So, Joyce, I've been reading this.
This this book by this, this author, Lucy Logan, PhD.
Who is that?
You know, starting your fears. And then we're finally out of this book.
Oh. We are.
Yeah.
Who are you?
I'm John Cadillac, so go along with my friend over here.
Joyce. Hello. Good. What's good?
Joyce.
Rescued from all the negativity out there?
There's so many people. Tell us.
Yes. Need a break from that? Yes.
This is your break. This is your break.
This is your break.
Forget everything. Forget everything.
We're going to talk about good stuff.
About what's good.
What's good in your life and what's good in our lives.
Because I think by your book recently about Live Abundantly Now.
Yeah. That's right.
So I felt so compelled to write that because,
they're short stories and they're not all about me.
There's other people also in there, but it's about the little things,
and those little things are like little miracles.
And if we don't look for those little miracles and acknowledge them,
you don't see them after a while.
You know, you take things for granted.
You think things are a coincidence that happen.
We do have a, a tendency to become apathetic, all of us.
Kind of walk through life right?
Through life sometimes.
And we have to be intentional because miracles don't have to be like,
you know, big things where somebody's life is safe.
All the sudden cancer is cured. That's great.
That's a miracle.
What about the sunrise.
What about the sunset each and every day.
What about the first thing when you get up in the morning and you breathe.
Yeah. No. Absolutely.
Absolutely.
To the sound of the birds I love first thing in the morning.
Yeah.
You go down the hall and feed the birds.
To me, that's a miracle.
Yes. Yes.
And acknowledge that.
So I printed this out like a definition.
I know what is a miracle.
A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by nature or scientific laws,
and therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.
However, it's also a highly probable or extraordinary event,
development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.
So maybe, you know, think about the miracles.
I, I feel like I had three miracles in a row.
Boom boom boom. Yeah. The other day.
Okay, so the first one was,
Well, someone owed me money.
There's always a story that said so.
And when you're self-employed, you know that you don't have that weekly,
you know, coming in and, was starting to really, like, bother me.
But I remember what you said, John.
You said get get the unpleasant things out of the way first thing in the morning.
The bullfrog.
Oh, that's what you called it. Eat the bowl. The bullfrog.
Eatable frog.
Right. Right.
Why all of that? But.
So I, I had three things I needed to deal with.
And one was to address the fact, you know, head on, like,
you know, hey, you know, I didn't get paid.
The second one was, a doctor's appointment
that I had to switch for my grandson.
And it's a very tough to get into with ear, nose and throat specialist.
But on that day that I made four months ago,
something came up that I can't switch.
And I knew I had to switch the date,
but I didn't want to push my grandson out months more.
So I thought, well,
I've got to call the office, and it's usually you're on hold for a long time.
You go through the scheduling.
And the third one was, it was, I know something with my, my TV
that I had to do, like, you know, Xfinity.
And it was my phone.
Anyway, I decided I'm going to eat the bullfrog.
So I made the first call,
and as soon as she heard my voice, she said,
oh my gosh, Joyce, you know, you know, I was busy doing inventory.
I had this happening. She.
Oh, I kind of backtrack the night before.
And this is what I recommend for everyone every night.
I imagined all three scenarios going well,
and I just said, thank you, God that this is going to be wonderful.
No matter what it turns out to be.
I am not going to have a bad day because.
Because of this way, too blessed to be stressed. Yes.
So when I woke up and I knew I was going to do that,
I do say a prayer before I make a phone call,
and I do expect it to have a great turnout no matter what.
So that first phone call.
I didn't have to say anything.
And she not only said, oh, and I imagined it in my mailbox.
That's the thing.
I imagined that I went to my mailbox and there it was.
But I already saw from my phone that it wasn't in my mailbox.
You know, because I have that thing.
You could check your mailbox.
Yeah.
So, so so I saw it wasn't there, and
I still imagined it in my mailbox.
So, when I called, she, you know, apologized and said,
not only am I paying you now, I'm paying you for next month to.
Wow. Okay, this is a big wow. Now
that is it was like, thank you God.
Thank you God.
And the next thing she said was, you know, let me check something.
See if I put that in the mail.
She said, you know what? I didn't put that in the mail.
I'm actually going
to be going by your house and I'm going to put it in your mailbox.
