SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to The Model Health Show. Did you know that gratitude can improve your health and even help you to reach your goals faster? The science of gratitude is still young, but the data so far is fascinating. A study conducted by researchers at UC Davis revealed that people who utilize a gratitude journal I.e keeping track of things that they're grateful for over the course of a two month study period, were significantly closer to accomplishing their goals than people who did not practice gratitude. Now, a gratitude practice helps us to accomplish our goals faster in a myriad of very logical ways.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It helps to keep us more resilient. It reminds us that we have power to affect change. It recharges a positive frame of mind, and it also tends to support adaptive thinking, growth, and self-confidence. And all of these things are backed by peer-reviewed data. Now, additionally, in that study, the researchers noted that test subjects who had a gratitude practice, also, funny enough exercise, regularly reported fewer physical symptoms and felt better about their lives overall than people who didn't have that consistent gratitude practice.

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's something interesting going on there. Other studies have found that a regular gratitude practice can actually reduce levels of stress hormones, improve our immune system function, improve sleep quality, and even decrease levels of inflammation measured by c-reactive protein. For example, a 2011 study cited in the Journal Applied Psychology revealed that writing in a gratitude journal on a regular basis helped test subjects to improve their sleep quality. This act of expressing gratitude is one of the most valuable resources we have within ourselves. and it also out pictures itself to the rest of the world. But the question is, are we doing it more so are we doing it the right way? Now, is there a certain flavor of gratitude that tends to work the best? Well, today you're going to hear from some of the most successful people in the world in their respective fields and how they've utilized gratitude to transform their lives.

SHAWN STEVENSON: This has been a part of their secret personal recipe, and you're gonna hear how they've used it. And also, you're gonna be able to learn a lot more of the science behind how gratitude works. So today you're getting a masterclass on the science of gratitude and practical application. Again, hearing from a plethora of incredible successful human beings who found the secret of gratitude, and they're sharing it with all of us. Now, during this time of gratitude and giving, this is also synonymously the time of "cold and flu season." We wanna make sure that we're doing our best to fortify our immune system, utilizing science and time-tested solutions. One of my favorite most science-backed strategies for keeping my immune system resilient for immunomodulation, being able to ramp up or to lower my immune response based on any particular exposures. That is really the key to a healthy immune system, is being able to have an appropriate response to any pathogens.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And one of my favorite things to do that is based on a peer-reviewed study that was published in the Journal Antiviral Chemistry and Chemotherapy. And it revealed that propolis from bees has significant antiviral effects, specifically in reducing viral lung infections, cold and flu season. This is one of the things to really look to proactively to fortify our immune system. Another meta-analysis published in the journal Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine found that propolis has antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-tumor properties. You might've wondered why this was featured in a journal that was focused on chemotherapy. It's also been found to be effective against cancer cells. So when we're talking about supporting our immune system on multiple levels, propolis is really, really special. And I utilize it on a regular basis multiple times a week, I've got this really remarkable propolis immune spray from Beekeeper's Naturals. Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/model right now, and you're going to get connected with a very, very special limited time discount.

SHAWN STEVENSON: This is a special for this time of year right now for Black Friday and a little bit after, but you gotta take action on this right now because for a limited time, they're giving you 30% off storewide, 30% off storewide. So this includes their incredible propolis spray, their Superfood honey, their nootropic brain fuel that's based on Royal jelly, their remarkable science-based B.Better cough syrup as well. As a matter of fact, this one is especially important right now just to have on hand in our medicine cabinet because the ingredients in, we'll just call out one of the most popular conventional cough medicines out there. You know the one that people go to. Some of those ingredients in there include FD and C Blue No. 1. What the F? What is that? F, D, and C. RED number 40 "flavor" high fructose corn syrup, propylene glycol, saccharin sodium. The list goes on and on with all these newly invented synthetic chemicals.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Not to mention the high fructose corn syrup, which is clearly not good for our immune system versus something that is more time tested and safe. A randomized double-blind placebo controlled study revealed that honey, raw honey was able to outperform a placebo and significantly reduce cough frequency and severity at night and improve sleep quality. The cough syrup that is in our cabinet is from Beekeeper's Naturals. Not only does their propolis cough syrup have the very best honey in the world from farmers who are dedicated to regenerative beekeeping, but it also includes this other very, very special science-backed component, which is elderberry. A double-blind placebo controlled study published in their peer-reviewed journal. Advances in traditional medicine found that after just 48 hours of treatment with elderberry, coughing was relieved in 31% of patients versus the placebo.

