A Conversation of Hope With Brett
Positive and hope-filled; with simple, practical steps to live your best life.
A Conversation of Hope With Brett
What Lens Do You Choose to Look Through?
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This episode is centered around encouragement and hope, with the host emphasizing that listeners are worthy, loved, and capable of achieving their dreams. He highlights key life lessons from Jon Gordon’s new book, The Seven Commitments of a Great Team, including choosing love over fear, living from the inside out, focusing on what you "get to" do, having faith during hard times, and speaking positively to yourself. The podcast features two powerful stories: a grocery driver who saved a woman’s life by trusting his instincts, and a mother who forgave her son’s killer and now works with him to honor her late son's legacy. The host also shares favorite podcast takeaways from Kristen Welch, Les Brown, and Angela Davis—all emphasizing gratitude, integrity, and pursuing purpose. The episode ends with a weekly challenge to be kind to yourself and a heartfelt reminder that the best is yet to come.
Kristen Welch: How Saying No Leads to Life's Biggest Yes
Les Brown: If You're Casual About Your Dreams, You'll End Up a Casualty
Angela Davis: Believe That You Are Capable of Your Dream
Simple Daily Routine Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1njZbEbTg-NKLto1OptvAkglc6mxdXKo7/view?usp=drive_link
Welcome to a conversation of hope with pride. This podcast is all about you, the mythic, to remind you that you are the masterpiece. To inspire you to dream again. To equip you with simple, strategies for success. Strategies you can start using today to begin your journey toward the incredible life news. What will be sharing insights on the latest class? Along with colorful stories of clients over and first things. He wants to remind you of the new border.
SPEAKER_01Hey, hey, welcome, welcome, welcome, and thank you for taking your valuable time to tune into a conversation of hope. I am so excited for this episode. It is powerful and it's packed full of great information to help you transform your life to live the life of your dreams. Because you deserve the best life ever. But I'm going to change it up a little bit. There is something I want to say to you on the front end. I always say it on the back end, but I want to say it on the front end. That way, if for some reason you don't listen to the whole podcast, at least you heard this part because that's the whole reason for the podcast. I want to encourage you. I want to speak words of life over you. So here we go. We'll do it again at the end, but we're going to do it the front. You, yes, you are amazing. You are smart. You're intelligent. You're a masterpiece. You're a one-off, caring, courageous, bold, confident person who absolute best days are ahead of them. Your best days are ahead of you. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever stop dreaming and believing big for the things that you and your family deserve. So I wanted to get that going. I will also say it at the end because, like I said, really the main purpose of this entire podcast for me to you is I want to encourage you. If you're not feeling very good right now, if you're down, if you're going through a tough time, that's the whole reason we have this podcast. It's a podcast of hope, and you're going to hear it from me. And it's from my heart to yours. It's not a joke. This isn't a game to me. I really, really, really want to encourage you and let you know that, hey, your best days are ahead of you. All right. So here's what we got this week. Mr. John Gordon. If you haven't got any of his books, J O N G-O-R-D-O-N, John Gordon, he's phenomenal. Great author. He became famous with the book Energy Bus. Um, I think I have around 12 or 13 of his books. Every single one of them is great. I always do audio books. I listen to them on the way to and from work. And so I've listened to a lot of his numerous times. But very, very good stuff. I think he has like 32 books total. But he has a brand new book that just came out yesterday. Definitely, if you get a chance, get it. I will absolutely be getting it. It's the new book is called The Seven Commitments of a Great Team. And he's known for being super positive. Everything he does is about, you know, how when you have a positive attitude, everything in your life is better. So we sent out an email talking about his book. The email was this it says five ways to stay positive and to live light. So pretty darn cool. I wanted to read it to you. And like I said, if you get a chance, get his book. I promise you, there is no way you're going to be disappointed if you buy anything that he sells. All right. First thing he says, love instead of fear. So love instead of fear. Love cast out fear, and it's the most powerful way to stay positive. Too often we let fear rule our mind. We fear making a mistake. We fear what people will think. We fear failure. We fear not living up to expectations or expectations of others. These fears often weaken us, limit us, and paralyze us. The answer is to choose love instead of fear. Super powerful, I'll say it again. The answer is to choose love instead of fear. The minute you focus on love, fear dissipates. Instead of fearing the outcome, love competing. Instead of fearing not playing well or living well, love playing. Love living. Instead of fearing your opponent, love the battle. Love the moment. Love the opportunity you have every day to live your best life. Love elevates your state of mind and makes you feel more confident, positive, and courageous. Love is not weak. It's strong and it makes us powerful. Wow. So that was his