So it ended up in my mailbox.
Oh, no.
So it was there, just as I imagined in my mailbox.
And then I make the phone
call to the doctor's office, and guess what they picked up right away.
I wasn't on hold, and she said what had happened?
And she said,
you know, boy, Joyce, you know, the doctor's been out for a while.
He's really backed up.
You know, I don't think we can make this, you know, work.
I don't think we can make it earlier.
You know, I think I think.
And then I heard her say what?
And then she said, oh, wait a minute.
She said, we had a cancellation actually the day before to make it one day earlier.
Can you do this time at three in the afternoon?
It's like yes, because it was my only free day.
My my little calendar.
Some people may not qualify.
Those, you know, but I do.
That's when I mean, that's when I mean, think of those things as a miracle
and don't say, well, that was a coincidence or that'll never happen again.
No expected acknowledge it because it really
it for me, it's like God giving you a gift
and and again which I think we talked about before,
but we'll keep repeating this because you need to hear it all the time,
that when a gift is given to you
and you don't acknowledge it and give thanks for it,
the person, entity, whatever giving you that gift is eventually
going to say, well, they don't care, they don't want it, they don't like it.
And that's the way life works.
So you have to be grateful.
Even if they said to me, the check's not in the mail,
the check, the appointment couldn't happen.
I would be grateful that I made the call at least.
And I got that off my plate.
You know, the fact that they cared enough to try.
Yes. Yes.
Yes. So, like, you know, I know you expect good.
And so do I.
And I also pray for that person on the phone. Yep.
With every situation ahead of time, I pray for them.
I pray for their family right?
To happen to be intentional that way.
So no matter where I go, I look for opportunities to bless people in my.
And I said, father, I don't know their name, but I know you do.
I know they're going through challenges right now.
So how about a miracle in their life. Right.
Somebody in their life who's battling the disease.
Yes. In hospice.
Yes. Every single person we know and we say this all the time.
Every person you know is battling something in some way
and expecting a miracle, right?
Big or small? Right.
So when we pray for other people, I really believe that WordPress, for us to
get that miracle that we're looking for as well.
Right.
And the fact that we're alive is a miracle. Yes.
It's the fact that we were born.
I mean, the whole the whole process, you know, that,
you know, the woman could give birth and, you know, a man and a woman.
And there it is. It's life.
And, you know, I know
I get
into heavy conversations with people where I listen.
And it'll be the same story, though for some people,
it'll be over and over about how life didn't treat them well,
about how a husband or a mother or whatever.
But now it's been like 20 years
of the same story, and I feel so bad for them.
And I do.
So here's an example of why the gift stops coming.
Because I've listened.
I've given advice.
I've spent time with, I've given my books to.
I've done all that.
But after years, it's like I'm not doing it anymore.
I will pray for you.
And I quietly need to kind of like like,
you know, keep a little bit of a distance because they're not ready to hear it.
So, you know that old saying, when the student is ready, the teacher.
Well, that those students are ready yet?
And if I give too much of my energy to people who are not ready,
I can't do it for my own family and myself.
You know that we have to protect ourselves as well.
So don't stop the gift from coming.
If you're hearing us and you like what we're talking about,
that means you're at a place of accepting this and you need to hear it.
And you want to soak it up like a sponge
because you're tired of feeling angry,
fearful, tired, you know, whatever that is, you're not ready.
That's okay.
I mean, yeah, people where they're at.
Absolutely.
Sometimes you have to keep your distance from certain people
because with all due respect, sometimes people can be energy zaps. Yes.
Yes. Energy away from you.
And that could affect your mood
and how you perform the work and how you perform around your family.
That you have with your family, this location folks.
We're only here for a little while. Yeah.
And we have a destiny to fulfill out there, to go out there
and do the best we can with the talents we've been given.
Right.
Even if somebody is not ready for for the advice, we're ready to give it.
They're not ready to hear what we have to say.
We can still pray for them.
I still love them.
But from a distance sometimes. Right.
But never ever, ever give up on people.
Right.
You know I just will I will never totally tell anybody.
Oh I'm there I'm there for them.
And anytime they want to talk, you know, I'm there if they really want
not to complain all the time, but if they really want to engage and,
you know, when I was in private practice, I would see people for two hours.
