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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that it is good to be thankful for things,

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Speaker 1: and it is also good to know that we can

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Speaker 1: make things happen that we can then later be grateful for.

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Speaker 1: Gratitude doesn't need to be a passive practice. With a

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Speaker 1: little intention, we can make good things happen for ourselves

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Speaker 1: and the people we care about. Today is Thanksgiving in

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Speaker 1: the United States, a holiday that is all about giving

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Speaker 1: thanks every November. There are new studies about gratitude practices

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Speaker 1: out there. Theoretically, counting our blessings can make us healthier, weller,

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Speaker 1: and wiser, or so the literature goes. If you look

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Speaker 1: into it. Some of this is perhaps a bit overblown.

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Speaker 1: There is also some counter evidence forcing gratitude practices on kids,

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Speaker 1: for instance, can backfire. But still, it is good to

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Speaker 1: go through life feeling grateful, and I think it is

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Speaker 1: also helpful to realize this. We have some control over

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Speaker 1: having things in our life that we are grateful for.

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Speaker 1: Not complete control, of course, but in many cases gratitude

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Speaker 1: can be a proactive practice. We can actively put things

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Speaker 1: in our lives that we will then feel thankful to have.

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Speaker 1: We can go into any day thinking what would I

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Speaker 1: like to be thankful for at the end of this day,

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Speaker 1: and we can go into any longer periods of time

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Speaker 1: pondering what we would be thankful for at the end.

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Speaker 1: For instance, you might know that you'd feel grateful for

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Speaker 1: spending time with a far flung friend. See you send

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Speaker 1: her a text to see if she has time to

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Speaker 1: catch up by FaceTime tonight after work. She says yes,

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Speaker 1: You talk and wow, now you have something to be

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Speaker 1: thankful for. You might know that you would feel grateful

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Speaker 1: for being able to run a problem past a friendly

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Speaker 1: colleague and get her sage advice, so you send her

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Speaker 1: a message to see if she can grab coffee during

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Speaker 1: a break this afternoon. You know you would be grateful

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Speaker 1: for a festive night spent out with friends in December,

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Speaker 1: so you send around a poll on dates to make

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Speaker 1: it happen. After you make these things happen in your life,

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Speaker 1: you will feel happy and grateful that they are there now.

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Speaker 1: Maybe some of this happiness and gratitude will be self congratulatory,

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Speaker 1: but gratitude is still gratitude. There is definitely a place

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Speaker 1: for being grateful for the many gifts in life that

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Speaker 1: we have nothing to do with, like being born into

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Speaker 1: a free and prosperous society, or for some of my

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Speaker 1: listeners at least winning the lottery of having healthy kids.

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Speaker 1: Those are all things that we should give frequent thanks for.

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Speaker 1: But alongside those things, we can celebrate how much agency

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Speaker 1: we do have over our lives. Not to feel bad

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Speaker 1: about those things that don't go right, but to celebrate

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Speaker 1: what does. If you would be grateful to have something

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Speaker 1: happen in your life, go do what you can to

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Speaker 1: make that happen. My guess is that there is a

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Speaker 1: lot you can do in the meantime. This is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.