Unlocking the Power of Gratitude

In this heartfelt episode of Friday Feelings, host Jenelle Friday delves into the transformative power of gratitude with special guest Priscilla Fletcher, a growth coach, business consultant, and founder of Latinos in Success. Together, they explore how gratitude can reshape your mindset, bolster emotional resilience, and positively impact relationships.

Priscilla shares her inspiring journey from moving to the U.S. with just $50 to building a life rooted in gratitude. They discuss how gratitude can heal during life's darkest moments, the profound physical and emotional benefits of cultivating a grateful mindset, and practical ways to incorporate gratitude into your daily life.

Key Takeaways:

• Discover the science behind gratitude and its impact on mental and physical health.
• Learn actionable practices like journaling, acts of kindness, and mindful expressions of appreciation.
• Hear an inspiring story of finding gratitude in the midst of personal loss and how it shifted perspectives.

This episode offers insightful advice for those feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or seeking ways to cultivate joy and positivity. Whether it's through small daily practices or acts of kindness, gratitude has the power to transform your life.

🎙️ Listen now to find your "cardinal moment" and embrace the power of gratitude!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Okay, here we go. All right. Welcome to Friday Feelings. I'm Janelle Friday, your host. And today we are diving into a topic that has the power to transform your life. Gratitude. Gratitude is more than just saying thank you. It's a mindset, it's a practice, and it's an emotional tool that can shift the way you see yourself, your relationships, and the world around you. I am absolutely thrilled to have Priscilla Fletcher joining me today. Together, we'll explore how practicing gratitude can create meaningful change even during life's most difficult moments. So let's get started. So first, Priscilla, thank you so much for being here and being willing to come and speak. I would love for you to just give the audience a quick little bio about you.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm always like um so thrilled to join anything that I get to collaborate with you. Um so just to for those who don't know me, my name is Priscilla Fletcher. I'm based in New York City, but I am from Brazil. I was born and raised in Sao Paulo. I've been living in the US for almost 19 years now. So I'm an American citizen. Um this is my my home now, where my heart is also. Uh, I'm a growth coach, I am a business consultant, and I'm also the founder of Latinos and Success. Um, that's a little bit of what I'm doing now nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