We would be we would be talking, and I'm teaching them
how to do self-hypnosis and to relax.
But if they come in week after week
with the same story, I would say to them,
you are wasting your money and my time
because you're actually
paying me to be a sounding board for all your troubles.
And this is not what we do here.
It's.
And it's like why we started this show.
What's good.
Because we ask people, tell me what's good in your life.
And most times people have to really.
But don't they?
They have to stop and think about it because
people are used to engaging in what's not good.
The weather is bad. The politics are awful.
My car payments are too high. My, you know,
I had that happen, you know,
with someone who came into to fix something in my house.
He wasn't even at my first step yet.
And he says, boy, life is rough, isn't it?
And I said, oh, boy.
Yeah. Okay.
Because the way our brains are wired, like
75% of our thoughts are negative, especially first thing in the morning.
Yeah. Rewire our cells.
And that's not just going to happen.
We have to be, content about you.
Do you know if people find themselves in a rut?
And this is a doctor from Australia, Doctor Claire Weeks.
She's one of the first, doctors
to write a book about anxiety and phobias
and really address the fact that
this is something that happens in people because,
you know, in my book starving, your fear was I talk about that.
I have that and I call myself a recovery phobic
because I shoot out a lot of adrenaline from my brain, and a lot of people
have that where suddenly you feel very panicky for no reason.
But if you become afraid of that, then it adds more adrenaline
because your body's thinking, oh, you're in trouble. So?
So it does compound exactly.
But Doctor Clear Week said, if you find yourself in a rut in life,
even whether it's fears or just feeling depression.
She said just by
changing the
way you get out of bed on the other side of the bed,
or putting your slippers or something someplace else.
Do something different in your routine to shake it up a little bit.
It does. And it and it and it will change.
Some of the neurons, you know, in your brain will it,
it will react differently.
Oh, you're doing something different.
You're driving down the street.
Not the same way to work or school or whatever.
Go another route.
Do something that wakes up your brain and your body.
Brushing your teeth with your right.
And try brushing with your left hand.
Yeah, right. That's an extreme.
But yeah, it's.
Yeah, it's stuff like that. Yeah.
That's why they tell people like, take a class in something or learn a language.
Uncomfortable?
Yes. Uncomfortable is our friend, right?
Right.
If you were too comfortable in everything in life, we're not growing.
Does it take a ballroom class?
My wife's been trying to get me to do it.
Wow. Wait, wait. What was that?
You don't want to know about that.
But you've been in theater and things.
Yeah.
Right. Right.
That's not your cup of tea.
No ballroom dancing to watch it.
But, yeah, I mean, I recently went to see River dance.
Nice.
They were able to move there.
Oh. That's fabulous, isn't it?
Yeah. Has to do with this miracle of a body.
It's just, you know,
because they think outside the box, they they do things that almost.
It just doesn't seem impossible to do with human body.
I know, I don't know how they do that.
Everybody has all these gifts.
And people can call them miracles.
Wait, so the will the miracle be that you're going to ballroom dance
in a river dance?
Put your arms down. That's right.
I'll get to the river. No.
But. Yeah, just.
Just getting out of our comfort zone.
Yeah, but you're right.
I mean, there's little miracles every day.
I try to be a little bit more intentional when I'm even driving down the street
to keep my eyes on the road.
Long stretch. Just.
I never even noticed that house before.
Everybody knows that tree before.
Right. Just. Oh that's a beautiful place right.
Oh this or that.
Or go to a different restaurant or different place and say
oh this is really kind of cool.
That's a, an insult.
A little bit of a miracle to somebody, you
know, took their hard earned money and built up that business.
They had a vision. I'm 100%.
So there's always looking different ways of looking at variables.
You know, and I would suggest when you step outside every day,
look up, take the time to look up.
I don't care if it's raining.
I mean, just look up and say, wow, it's a beautiful day.
No matter what the day is, is like.
I mean, doesn't always have to be sunny, but just that,
you know, if I just find it like when I think of it,
that we're on a spinning planet, for goodness sakes.
We're in.
And it's was like one degree.
Yeah.
Life on this one?
No, we we go floating off.
Yes. I happen to be like one degree off, right?
Life.
Right.
It's just amazing how that that perfect miracle.