first little paragraph there. Love instead of fear. The next one is inside out. Remember the truth that the power inside of you is greater than the forces outside of you. You don't create your life from the outside in. You create it from the inside out, from your spirit, your soul, your passion, your drive, and your power within. So don't look outside at the expectations and opinion of others and feel pressure. Instead, look inside and know that you are more powerful than all of it. You have the power to transform your environment, your circumstances, and your team. So once again, that was his thing on inside out. Always good stuff. I'm telling you, anything you get from John Gordon, do it. He also has a uh email that he sends out like daily positive stuff. It's really good. So if you go to johngordon.com, you can be a part of that. All right. So the next thing was get to. So he says, when you find yourself complaining or being stressed instead of thinking about what you have to do, realize that life is a gift, not an obligation. And focus on what you get to do. When you focus on get to, you feel grateful. And gratitude moves you from entitlement, frustration, and stress to appreciation and abundance. Research shows that you can't be stressed and thankful at the same time. If you are feeling grateful, you won't feel stressed. A super good one. That was the get-to part of it. Get to instead of have to. I think about that a lot. Sometimes if you're having a rugged day, man, I got I have to work today or I have to. I don't know. You get to. You get to have that. Thank God I have a job. So that's kind of where I'm at on that. Here we go. Next one is have faith. When facing a challenge or experiencing a difficult situation, believe that things are going to improve. You have faith that somehow, some way, things are going to turn around. Expect challenges, but have an even greater expectation that you will overcome them. Trust that struggle leads to strength and setbacks leads to comebacks. Always believe that the best is yet to come. That is such a big deal. Tell yourself that all the time. I do as well. You know, best is yet to come. I'll speak it over you every week. Your best is yet to come. And it's true. I think if you're believing that, you're going to get what you're believing for. Last thing you wanted to tell us was talk to yourself. Don't listen to yourself. Instead of listening to the negative thoughts in your head, talk to yourself and be your own greatest encourager. He also, and I've heard this story before of a gentleman, he's 59 years old. He's done like, I think he did six back-to-back triathlons, where they're usually about 30 to 40 miles, and he did them in six days in a row. So he did one and then he did the next, then he did the next, then he did the next. And everybody was like, How in the world do you do that? And he just said, I talk to my body, I don't let it talk to me. So when he's aching and stuff, he says, No, no, no, we're not going to do this. We will make it through this. This is going to happen. He literally talks to his body and tells his body how it's going to be, instead of his body telling him how it's going to be. And it proves if you can do six triathlons back to back to back to back in the span of a week, at 59 years old, oh my goodness, holy cow, what can we do? All right. Instead of beating yourself up, choose to lift yourself up with positive and affirming words. You are not the thoughts you think. You are the thoughts that you believe. Because remember, everyone has some bizarre thoughts come into our heads. We just got to tell those to, you know, get out. You're not welcome. So don't believe the negative thoughts in your head. Replace them with positive thoughts and choose to believe those instead. Really good stuff from John Gordon. Like I said, anything you can get from him, books, whatever, subscribe to his newsletter. You'll be thankful that you did, because he's the real deal. All right, y'all. So let's take a look at some quotes of the week. We've got of all the attitudes that we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing. That's good. Next one. When you choose to be pleasant and positive in the way you treat others, you have chosen in most cases how you are going to be treated by others. Because you've always heard it said life is an echo. You get back what you send out. Next one, you can disagree without being disagreeable. That is so true. Avoid that conflict. Another one, I've got to say no to the good so that I can say yes to the best. A lot of the time wasters in life, as you know, will sidetrack you from the best of what you have available if you can free up your schedule and your time and go, no, no, no. Those are little things that are just going to distract me from having my best life. And I don't want to do that. Last one of the week to respond is positive. To react is negative. As you know, when something comes up and it always will, just instead of being like, oh my gosh, how'd that happen? Just respond. Okay, so that happened. Let's see how we're gonna deal with it. Because I know we can get through it. I've always gotten through it in the past, and I know we can work through this as well. And just having that mindset and that attitude is priceless. All right, y'all. Oh, here we go. Time for a joke break. Which month of the year has 28 days? All of them. They all do, they all have at least 28 days. All right, here we go. Another one, I'm throwing in a bonus one. My wife put in a laugh track, so the these are gonna be even funnier for you. If nothing else, you can enjoy the laugh track after I tell the joke. All right, here's the second joke. Why do bees have sticky hair? They use