That's amazing. And when I was working on episode titles for 2025, and I was thinking through all the elements of emotional intelligence, gratitude is such a huge part of my life, and it's something that you and I have connected on. And so when you picked this episode, as I was absolutely thrilled. So, can you help us understand gratitude from your perspective and why it matters to you so much?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah. Um, I think for me, gratitude, um, it was always a choice, right? Like I always always something that I had to go there. I had to get my my mindset in the right place in order to to achieve certain things, especially like uh coming from a different country, moving to the US, but when you move to a different country by yourself with a backpack and$50 in your pocket, uh, you have no other choice other than like uh have a positive mindset and know in your mind and your heart that you're gonna make it through, that things are gonna work out. Um, that's why I always say that this was always a choice. It wasn't something that you know, I think it would it's easy. I would say it might be easy for people that come from similar background where you grew up with nothing, when you have something, it you it's easier to be grateful for that, right? Like it's it's harder the other way around if you move to I've and I've talked to a lot of people that if you have a lot and you lose things, it's harder to be grateful and to see the the light at the end of the tunnel as opposed to when you have nothing and you all of a sudden things start going right, you're grateful for them.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Yeah, I love that. And I think to your point, I think our culture highlights the acquisition of things, of stuff. We're never satisfied, we're never fulfilled. And so, you know, when we lose something or when something goes missing, my husband says a lot, you know, you go buy stuff and then you don't like it, you gotta return it, and I don't want to have to return it, you know. So it's like there's that essence of being grateful, and I think it goes deeper beyond just being grateful for the circumstances or the things in life, right? It's grateful for each other, all of the different qualities and perspectives of humankind, humankind. Um, but I'm curious from your perspective, you know, why do you think gratitude has such a profound effect on our emotional resilience and on our relationships?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah, I think um it changes like how you behave, how you think, and how you act also towards certain situations. Uh, when you go in into certain situations with gratitude and a positive mindset, you're gonna respond in a different way. And it changes even like your internal systems, right, and your hormones and how you receive information uh also, because depending on the information you're receiving, uh your body and and state of mind, it's gonna dictate how you're gonna respond to that, right? Like, so if you're not in a state of gratitude and happiness, you're gonna respond to things in a different way. Um, and I was just listening to this podcast this morning from Dr. Joe Dispensa. I listened to to his books a lot and um his podcasts. He talks a lot about um manifestation and happiness and gratitude. And it's funny because I was listening to that this morning, and he was talking about one of the studies that he conducted with like 117 people, uh, and he did that with like three times a day for 15 minutes. They conducted like a gratitude meditation. And at the end of the study, uh, they noticed that their immune system paying inflammation boosted by 50%. They usually do the studies like for seven days if you go to the retreat, all that kind of stuff. So I'm not sure how long this study was, if it was just seven days, but to have your immune system and paying inflammation, all that kind of thing, all that stuff boost by 50%, that's like that's huge, right? Like, so we're talking about inflammation, we're talking about diseases, we're talking about so many different things that are impacting us internally and externally, and just with the practice of gratitude, you can you can change that. So that's like that's really big.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Yeah, it's really big. And really when we think about why, why do why do our bodies respond to gratitude in such a positive, healthy way? When you think through the emotions that you feel when you're being grateful, you're thankful, you're positive, you're thinking about the person or the thing that you're grateful for, you're you're manifesting positive energy within yourself. Um, and whether you take that step physically to put gratitude out there towards someone else or say something positive, being in a grateful mindset, your mind is producing thoughts that trigger chemicals that equate to emotions in your body. And then that results in the behavior that you are practicing gratitude. So there's science behind positive mentality, positive thoughts, positive mindsets physically gets our body in a healthy, happy place. And the longer it stays there or more you practice that, your body loves habits. And having this positive, grateful mindset habitually means your body is used to your chemicals being happy. It's those happy bubbles that that are part of our life when we practice gratitude. So let's shift a little bit and talk about the impact of gratitude, right? The the bigger picture, which is you may be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, lost, and find things to be grateful for. You may be in the middle of a layoff and you don't have a job waiting for you, and there's fear and uncertainty, you can practice gratitude. There's massive impact that gratitude can have because to your point, Priscilla, it's a choice. So whether your life looks like you should be grateful or not, you can always find ways to practice gratitude or stay in a gratitude mindset and have that be a positive impact. So help me understand or help our listeners understand um the emotional and practical benefits of practicing gratitude in your own life. What have you seen as a result of your focus on gratitude?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, I think for me, the I notice in my body, like uh the chemicals in my body, I'm happier when I'm practicing gratitude. I'm healthier when I'm practicing gratitude. I sleep better when I'm practicing gratitude. Um, I feel more motivated to do the things that I need to do and get up every day. Just the thought of like every day when I get up, the first thing I say is like, thank you, God, for another day. Um, every day. So it's just the thought of like, I'm grateful that I got to wake up one more day, it changes right everything. You're not waking up to where's my phone? Oh, I have to go to work, or whatever it is that you're might be thinking, or I'm late to work, or I have to commute, or it's rainy outside. There's a million things that you can think of negative things the first thing in the morning. But when you choose something like what I chose, right? Like the first thing that I say in the morning, it's one thing, and every day is the same thing because that matters to me. That's one thing that I'm like happy and excited. I'm like, I'm glad I woke up today. I don't care what I have to deal with, but I woke up, so I'm grateful for that. And I think it it's like it changes, like, and of course, there is some days. I know I'm just talking about positive things, like there's some days that you're like not gonna feel like it, or you might be sick, you might be sad, or things that just I push myself no matter what, it's like I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna say the same thing. You have to also push yourself. You can't just like, I'm not gonna do it today. I'm not gonna do it, I'm not feeling it. I always tell people when I'm coaching them, it's okay to be on the floor for a day. It's just not okay to be on the floor for 10 years. So pick yourself up and go.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, and and to your point, right, um, that that emotion of you wake up in the morning, maybe I started this morning with a headache, it's cold, I've got my two nephews sleeping on the couch, I have a new puppy in the house, it's stressful, and I just wanted to lay in bed and put my covers back over my head and like I don't want to deal with today. But if we allowed our feelings to dictate our behavior or our actions, most of us would lay in bed for 10 years, right? It's difficult to feel something and choose something else instead. And so I'm wondering, is there a time that you can talk about where you were surprised by gratitude and how it shifted your mentality in the moment or in the in the specific circumstances you found yourself in?

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Um I wouldn't say I was surprised, but um, it definitely opened up a lot of like uh new ways of practicing gratitude for me. Um with certain circumstances. Uh, for example, when um my first husband passed away, we lost him to mental illness, and that was really that was like, of course, that was the most difficult time of my life. And having like a five-year-old back then, to me, that was like, you know, you're constantly thinking, why would this something like this happen? And it's hard to get yourself into that place where gratitude it's helping you move forward, right? You're not grateful for anything that's happening at this end of the time, you know. Um, but I remember I was in a section with a friend and she said, I have to open the cards for you. I just have to, don't ask me why. And she was telling me she was the one that shift my mindset uh back then because she said something that shift my mindset from anger to gratitude. Um, she mentioned you you always thought you gave him the gift of a daughter, but this was his gift to you. This was um his gift, not yours. So that minute it shift my mindset to like, I'm grateful for my daughter. I'm grateful that you gave me my daughter, I'm grateful for my gift. Everything shifts after that because I didn't feel angry or resentful or any kind of negative things. It shifted my my mindset and my heart to just the only thing I could feel was like um being grateful for.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