I think that's a miracle, I think.
Science, religion, faith, all can be together.
Miracles, scientific reasons.
It's the same thing. You know, for me.
Yeah.
Somebody who's been there through thick and thin when other people may have left.
But that person is always there for you. Yes.
Getting up and going out your front doors, entering the house.
Right. I got I got a beautiful lawn here.
Even if there's, you know, holes in the wall.
Right. Right.
I got this car that had to be the greatest car in the world.
And you have a car to get you from here to there, right?
Right.
You know, so I know it sounds kind of Pollyanna, but be a Pollyanna.
Be a Pollyanna.
Oh, yeah. Yes.
I'd rather go down that route.
You know, this is love that you love.
I believe that. Yeah.
You know, I didn't start out as a Pollyanna.
In fact, I had a cousin that an older cousin that told
my mom that I was sullen.
And I was as a teenager, I, I went through,
yes, sullen years as a teenager. And,
but then later on, when I had a roommate, she accused me of being a Pollyanna.
And I thought, what's wrong with being a Pollyanna?
Right. You
know, it's like
I'd rather be a Pollyanna than be someone unhappy and sullen all the time.
You say that because I have a guy that, is a mayor of one of the towns.
He's become a really good friend of mine, and he calls me Johnny Appleseed.
I love that.
That's perfect.
A lot of heat for this.
They're watching you listening in right now.
But at the gym, several people have called me hallmark.
Johnny. I can see that, too.
You are absolutely hallmark, Johnny, because you look like a couple people.
One on Walmart.
You do what they seem like with the attitude.
They say to me, come on. You know what?
And sometimes if you really come across as being too vanilla or whatever.
Question.
Is that really authentic.
Yeah.
Who you are right now I get that.
Our challenge is you just ask my wife
if somebody thinks, you know, is he really that you know that. No.
She's like oh was so far from it.
Yeah. We all have our days, you know.
Yeah. No.
Sometimes our spouse stays with us
with all the challenges. Right?
Right. Right.
We love each other, you know, warts and all.
Yeah.
What was I going to say when you were talking about that with Johnny Appleseed?
Yeah.
I like that Johnny Appleseed, because it is spreading that seeds of,
of faith, though.
But Johnny Appleseed is like,
you're spreading the seeds of faith and love and all of that.
And and also, I would say don't engage with others
in that negative conversation.
So sometimes I may, if I don't know, people interject a little
lightness into it.
But if you find that you can't just excuse yourself,
you know, and you just just move away.
Otherwise you get caught up in that and then you don't see it.
And, it does.
It does seem like when I'm talking, I'm hearing gossip about people.
Yeah. A lot more intentional about that.
And just kind of you step away or just, you know, politely.
Yes. Something else.
Yes. That rude.
I don't want to be slamming this person or this person right.
Or people.
Because if they're gossiping about someone else
you're going to be gossiping about us. Right.
And when somebody says a choice just between you and I, that person.
Just between you and me, that person.
I just kind of think that's a red flag.
That to me they're saying it to somebody else the same thing.
You would be right between you.
Right between a whole bunch of other people as well.
That's true.
Unless it's you're really true. Confident.
Well you're my confidant.
Yeah.
I mean, I know for a fact that I can tell you something right?
Choice between us is not going anywhere.
Right. Same thing.
You with me? Yeah.
I mean, I, I will honor that because I don't want it to ever get back to someone.
And my word is in question. Right.
Definitely.
You know, Yeah.
Talking about that confidence.
I can remember, though, there was someone that I really wanted to
them to tell someone,
and this is when I was a teenager, you know, that I really liked this guy.
I said, but don't tell him, because he was kind of known as saying a lot of things.
And I thought, oh, he's going to tell them.
No, he never told them.
That's what. No.
And so finally, I had to tell.
Sometimes.
But if you want something good to be, spread it.
Tell the gossiping person.
Right, exactly.
But, you know, people who are,
you know, can get you riled up inside.
I love watching reality TV shows now.
I just like them. Oh, judge.
Yeah. Yeah. Don't don't judge.
I don't care if you do.
Because the reason why I like them.
And I love to watch Big Brother and Survivor and, you know, and all that.
And the housewives of wherever.
Because I like to study
who comes out as the alpha and who comes out with this.
