Fueled by Gratitude

In this episode, Cydni and Sher discuss how gratitude doesn’t just feel good—it moves us. From a refugee camp in Greece to an 18-hour car ride that should’ve been a disaster, they share how choosing gratitude can shift the whole atmosphere and spark real generosity. When we recognize how blessed we are, our hearts naturally turn outward. Facebook hurt feelings and veggie-tale remixes even make an appearance. This episode is "Fueled by Gratitude" and we are so glad you are here!

This Week's Challenge
Choose gratitude this week—so fully and so intentionally—that people can’t help but wonder why you’re so happy.

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Episode 137 - Fueled by Gratitude

Cydni: [00:00:00] I feel like I've been sobbing, but I haven't. I just cut shallots. for real. And I could not stop. Cutting onions. They are uncontrollable. For a long time, I wore goggles. For real. My kids' swimming goggles while I cut. 

Sher: That makes sense. It doesn't bother me because I wear contacts. 

Cydni: Oh, you're protected by the shield 

Sher: by my blindness. 

Cydni: I have to use goggles, but I didn't and I feel like I've been crying 'cause I hate vegetables., But I mean, my kids live without them and they're fueled fine. So we don't do those vegetables in our house. 

Sher: You show those vegetables whose boss? 

Cydni: We let them die in the bottom of the fridge. I buy them. So people will think I'm like, cool. I bring my own bag, put the veggies in it. So like the roots will stick out, like the beets roots, and I put them in the bottom of the fridge and we order a Chick-fil-A. And that does not go to waste.

 Welcome to the Cydni and Sher podcast 

Sher: Today, Cydni, we are gonna talk about gratitude and how it can fuel generosity. Gratitude [00:01:00] doesn't just make us feel good, but it. Has the power to move us, to motivate us to want to do good. When we recognize how blessed we really are, our hearts naturally turn outward and gratitude becomes that spark that fuels generosity. . Which will help us practice generous living, which is something we talked about last week. It's something that we need to practice every day where it becomes a part of us. So the way we live is generous. 

Cydni: There is a not a coincidence in the words that you're saying right now, because just a couple weeks ago I mentioned this a little bit, that our flights got canceled and we had to take a van full of five adults who do not know each other at this time, they do know. And six young men who are 13 years old all had to cram into a van last second and hit the road to drive what was supposed to be 12 hours. Ended up being 18 hours. 

Sher: My gosh. 

Cydni: I know. But here's the connection is the hotel we stayed in was spark. And I [00:02:00] keep thinking every time I've looked over your notes about this spark and how it could have been a complete disaster, but the entire time was so much fun. It doesn't even make sense. We are sure we're all believers of God now because it makes zero sense to have as much fun as we did, but I felt so grateful to look back on what could have been horrible because one thing after another went wrong.

But to be around people who just were so lighthearted and fun and happy even Titus, he said to me, I have a game plan mom. Let's be so happy on this trip that people ask, how are you so happy? Everything's gone wrong. And I said, Titus, that is the best idea. But it felt like everyone else also made that pact with themselves because everyone was so happy and it was beautiful.

Sher: That's a good game plan. 

Cydni: To make people ask why you're so happy. 

Sher: Yeah, it 

Cydni: is. What is wrong with you? What are you taking? 

Sher: But didn't you say that really did happen? Like people at the [00:03:00] hotel that worked there were commenting on it? 

Cydni: Yes. People at the hotel, people when we stopped at like Chipotle or, 'cause we ate fast food every second of the day. Everywhere we went people said that they were the best group of sports kids that have passed through. 

Sher: That's awesome That's exactly what we're talking about today, is that gratitude. It can make us feel good, and it can motivate us to action. So showing that you're happy and saying thank you and please, and things like that, it really does make you stand out in a positive way and make other people feel good about themselves as well. 

Cydni: Absolutely because all of us just felt this sincere gratitude that all of us were willing to sit in the van together and drive instead of have to make the track alone. It was a real feeling of, thank you so much for driving. Thank you so much for going. And it set an entirely different tone than we could have ever imagined. 

Sher: So I found a story , by Carly Harris, she worked in a refugee camp in Greece, and this is what she said. A [00:04:00] refugee from Iran wanted to know how much I got paid to help in the camp. I smiled and told him that I was a volunteer. He had never heard of this word, so I explained he was shocked and then asked how much money my team leader made.