That's that's an incredible story, Priscilla. I mean, you talk about loss and grief and heartache, and I probably am guessing correctly that gratitude didn't remove those feelings or emotions, right? You still struggle with grief, you still struggle with loss. Um, but the ability to find even a moment of gratitude in that circumstance, it's like I I remember listening to a video they talked about how their mom loved red cardinals, right? And after she passed, they really felt disconnected. And then a red cardinal showed up in their background, in their backyard, and they weren't native to their area. And how this red cardinal found its way to their backyard. And it was this moment of remembering that individual and what they brought to your life and to be grateful for that. And even in that split second, that moment, your choice to be grateful for your daughter and the gift that he gave you in your daughter and the time you had together, that's a beautiful story. And I just want to highlight that to listeners who are dealing with grief, who are dealing with trauma, who are in the middle of life struggling to find things to be grateful for, that find your cardinal. Find the one bubble of moment in your life where you can set aside the emotions you feel and find something to be grateful for. So maybe Priscilla, could you talk about, let's get into uh practical ways to cultivate gratitude, right? So it's not just enough to have this moment of saying, oh, well, I'm thinking about this man that I loved and I lost and I have my daughter and it's overwhelming. You had to make a choice. So just thinking about something is usually not enough. We have to get it out of our heads. And so let's talk a little bit about ways that you cultivate and practice gratitude in your life.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah. I try to have like at least like two or three things, right? Like I feel like one, um, it's not that it's not enough, but um you have to constantly surprise yourself also. You don't want to like get into that uh, you know, make it like you're just doing things because you have to do it. That also doesn't attract the right sentiment and the right feelings inside your body, right? So there's a few things that I do that every day is the same, like the journal. Like I have to write um anywhere from three to it can be three to ten things sometimes. Some days I'm like grateful for a lot. So I don't like to put a limit, say five things every day. Sometimes I just have three things and that's okay. Sometimes I have like five or six, and that's okay too. But every day I try to write, I put the date so I remember because I'm like, I don't know if I wrote it today, I don't know if I missed today. So I try to put the date there, which is important for me because I'm forgetting sometimes. Um, I have an app also where uh the gratitude journal that helps me because it asks like uh more uh deep questions like why are you grateful for this? And what made you feel grateful for this? Um some deeper questions that you're not just writing, I'm grateful for for the air today kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Although sometimes that's still a good thing to be grateful for.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Exactly. That's what I write in my journal like every morning. I'm just saying what I'm grateful for, and then in the journal, I get to think a little more why I'm grateful for that. Um, and also I try to express the gratitude by doing um things throughout the day, right? Like not every day, but whenever I can, bringing coffee to the teachers, um, sending um a card or a book to a pro somebody that works with me or that a friend, or even just sending a text message, right? I'm thinking about you. Hope you have a great week, the impact that has in somebody's life. Um, even with my posts on LinkedIn, right? Sometimes I just like I'm just posting about things that I'm grateful for, or that I feel like people could be grateful for. Just a reminder that life is good and that we can see the bright side of it. Um so yeah, throughout like, or getting a present for somebody that they're not expecting, right? It's not a holiday or a birthday, getting a meal, a lunch, or something like for you know, people that work with me or a friend, or even cooking something and sending over to my neighbors downstairs, you know, that kind of stuff is just like, and people always ask, why are you so generous, so generous with your time, with your the things you're doing? Um, and it's a lot more for me than it is for them. They don't know the impact that has on me. Uh, so to carry on to keep the happiness and everything going on in my life, those are the things that I have to do. It's not so much for them. I'm not doing it for them, I'm doing it more for me. I know the impact it has on them, but it helps me as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I love that. And I mean, when you think about what you're doing, is you're pulling out goodness of you to give to other people because in return, it fills you back up. And I love that because again, too, when we're in the midst of toxic negative emotions or thoughts, it's easy to get confine ourselves or silo ourselves within that state of mind. And so what gratitude does is it lifts us up and out of that state of mind to focus on something or someone else in a positive way. And just that emotion itself can break a stint of depression or can break a downward mental spiral to get it, get you outside of yourself and focus on something that's positive. I think that's really amazing. Um, how what kind of advice or or how can you take some of these practices and help someone who's listening who might feel stuck or overwhelmed uh with where they're at in life right now?