honeycombs. Okay, all right. I'm sorry how to do that. That is just, oh my goodness. All right. So here we go. Two great stories of the week. We've got one first one up is hero delivery driver saves woman's life after a feeling that he had made him go back to her window to look again. So here we go. British grocery store delivery driver saved a woman's life after she didn't answer the door, and he got the feeling that something was wrong. So Leandro Dantis sensed there was a problem and decided to go back for another look in the window and only then spotted her lying unconscious on the floor. It was around 9 p.m. in the coastal town of Poole in southern England when the driver for a store arrived for his next delivery. Everything seemed normal, he said. The light was on and the TV was on. I knocked the door but didn't get an answer. So I called the contact number we had for the delivery but got no reply. I thought at first they must have gone out, so I looked in the window, but no one was coming. He turned to go, but something didn't feel right. I believe God made me go back to the window. I pushed some branches away so I could get a better look. And that's when I saw the lady face down on the floor. They quickly called for an ambulance and paramedics were soon which were soon on the scene and gave the diabetic woman some glucose to raise her blood sugar. The driver wasn't even scheduled to work that night, but he swapped shifts with another driver at the last minute. I think it was fate, he said, that I was called there that day. I'm just happy that I was there to help save her. While she was being examined by emergency workers, he put the lady's groceries away, and a few days later he visited her home to see how she was doing and brought her some flowers. Good grief, that is phenomenal. Golden rule living at its finest. We always talk about golden rule. Treat people who you want to be treated. That is that's awesome. And to go back and bring flowers and stuff, this guy is priceless. All right. The woman in her late 60s was taken to the hospital with low blood pressure, but was discharged the next day. She was so grateful to the driver that she wrote a letter to the local newspaper to thank him. She said he is such a wonderful chap. I can't thank him enough. He did a marvelous job, certainly going above and beyond what I would expect supermarket delivery drivers to do. He even came around later with some flowers for me. The delivery driver has now been nominated for Superstar Award at his company. We are so very proud of the way he handled the delivery, said his boss. And he and his instinct that something was amiss. He truly is a hero and went totally above and beyond, which in turn probably saved the customer's life. That is awesome. And that's just one of those, just being in tune with what's going on around you every day, as you know, some people are having a really good day, and some people are having a super challenging day. And just being in tune with that, you could be like, hey, you know what, are you doing all right today? Um, just kind of watching that environment that's going on around you. All right, here's the second story of the week. Mother's only son was killed in a robbery, but she gained another by helping rehabilitate one of the convicted boys. The easy choice was revenge. But she didn't choose that. Tina Crawford lost her son, her only son, Ira Hopkins, in 2014 when gunshots struck him in a senseless robbery. He was thirty-five, and it happened on his birthday. Oh for a while Crawford was overwhelmed with rage and craving retribution, and eye for an eye after all, right? But by the time the two men responsible for his son's murder were sentenced in Delaware courtroom, Crawford had one eye on forgiveness. She told the judge at the hearing, I have forgiven the people that have done this to our family, because my God tells me to. But what they did was wrong and it was hateful, and they must pay for whatever whatever you decide. An eighteen year old who was involved in the robbery but did not fire the fatal shots, was sentenced to twenty years in prison for his role in the crime. Crawford shared what happened next in a recent interview with CNN. After the verdict, she discovered that she was acquainted with one of the Smith Pinkins aunts. She met another one of his aunts too, and all three women stayed in touch. Soon Crawford found herself going far beyond the easy choice of revenge and fully embracing mercy. She invited Gyra to write her a letter and eventually that offer became a telephone call. One day the phone rang and she learned a few details of Gyra's life, and that call was followed by numerous other conversations that illuminated the situation. Gyra was homeless for large stretches of his youth, bouncing between different houses and different schools. Stability was hard to find, and became even more elusive when his mother died when he was fourteen, his father died at seventeen, and his stepmother died at eighteen. He turned to the streets, started selling heroin, and got talked into robbing a stranger, Ira Hopkins late one July night right outside Crawford's apartment. Throughout his long years in prison, misses Crawford became one of the people helping him get through it, giving him encouragement by phone once a month. She urged Jyra to better himself and get an education while in prison. He turned that advice into a high school diploma, then an associate's degree. Another course certified him as a peer specialist who counseled some of his fellow inmates and even talked a few out of suicide. People helping people, golden rule, and it's a ripple effect. Life's an echo. He wrote an apology letter to Ira that was published on