I laughed and told him that everyone in the camp was a volunteer. So this man spread the word that these people were volunteering and they were serving them and they weren't getting paid anything to do this service. And after that. The word spread throughout the camp and the refugees. This is her words again.

The refugees began to help me with my tasks. They started picking up trash. . They asked if they could help make hot drinks and serve them throughout the freezing nights. They helped with folding, sorting and distributing, donated clothes, and setting up and taking down tents.

And to my amazement, by the end of my service, there were hardly any jobs left for me to do. I couldn't [00:05:00] carry a heavy water jug without a man offering to carry it for me. I couldn't wash dishes without refugees happily telling me that they would do them. And not only could I not fling open a garbage bag without a herd of boys rushing over to help, the refugees had almost stopped throwing their trash on the ground altogether.

The changes I witnessed inside the camp were undeniable. I love this story Cydni because it shows that when your heart. Is grateful that when you have gratitude in your heart for people that are serving you or really for any person, this is what happens. They couldn't stop themselves from showing how grateful they were through their actions. And this is what we're talking about when your heart is so full of gratitude and realizing how blessed you are you naturally want to share that, these refugees had nothing. Clearly, they were running from a terrible situation, but once they got there and realized that there were people that were [00:06:00] giving up their time to serve them, they just wanted to return the favor and they wanted to give it back to me. I think it's just a great example of what happens when we have gratitude. 

Cydni: That story inspires me in first, that I am going to now announce to my children that I am a volunteer in the household, that I am doing these things without getting paid. And maybe they will stop leaving their shoes and shin guards and lacrosse sticks everywhere. They'll be like, you do this without getting paid. I cannot believe it. Mother, all of the service that you provide day in, day out, you don't get paid. And then they will. Help the volunteering. 

Sher: I think that is a fabulous idea. I do want you to think about something though. Maybe don't put your expectations quite as high as these refugees.

Cydni: Okay. So maybe what I'll do is if they hear me talk at all, I'll just throw in a few six, seven and they'll be like, what? Don't say that you boomer, unc. It's an unc, and that's all [00:07:00] they'll hear. Then they'll just be embarrassed of me and I'll continue the volunteer work on my own.

Sher: You're a trooper. 

Cydni: And the other thing I thought of was another conversation Titus and I had I asked him today, tell me something you know, to be true about gratitude. And he said, what I know about gratitude is that it helps you with perspective that you might not feel anything about things that are so normal to you. The house you live in, the car you drive, the food you have, you could go in the pantry and look at seven snacks and say, I don't want any of these, but that there are kids at my school who probably would just die to be able to look in the pantry and have those snacks. But then what he said next, it actually, it tugged in my heart a little bit and he said there's probably moms who would die even more to be able to have that for their children.

And that got me because I'm a mom and I feel so grateful for the life that we are able to provide for our children. And your story provided me the perspective [00:08:00] of someone not knowing what a volunteer is. If you think about. What that means. They've never had that type of service provided in their life that you don't know what a volunteer is. That means somebody hasn't ever just truly done things for you without expectation. He was blown away that she didn't get money to serve. And that might be something we take for granted is that especially in our religion, what volunteer is to not get paid. We volunteer a lot as Latter Day Saints. That's our middle name, sister volunteer. 

Sher: That's true. 

Cydni: But it's a blessing. It's a blessing to serve in that way. 

Sher: It is, and I always find it interesting that I never want to, I always go grudgingly, and then when I get there, I'm so happy that I was able to provide that service, so it's good for us.

Cydni: I would even say it, it fuels us. Sher 

Sher: oh, that's interesting. 

Cydni: I know. 

Sher: So as we were saying, when we recognize how blessed we are, our hearts [00:09:00] naturally turn outward. And this is what happened in that refugee camp. They were so overwhelmed that people would serve them without payment. They couldn't help but serve back. 

Cydni: I don't know if you know this full story, but do you remember when President Nelson came out with the video during COVID? That's on gratitude. 

Sher: I don't remember right off the top of my head.

Cydni: Okay. Well that will be between you and God that you don't remember the prophets message. I'm not here to judge. I'm just noticing that you didn't remember. 

Sher: Thank you Cydni. 

Cydni: I had nothing else to say. I just wanted to know if you Okay. I was listening to a Sherry Dew Talk. It's the prophet sees around corners. And in that she talks about during 2020, president Nelson called together the communication department and said. We need to do something. What do you guys got? This is not a great time in the world and we need to do something.