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, um, if you're feeling stuck or if you're not sure where to start, I would say try to start with one thing that you're grateful on. You can just start with one. There's always one thing that we can be grateful for every day, like uh grateful for um the water that I get to drink, the air that I get to breathe. Simple things. It doesn't have to be something really hard, uh, because that's gonna start shift your mindset, and that's gonna get easier and easier. It's something that I find it's just like exercising or eating healthier, right? Like you just have to introduce one thing, and then from there you can build on top. If you can put that get better 1% a month, right? At the end of the year, you're 12% better. So if you can say one thing every day at the end of the year, you're grateful for 365 things, right? Which is like more than zero.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah, I love that. And I think one thing I talk a lot about with Lionheart is change doesn't happen in your mind alone. You have to get it out of your mind, you have to get out of your head and write it down. So Priscilla's talking about gratitude journaling, and I want to break the misnomer around journaling. Journaling is not a dear diary moment. It literally can be a notebook, and each day you start with a date and you start with three things you're grateful for. And maybe you don't write anything else in that notebook. It's just for the things that you're grateful for. I also want to highlight a really key point, which is don't be grateful for the sake of being grateful. Don't say thank you to someone so you can pat yourself on the back and say, Oh, well, I did a good job. I said thank you. Uh there was a really profound comment at a customer success collective event where someone said, When was the last time you thanked your product team for the update that they did? And I thought to myself, never. I never thanked a product team for their time. And when you think it through that, it's like we, especially in customer success, that's kind of the world that we live in right now. We're constantly um needing affirmation that we are adding value, that we are productive, that we're helping customers. We are people that affirmation shows us that we're good at our jobs. And I think all of us can do a better job of thinking through what role within your organization is doing a great job. And it's what they're paid to do, but it's still their job and they they pour their lives into that job. When was the last time you said thank you, genuinely thankful, being grateful for what they do and how they contribute to your job? And so if you're listening to this and you're thinking through ways to be grateful and you're not sure in your personal life, start with your professional life. Maybe find a team member that you've never interacted with or they're in a department you've never really understood, and just offer a genuine thank you for what they do or how they've made your life or your customers' lives better. And you just have you have to start somewhere. So pick one thing that you know you're good that you can be genuinely grateful for, or someone you can say thank you to and start there and take stock in how that makes you feel. How does your body respond to that? How does your mind respond to that? Um, your body is gonna indicate to you that it feels good, right? When we feel positive emotions, the body reflects that. So this is also an exercise that as you get further into it, as you do it more, as you show gratefulness more, you're going to see a physical change in how you feel through those moments. So we're in our last couple minutes. So I want to just um put a question out there to our listeners. What's one thing that you're grateful for today? And how can you carry that feeling forward? Just pick one thing, like Priscilla said, and don't just think about it. Do something about it. Get it out of your head and onto paper, under a card, bake cookies, whatever it might be. Do one thing. I'm going to ask if someone is listening today and you're new to gratitude practices, what's one simple action that you can take away to get started? Again, find one thing. When you re-listen to this podcast and you think through Priscilla's offerings and what she's doing, there's probably one thing that resonates with you. So this episode is to encourage you to try gratitude practices. Get out of your thoughts, get out of your head, pull yourself out of the negative or toxic mindset or the emotions that you might be feeling and reflect on the positive impact that gratitude is going to have for you. And in our last minute, Priscilla, is there anything specific or one last bit of wonderfulness you can share with us around gratitude?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah, I was gonna mention like something I used to do a lot and not only for myself, for my accounts and my team's accounts, like we created like a customer appreciation week, right? When things are not going well, you talk a lot about EQ and um emotional intelligence, all of that kind of stuff, the ability to read the room, right? As a leader, you feel like your team is not doing so well, that they need that boost, they need something else. Get some of that gratitude in there. So that's where I used to do implement that customer appreciation week. You get like, let's say,$500 in budget to send the lunch to your customers, right? You give each team member um a certain amount, they can pick 10 accounts, you create the campaign, you send the customers uh a nice message saying, I want to buy you lunch today, appreciation for everything you've been doing, for supporting us. Doesn't you don't have to have an ask, it's just the appreciation week. You're not asking for anything, you're just giving them, buying them lunch. Um so it's like$25,$50, right? Lunch. It doesn't cost the company that much, but the impact that campaign has in the customer success managers, in the customer that is receiving the lunch by surprise. And then once you get that thank you, the thank you messages you share with the rest of the company the impact that one campaign had in your team and your customers and the whole company, it's a lot more than$500. So just consider something like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

That's a great tip.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

It will it pays off. I've run this campaign many times in different companies, and it always works, and it changed the moods, it attracts good things, better things. It changed the mood for the team, the customers, the whole company. So it's just a a small tip for I love that.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

That's such a great tip. Well, we're out of time, but Priscilla, thank you so much for joining us today. If you're tuning in, thanks for being here, and I can't wait till next time. Have a good one, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Thank you.