But let me just say this. Yeah.
However, in the
beginning, boy, did it rile me up.
I was like, oh, I can't stand that person.
Why are they so mean?
Then I stopped myself and said, you know what?
I'm going to practice watching these shows and keeping my peace.
So sometimes I do it just for that job.
And and when I start to feel like that, I'll say
I love all of them.
We're only seeing a piece of their life.
I don't know what they've been through, even though they're mega wealthy people
and we think they have everything and they got a lot going on.
Oh, you got a
you know how people, I kind of.
Yeah.
You scratch the surface.
I mean, no one has it all.
We're all.
Yeah, we're all under construction.
But, you know, if you're just looking at the money, that seems to be
the one that either sends them to jail for tax evasion or.
Or they they're complaining and and they're getting things like,
like 300,000 a month for alimony from a past husband or or, you know,
they are I mean, they you think you live on that 300,000 a month.
But they don't seem very happy.
These are all very cool.
Yeah. You know, life, all these gifts.
So the miracle of of life in general is to feel good no matter what.
In fact, someone said on TV yesterday their daughter was complaining to them
about something they listened to and watch, and it really bothers them.
And the father said, don't watch it.
Turn it off.
Turn the dial.
You don't have to listen to this.
Turn the news off.
The news bothers you.
Turn it off.
I've said it time and time again.
I'm going to say it again.
You don't need to know what's going on.
24 seven in the world.
Turn it on to see what the weather's going to be like locally.
Right. And deal with that.
Other than that, your vote is support people.
But don't let the anger engulf you.
Don't.
Because it'll make your life shorter.
Right. Is everything.
It's like, you know, get your news media update
throughout the day, ten, 12 minutes, and it doesn't really change. Right.
The whole time.
And their job is to bring out the negativity.
Yeah. It is you in.
Just binge watch what's good with John and Joyce.
Yeah. You know.
Yeah. I mean, I know it's kind of self-serving.
Yeah. Binge watching.
Or at least it's kind of like.
And watch any positive show. Do you know what?
I turn on a lot, and I have it stored on
my DVR is Mister Rogers.
Really? Yeah.
Did you see the movie? Yes.
Yes I did.
Yeah. It was outstanding.
I remember my husband coming home, and he knew it would be a bad day.
When I would have a lot going on, I would be exhausted,
and I would cover myself up in bed.
I'd be watching Mister Rogers, and he said,
because he's your only friend right now.
Because, yes, Mister Rogers doesn't judge me.
He loves me.
So you have to do that.
You know, like self care? Yes.
But why don't you wake up every morning and say it's a miracle?
Your life's a miracle.
You're a miracle.
That's what some people's minds say it when you don't believe it.
Just keep.
Keep saying it like it was right before.
Walk by faith, not by sight.
And it will become part of you.
Live above your circumstances.
Can I, can I, can I read this before we close?
Because I know we're going to close.
This is something that I.
I laminated and I just had and I keep next to my bed.
It must be because it kind of bows down to me.
I have a lot of stuff that I read.
You simply will not be the same person two months from now.
After consciously giving thanks each day
for the abundance that exists in your life,
and you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law.
The more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given to you.
So that's sums it all up.
I just, I love when somebody said to me before that they have done well,
but this I can always do better.
So I always pray that you know to God to take me from, you know, to more.
Each and every day.
So I could be a bigger blessing.
I could be a miracle in somebody else's life.
I cannot just take care of my family, but I can help somebody else.
That's right.
No way that the world is going to fill up each year, every month.
Yeah. They have.
I know that you have some
you'd like to be able to,
you know, do a little bit for your family with a trust fund.
Be transparent and want to be able to take care of our family
and then, you know, have the ability to help someone else.
So somebody needs that little wrap way at church.
We can kind of check for that. Yes.
Not just about us right.
Right. Kingdom. Yeah.
Animal kingdom.
We have so many animal causes we like to support as well.
I want to leave this world a better place and start with your it.
Start with your own family. If that's all you can do.
That's a lot.
If you can do that. So,
all we can say is find what's good in your life.
And it's a miracle you found us. Yes.
But thank you.
I mean, what's good?
This. Subscribe for free on YouTube.
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Thank you everyone. Bye for now.