So they came up with this idea. They said, we need to put out a video of a message [00:10:00] of hope. And he said, okay and she says, what he actually said was, alright, why don't you go sprinkle some fertilizer on that idea and bring it back to me in a week. 

 But then the very next day. He called everybody back in and he wanted to meet with them. He said the idea wasn't bad, but it wasn't right. And during the night, he had received revelation on what the message actually needed to be about. Yes, hope. But more than that, it needed to be about gratitude.

President Nelson said that the message was not meant to just be to those who, to the church of Jesus Christ, but it needed to be a message to the whole world.

He said exactly how long it needed to be. Exactly what day it needed to be released on. The communications team said that if they were in charge, they would never release a video as long as it was, it was over 11 minutes long and they would never release it on a Friday. That is the [00:11:00] worst day to release on social media.

So they, of course, trusted the prophet and did it his way. Putting aside every statistic that they believed in and has worked in the past. The result was the hashtag give thanks. This was released on November 20th, 2020. , The video dwarfed anything the church had ever released, especially to those not of our faith, because of that video on gratitude, more people heard the prophet at one time than any other time

I looked it up. As of today, it has over 12 million views, and I watched it once to just see how I felt, and then I watched it a second time to take notes. one thing that came to me just by feeling. Was how interesting that people were in such a time of sorrow and sadness and loss and grief, and just completely weary that he chose the topic Gratitude.

He said in it that COVI [00:12:00] is not the only ill that plagues the world, but there's hate and civil unrest and racism and violence and dishonesty. And he said, there's no medicine or operation that can fix these spiritual woes, but there is a remedy. I looked up the word remedy and it said a mean of contracting or eliminating something undesirable. So here we are in a state of unrest. There's hate everywhere.

There's violence and there's dishonesty. And he says there's a remedy. There's a way to eliminate something here that we don't want, and that is gratitude. And he called us all to be more grateful and to live in gratitude daily and to call upon God in prayer and pray and gratitude for the things that we have.

And he listed things maybe just in case you didn't have an idea, because things were so bad, but he said to thank God for the beautiful world that we live in for our bodies. And he listed so many things that we could be grateful for. And at the end of this [00:13:00] video, he prayed for everybody and one part stuck out the most to me.

He prayed that we could all repent, that we could turn away from selfishness, unkindness, pride, and prejudice of any kind. So that we can better serve. And what came to my mind when I heard him say those words is we cannot so easily hold onto gratitude and hope if we're holding onto those things. And what he is asking us to do is to let go of unkindness and selfishness and pride so that we can hold onto gratitude and hope and peace.

I felt so much gratitude for this talk that Sherry do shared and then being able to listen to his message again. I felt so much gratitude that we have a prophet that receives revelation now. Can share these messages that the way to hope, the way to peace the way to our Savior is gratitude. 

Sher: I love that backstory. That is so cool [00:14:00] to, learn about that. And I remember thinking during that time how grateful I was then and still am for a prophet that can get us through difficult times. When things start to get. Confusing. I always try to remind myself that if I can't think my way through a problem and I don't understand, I can always fall back on what my prophet is telling me because that will take me in the right and correct direction, and that is definitely something to be grateful for. So you of course went to a very good source, the prophet, and I just thought about the pilgrims Cydni.

Cydni: Also, you didn't remember the prophet speech, so there was that, but who's here to judge? 

Sher: I know, I feel like I vaguely remember it, but I don't know if I'm just making that up because I don't wanna feel stupid. I don't remember. 

Cydni: I'll send you the link. 

Sher: thank you. But we're gonna mix it up and I'm gonna talk more about the pilgrims next week because you know, it's closer to Thanksgiving, so I feel that we need to talk about the pilgrims. 

Cydni: Absolutely. I'd be [00:15:00] disappointed if you didn't truly, 

Sher: I know, I'm sure you're getting sick of me talking about the pilgrims, but it's never gonna stop Cydni.

Cydni: Actually, side note, there was a young man who said he hated history and oh my goodness. I had your back. 

Sher: Thank you. 

Cydni: I have learned so much in the last two years and I shared things that maybe were true. I'm not quite sure. I'm not sure I got dates or people or times, right. But you know what? I tried. I was passionate. I was like, oh, you listen buddy. Let me tell you about George Washington and Hamilton. And then I sang a song. Anyway, we don't have to go over it, but I had the passion. 

Sher: I was, I was so happy for such a brief moment. And then you did that, so whatever. 

