled
29:43
And during that talk, Casper, Tom, texts me and my phone buzzed because I normally time people for the little exercises
29:51
And I'm doing that talk last week and it buzzes and I happen to look at it. And he goes, Dave, I wonder if Robin Williams would be any different if he was writing in the gratitude journal
30:00
I just thought it was such a great question. So, embracing gratitude
30:05
It takes as long as it takes. Never give up. Make room for gratitude
30:10
Clear out your brain. Get a gratitude journal. I don't care for the spiral, as I said
30:14
And the last thing is sharing gratitude. There's nothing like sharing. Anything in our life is better when somebody shares it
30:24
One of the things I noticed about having children, a compliment on my child is 10,000 times better than anything somebody can say about me
30:33
And it's just so powerful. And so when you get to share, I was talking to Meredith about a couple of things
30:37
We were sharing a couple things back and forth. It's just better. So here's what I'd like you to do
30:44
This is called the four T's. How many people here since I've been talking, they've been on their smartphones
30:50
Anybody? Thank you so much. Four honest people in the room. So get your smartphones out if you would
31:00
Here's what I'd like you. If you don't have a smartphone, don't worry about it. But if you got your smartphone out and get it out, and this is called the four T's
31:06
and I'm going to give you 30 seconds to do this. I want you to text, tweet, telephone, or tell somebody how grateful you are to have them in your life
31:16
So if you don't have a phone, maybe it's the person next to you, but I'll give you 30 seconds
31:20
Go. About 10 seconds
31:47
Okay, stop. And you can finish them later, but I got to wrap up here in a couple of minutes
31:55
So at the high schools, they'll, like, do six texts in 30 seconds
31:59
Can we do more? Their little fingers are just going a mile
32:02
a minute. But it's just hilarious. I was at a performing art center recently and so it was kind of the rising seats and the person was
32:10
kind of where Rob was. And you notice most people text. But this young
32:14
lady was using this. I believe this was once a telephone. That was how it may have
32:18
been designed initially. But I can hear. She's right where Rob is and I can hear and she
32:22
goes, yes, honey, I'm assuming her husband. Yes, I love you so much
32:27
and I'm so grateful for you. And I don't know. Some speaker just told me to call you and
32:32
tell you this. It's supposed to be your idea. And then another, and the people come up and they show me the text afterwards
32:43
It's so cool. And then this one goes, look at this one. I'm grateful for you, too
32:47
What do you want? And then I think it was at Fidelgo Bay
32:56
Same thing you shows me, and it goes, are you sure you sent this to the right person
33:02
But it really is true, and I've seen a lot of them that also show me in the kids and things like this
33:10
and it's really phenomenal. How often do we do it? These things are so handy, text, tweets, telephone, emails, and so on
33:17
But sharing gratitude really makes such a big difference, and it's so important. It enhances anything you do
33:22
So when you get excited about something, somehow it just is so much more fulfilling
33:26
As I mentioned, I never did drugs and smoke dope and any of that stuff
33:30
I was very fortunate. I know a lot of my friends have suffered. from alcoholism and different forms of trying to cope
33:36
But I was an adrenaline junkie. So I jumped out airplanes and scuba dive and bungee jumped
33:41
and did all that crazy stuff, even though I didn't particularly care for heights. But that was something I wanted to do
33:46
So when I was younger, I get these same fraternity brothers. And we're going to go skydiving together
33:51
So I'm going to put the thing together. So I make a reservation for eight people at Issaquah skydiving on Saturday
33:56
And so then the Monday before, I get a couple of them cancel. And then on Tuesday or Wednesday I get a call
34:02
Hey, Dave, I think I have a sore throat. Oh, man. Another one dropped out on Thursday
34:10
Finally, on Saturday, I walk up at 10 o'clock, and I proudly walk up
34:14
And he goes, can I help you? And I said, yes, Brooke, party of eight for skydiving
34:19
And he goes, where's all your friends? I said, I don't have any
34:25
And nobody showed up. And it was just me. I went skydiving by myself
34:30
It was just a static line. and I got the picture and I'm all scared and everything, but I had nobody to share it with
34:36
Nobody to share it with. So when you get to go back in your lives today
34:41
I want you to just think about trying gratitude. There's so many unhealthy coping mechanisms
34:47
that are just wiping people out. It just breaks my heart. And when you talk about, I am grateful
34:53
and I don't ask people what they said, but the number one thing I'm grateful for is my health
34:57
The number two thing is my two sons. And that just goes down the list. And when you frame your life every day for five minutes
35:05
it's kind of hard to be in a downer. And there's certainly going to be good and bad days
35:10
But I will tell you, if you get that attitude of embracing gratitude, it takes as long as it takes, never give up
35:15
use a gratitude journal and then share it with other people. It can change, it can transform
35:20
And in my case, I feel like it truly saved my life. It can save you guys as too
35:26
Thanks a lot. Thank you very much
35:35
Thank you very much. Again, to show our club, our club will be major
35:40
to the whole of the class. Thank you very much. So, wow, how is, that is that you have a question
35:50
Do we have any questions? Thank you