the internet. Indeed, a renaissance was underway. A soul lost to the streets had made an abrupt turn to discover a whole new path of life. Seven years after he was sentenced, Gyra had a chance to get out. The Delaware Board of Pardons met in twenty twenty four to consider his case. Dozens of people showed up to support his parole. One of them who spoke on his behalf was Tina Crawford. That man hurt me, Crawford said, according to the article. He took something from me, I lost a son. But in the process I gained one. The Board of Pardons voted unanimously to commute Gyra's sentence. In a few months, he would be a free man. But the story doesn't end there. Gyra is working with Tina on a nonprofit called the Ira Foundation. The organization will teach at risk kids some marketable skills like bricklaying, carpentry, music, and photography. They'll carry on Ira's memory, and perhaps they will protect a few from the pitfalls that claim Gyra. Completing an unlikely circle, both of them will be working together to keep Ira's name alive. Thankful that they found each other. The CNN article summarized it best. The son without a mother, watching over the mother without a son. Wow! That one, super, super powerful. And it just goes to show you the power of forgiveness, number one. What love can do, because she certainly had to have a lot of love in her heart to do that. And then how it completely changed the destiny of somebody else. That one really hit me. Alright, here we go. It's that time of the podcast to recap my top three podcasts that I enjoyed. Number one, Kristen Welch. How saying no leads to life's biggest yes. Raising grateful kids in an entitled world. Kristen says she met the world normal when she went to Kenya and she saw how they live and how basically most of the rest of the world lives. So she kind of got to see wow, this is the normal of the world. And she started a mission called House Global to help the less fortunate. She is grateful for what she has instead of being ungrateful for what she does not have. Man, gratitude is so powerful. I think love and gratitude are the greatest emotions. She said, Teach our kids to be grateful for what they do have compared to what they do not have. From this mindset, they will get grateful, they will have love and joy filled within them. What once was enough became not enough. American dream concept. She talked about how when she was younger, they had the dream of getting the house, and then somebody got a bigger house, and then so she wanted a bigger house, and then they wanted this, and then they got that, they got this car, someone got a better car, they wanted the better car. It's just kind of a circle. And she got out of that because she used to compare herself to her neighbors, and she said that never ever ends. Great podcast. If you get a chance to listen to it, it'll be in the show notes as you know. All right, here's our next one. Les Brown. If you're casual about your dreams, you'll end up being a casualty. He talks about taking ownership and responsibility. For your life. I expect to win. I believe I'm going to win. And I say it. I am going to win. I think that's huge. Well, the words come out of your mouth to yourself are as empowerful as the words that you speak over others. So be careful what you're saying in your mind and then also out of your mouth. No matter where you are at, you can still achieve your dreams. Kick it up a notch. That's what he says. Doesn't matter what your age is or where you're at or if you had a huge setback. Don't give up on your dreams. He says, provide more service than you're paid to do. So if you give more than what you're asked to give, people will pay you for that and they'll notice. Set high standards for yourself. Go where there is no path and leave a trail. You don't always have to follow everyone else. Create your own path. Be a good person and be a go-to person. So on your job and your career or wherever it is, if you have your own business, be that go-to person where people know, hey, you know what? If I ask so-and-so, it's gonna get done. And it's gonna get done with class, integrity, and excellence. If it's not perfect, keep working on it. Better your best, he says. Surround yourself with people that will grow you. Absolutely great podcast. I love Les Brown, he has so much good stuff. I actually got an audio book that's I think it's an eight or nine hour seminar of his. And I'll listen to that probably four times a year. Very good stuff. Les Brown's amazing. Last one, Angela Davis. Believe that you are capable of your dream. Your dream is valid, and it's your purpose. She says, Don't discount your dream. What you got in your heart as a dream, it's real, it's valid. And don't discount it. Don't second guess it. Go after that dream. Which talks about we must have gratitude. When you wake up every morning and you open your eyes, say thank you. Be thankful for all that you have, even as simple as the breath in your lungs, it's a big deal. Opportunity is knocking and the door will open. Be grateful in the hallway. I'd never heard that before. That's so cool. So she says, Opportunity is knocking. But while it's knocking, and you haven't been, you haven't gotten it yet, be grateful in the hallway. So if you picture like a hallway and a door, so as you're waiting for that door to open for you in life, be grateful as you're sitting in the hallway. I thought that was so cool. Like I said, I'd never heard that before. Always have integrity. Integrity where your words match your actions. She said, that's what integrity is. When your words match what you say, that is integrity. Be honest at all costs. Stand in your truth. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. Be the same person in every area of your life. And I always think about what I heard that hit me hard when I was younger, and that's the true judge of someone's character is what they do when nobody is watching. That's powerful. All right, she talks about courage. Be brave. Take the risk. Be courageous. Believe that you are capable of your dreams. Believe it, believe it, believe it. So that was her podcast. It was phenomenal. Once again, all the podcasts, all three, will be in the show notes. As always, we want to make it as convenient as we can for you so you can have a chance to get in there and listen to them. All right, y'all. Let's see. Weekly challenge. All right. This one is an and more than ever. My wife and I had a friend, very good lady. We got nervous because she just disappeared and she posted some things on her Facebook that made everyone very nervous. And uh she was recovered a couple days later. She's getting some medical help and stuff, but she's having a real tough go in life. And so I wanted to this week say, you know, for the challenge, be kind to yourself. Because a lot of people out there, and maybe you are the one, they're just going through stuff, man. And this lady, smile on her face, great lady, amazing person, but just life is hitting her really hard right now. So my challenge to you this week, like I said, be kind to yourself. And so here's some ways that you can be kind to yourself. If you're in the blender right now and you're like, man, I don't even know what to do, Brett. So here we go. Take a walk in nature. Literally, just go drive somewhere and take a walk. Speak kindly to yourself. Listen to your inner dialogue. If you're if you're ripping on yourself, it's hard to be happy in life when you're your worst critic. We don't want to do that. Take a mental health day. Sometimes you just need to unplug. Treat yourself to something nice. Do it. There's never a good time to spend extra money. Just spend some. Say no without guilt. If someone says, ah, hey, I need you to do this. You know what? No, I can't. I still appreciate you and love you, but I just can't. I'm not gonna have time for that. Guard your own schedule. Celebrate your wins. And when you have a victory, if no one else is around to celebrate or no one's telling you good job, go out and get an ice cream cone or something and get a giant ice cream, get a triple scoop Sunday. Have fun with it. You deserve it. Take deep breaths when you're overwhelmed. This is a big deal. Gary Brecket talks about this too. I was reading just uh one of his posts the other day that he was in New York for seven days straight doing all sorts of stuff. And one of the things he would do when it was that crazy chaotic schedule is he'd break away and he would just do some deep breaths for, you know, two, three, five minutes just to slow him down and relax, keep everything calm. Another one is journal your feelings. Get enough sleep. Sleep is priceless. I've had it where I get great sleep for a long time, and then when life gets really stressful or whatever, and it's hard to sleep. I notice immediately in every area of my life that I suffer if I don't have good sleep. So for me, six, seven hours of sleep is priceless. And then practice gratitude. Man, it's almost every speaker we heard today talked about gratitude, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. And I didn't get that for years, but my goodness, now I do. Oh my everything that I have, I'm grateful for. Everything. And uh boy, it's just a really cool place to live. All right, y'all. So thankful for each and every one of you. If you're still listening, you're gonna hear this again, which is awesome. I thank you for listening to all of it and supporting it. Goal on this podcast is to hit well over a million people that we can encourage weekly on that. And we are on the road to a million, so that's phenomenal. Thank you for everything. And if you like it, share it with somebody that might need some hope. Hi, y'all. Here we go. Let's say it again. And it's from my heart, I promise you that. This is not a game or a joke to me. I do this podcast for one reason, and that's to encourage people like Amy that are just having a really tough time right now because I've been there. It's not fun when you are. And when you have somebody that encourages you, and and you need to hear those words, it's priceless. So here we go. You. Yes, you. Don't let a voice in your head say he's not talking to me, he doesn't know what I've done, he doesn't know where I'm at. I'm telling you, you are amazing, smart, intelligent, a masterpiece, a one-off, caring, courageous, bold, confident person whose absolute best days are ahead of you. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever stop dreaming and believing for big things for you and your family. You deserve it. Your family deserves it. You guys deserve the best, period. And don't stop believing that because it can happen. Don't lose those dreams. Thank you for being a part of our great community, as I said before. We're on the road to one million. Being a part of our community assures that you will never walk alone. We are always going to be here. So until next time, God bless and have an amazing rest of your week.
SPEAKER_00Thank you once again for listening to a conversation of hope with Brett. Brett wants to remind me that you are loved and appreciated. If you found value in this episode and you could use the word of hope and encouragement, please like and subscribe and subscribe. Please don't check out the thumbnails comments and button podcasts and don't forget that is not fine at the find copy of the podcast.com. And you'd like another perspective on the email. We like to help.