Cydni: No, I didn't do that. I didn't even bring a Hamilton, 

Sher: but I do wanna say one thing about the pilgrims is the whole reason that we have Thanksgiving is because it is a day of gratitude. It is a way for us to take time out of our schedule to truly thank God for all of the blessings that we have. We have been blessed so much, and I love Thanksgiving because of that. And that's what the pilgrims were [00:16:00] doing they wanted to take that time to thank God that they were still alive.

And as we mentioned earlier though, gratitude. Can become the spark that fuels generosity. It brings us back to last week. Gratitude is like one of the pebbles that we throw into the pond. That moves us into action to do good things. It's creating that ripple effect of generosity.

Cydni: I'm actually living in this right this moment because, okay, I kind of got my feelings hurt. I know I'm not even sensitive, so this doesn't make sense, but I got my feelings hurt on Facebook, so a family member posted something and I commented and she liked everyone else's comment, but mine and I felt so hurt.

Sher: Rude. 

Cydni: So then I was like, I can't feel hurt about that. That's ridiculous. What time of the month is this? Like, what's going on with me? Do I need chocolate, a diet Coke? I had both, and I still had hurt feelings and so then I thought, wait. We are [00:17:00] talking about gratitude. I am going a ripple effect the wrong way.

Right now. I have now kind of got my feelings hurt and then I started trying at first to think of things that I was grateful for about this person. And then I was like, Hmm, well, when I was nine, I think she saw. Someone, I was 11, I think she said this, and then I was like, I am not grateful at all. I'm just more angry and more hurt.

And I started seeing all the negatives, but I stopped and I was like my ripple effect for myself personally, my own vibe is going the wrong way. And so I have been living in truly being grateful. And every time I feel a little bit of that hurt feeling from something that's so silly and petty, but it happens and it's real life, that sometimes we get hurt feelings over silly things. But it's so hard to make that turn and to change it, but it's possible, especially with awareness, and I've genuinely, for 48 hours, every time something negative pops up or that bad feeling, I [00:18:00] just start listing things I'm actually grateful for, and it has not been easy.

It doesn't just immediately change your direction. It actually does take work. But I am filling in my heart the words a President Nelson's video, because he says, gratitude heals. It does.

Gratitude heals. It changes these things like he said, that there's no medicine and there's no surgery to fix some of these spiritual things that hurt deeply. But gratitude is a remedy. Gratitude can heal, and often some of our wounds, they don't heal overnight. Sometimes it takes a long time. But it can heal and you can be made whole, and that is just one of the beginning steps towards the wholeness.

Sher: So I know I said I wasn't gonna talk about the pilgrims very much, but I think I should right now because you said something that was really key. You're choosing to focus on gratitude and you're choosing to [00:19:00] have that be the ripple effect. The spark that goes out in you is good and kind and grateful. That's what you wanna send out. That's the ripple effect that you're creating. The interesting thing is, the first year the pilgrims were in Plymouth, there was about a hundred of them that landed in Plymouth, and there was. Less than 50 of them left by the time the winter was over. But that fall, they had the first Thanksgiving after losing half the people that came over on the Mayflower, they kept their focus on gratitude.

After all of those people had died, after the starvation, the bad water. The freezing cold temperatures they got through that winter, and then they found new friends and they were able to learn how to survive in that environment. And that changed everything. And they showed gratitude throughout the whole experience so that they were able to have that first Thanksgiving.

And the ripple effect is they wanted to share it with their new friends. Now this is what I think is [00:20:00] interesting as I was pondering this today. Is, why didn't the pilgrims get mad? They came over here to start a city on a hill. That's what they wanted, and instead they got punched in the mouth. That's what happened to them the whole first winter.

But they continued to follow God we could talk about our own grandparents that came across the plains that all they wanted to do was build up Zion and they got punched in the face. In Kirkland, in Missouri. And eventually they got kicked outta the United States and moved to the Utah territory. But the people that came here still showed gratitude after all of that. They were grateful for God to be in a desert. That shows us and teaches us that through trials, if you keep your eye on the prize, so to speak, which is staying focused on our Heavenly Father and in our Savior Jesus Christ, and when we get through it, gratitude is so overwhelming that you wanna share that with other people. 

And that's what the pilgrims did. [00:21:00] They wanted to share what they had with other people. That's what my ancestors did. They wanted to share the gospel and the knowledge of the Savior Jesus Christ, with other people. Both groups of people wanted to build the city on the hill.

They wanted to be an example of how life really could be. When we follow Jesus Christ, we really can create something very beautiful.

Cydni: I knew that you would not be able to not use the pilgrims for the record. I'm so grateful that you did. Your ancestors would've been so disappointed in you, and now you don't have to live with that and not remembering President Nelson's message. That would've been too much for your soul. 

Sher: Thanks for just rubbing that in Cydni. I appreciate it. I'm grateful that you keep me humble.

Cydni: I'm just here to keep one of us in line. Sher. Our challenge this week is going to be inspired by my son Titus. Be so happy that people wonder what's wrong with you. And the way we're going to do that is to live in gratitude. We will be grateful for the small things. [00:22:00] We will be grateful when someone doesn't like your comment on Facebook. We're going to be grateful if you're plane gets delayed or canceled and you have to drive 18 hours and you're stuck in traffic. We are going to choose to be grateful when it almost doesn't make any sense to be grateful. And we're going to be so happy that people think there's something wrong with us. That's our challenge. 

Sher: So this brings us to our final thoughts. Gratitude really does fuel generosity. When we recognize how blessed we are, our hearts naturally turn outward. It's the same spirit we saw in that refugee camp. The refugees naturally turned outward to share their blessings and their gratitude with their new friends. Gratitude not only makes us feel better, but it moves us to do good. It's one of those small pebbles that we toss into life's pond that creates a beautiful ripple of generosity. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Sher.

 [00:23:00] Speaking of vegetables, have you ever heard the veggie tail remix? 

Sher: No. 

Cydni: It's so good. I'm just gonna wrap a little bit for you. If you like to talk to tomatoes, if a squash can make you smile. Broccoli, celery, gotta be veggie tails, lama beans, collared greens, peach, keen veggie tails.

You want me to keep going? 

Sher: Rudy's liking it. Veg Rudy, 

Cydni: he's 

Sher: helping you. 

Cydni: It's so good. I'm gonna play it for you later.

Sher: What did they say? I thought I would remember. He's doing this again. 

Cydni: I know. I'm so grateful that he is doing that. Good job, Rudy. You got this. Your dog has OCD. He always turns the same amount of numbers before he sit. What you said is so sweet. Actually. I just don't wanna feel emotion. Hold on. Who's cutting onions? This girl I did. 

the [00:24:00] Q. Follow the prophet. Follow the, 

Sher: okay, that's, that's good. 

Cydni: So we just said nonsense and nonsense, and then we said more nonsense. 

Sher: And on a personal note, Cydni, I'm very grateful that Rudy has kept his shenanigans down to a minimum today. 

Cydni: You are a good boy. Good boy, Rudy. Cauliflower, sweet and sour. Half an hour. Veggie. She veggie. Vegies. It's ve. Woo woo. Woo. 

Sher: Have a good week. Bye.

Works Cited 

Alma 37:6–7. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, The Church of 

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/37.6-7?lang=eng.

These verses support the theme that small, simple acts—like daily 

gratitude—can create powerful spiritual outcomes.

Harris, Carly. “Lessons I Learned from Volunteering in a Refugee Camp.” Liahona, 

June 2021, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/06/digital-only/lessons-i-learned-from-volunteering-in-a-refugee-camp?lang=eng.

Harris’s experience in a Greek refugee camp illustrates how gratitude naturally leads people to serve and lift others—even in hardship.

Mosiah 2:17. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, The Church of 

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/2.17?lang=eng.
Used to connect gratitude with service, reinforcing King Benjamin’s teaching that 

serving others is serving God.

Nelson, Russell M. “Give Thanks.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 

20 Nov. 2020,

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/11/57nelson?

lang=eng.

President Nelson teaches that gratitude is a spiritual remedy for fear, division, 

and sorrow—a central doctrinal anchor for the episode.

Sherri L. Dew. “The Prophet Sees Around Corners.” BYU Women’s Conference, 

2021,

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/sheri-l-dew/prophet-sees-around-corners/.

Quoted to explain the revelation behind President Nelson’s gratitude message 

and highlight how prophetic guidance points us toward hope.

1 Thessalonians 5:18. The Holy Bible: King James Version, The Church of Jesus 

Christ of Latter-day Saints,

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/1-thes/5.18?lang=eng.

Supports the principle that choosing gratitude in all circumstances is a 

a spiritual practice that brings peace.