SHAWN STEVENSON: The study also noted significantly reduced fever, headache, muscle aches, and nasal congestion within 24 hours of treatment with elderberry. This incredible cough syrup contains no drugs, dyes, dirty chemicals, or refined sugar. They're creating incredibly beneficial, safe, smart products at Beekeeper's Naturals. Head over there right now. Take advantage of this huge limited time discount for Black Friday and a little bit longer through Cyber Monday. Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/model for 30% off storewide right now. Take advantage. That's B-E-E-K-E-E-P-E-R-S naturals.com/model for 30% off for a limited time. And now let's get to the Apple Podcast review of the week.

ITUNES REVIEW:Another five star review titled “Growth” by Joe Hermione. Shawn Stevenson's podcast has triggered tons of growth in my life, not just with nutrition and exercise, but also intellectually and emotionally. When I listen, it accelerates my growth. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to grow.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you so much for leaving that review over on Apple Podcasts and a big shout out to you. I appreciate you so much and listen, speaking of gratitude and giving thanks, please pop over to Apple Podcasts today and leave a review for The Model Health Show. Truly, truly does mean a lot. And hopefully you can get a special shout out on the show. And again, thank you so much for being on this mission with me. And without further ado let's get into this powerful masterclass on the power of gratitude. The latest science is indicating that gratitude literally changes the way that we see reality and instantaneously changes our biochemistry. In this episode, you'll hear from some of the most successful people in the world and how gratitude has helped them to transform their lives. Kicking things off is world renowned teacher, bestselling author and practitioner Dr. Joe Dispenza. In this segment, he's going to be sharing how gratitude can make you more physically and mentally resilient and much more. Check out this segment from the one and only Dr. Joe Dispenza.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: Well, this took me a long time, Shawn to figure out, because I think that when people are, say that they want a new job or they want a new relationship, or they wanna be healthy, they're actually waiting for their health to improve, to feel gratitude. They're waiting for their new relationship to feel joy and gratitude and thankfulness. They're waiting for the new career to happen. And once it happens, then they celebrate and feel gratitude. Well, if you believe that your thoughts and feelings produce an effect in your life, and you're living in the lack every single day waiting for it to happen, you're separate from the experience, right? So if you think about the emotional signature of gratitude, when you are receiving something that you like that's pleasurable, you've just gotten or received something that is pleasurable, something just happened to you, or something's happening to you that you like, you say thank you, you feel gratitude.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: So the emotional signature of gratitude is that something has already happened, and it is the absolute perfect state of receiving. It is the absolute state of receivership. So here's an example. A person gets a diagnosis. The diagnosis is something like cancer. The first moment they hear that word, they feel fear, they feel a change in their internal state, and they pay attention to what the doctor says. They take a snapshot and they create that memory. They'll remember the moment that doctor said that. So now they're in fear. They're scared, and they're gonna think positively. Or they're saying, I'm gonna beat this thing. Well, if they're feeling fear, they can only accept, believe, and surrender to the thoughts equal to their emotional state. That fear will... Fear thoughts will be the only ones that'll make it in there. Now, if the person changes fear to gratitude as an example, and they really start training their heart, we can measure, when a person feels gratitude, what happens to their heart? 

DR. JOE DISPENZA: Their heart gets regulated, it gets, starts beating more coherently. It starts increasing energy to the brain. It starts creating an ambient field around the body. This is when your heart starts working for you, that when a person starts feeling gratitude, then the emotional signature in the body is that something's happening to them or something's just happened to them. So if you're in a state of gratitude, you're in a state of receiving, then the thoughts that you think will make it to the body and program the autonomic nervous system into a different destiny. So just in four days, we found that when people, 10 minutes a day for four days, traded anger, frustration, fear, all those limited emotions for gratitude, that their immune system improved by 50%. They made immunoglobulins that made their body stronger. Now, that's if a pharmaceutical company had a drug that could strengthen immunoglobulin A in your body would be on every television commercial during the news. And yet your body, your nervous system's, the greatest pharmacist there is.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: So then your body is objective. It's your unconscious mind. It doesn't know the difference between a real life experience that creates an emotion and the emotion that you're creating by thought alone. So if your body is feeling gratitude, it's believing that something's happening to you. So in the beginning you go, well, I'm gonna try gratitude. And then you think, well, this feels really weird. Why would I give gratitude until it happens? Well, 'cause that's how you've been hypnotized. You've been programmed that way. But what if you change it around you? The moment you feel gratitude, your healing begins. The moment you feel grateful for your life, your life is gonna change. Now you're causing an effect. So we have to embrace the emotion before it happens. Now, why? Well, let's just say you just did a great meditation and your heart is blown wide open, and you feel grateful for life.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: Or you're connected to the emotions of your new career, your new job, your new life. If you're feeling the feeling that your new life has already happened, you wouldn't be looking for it any longer. You would be feeling like it's already happened. So you wouldn't look and be separate from it. You would feel connected to it. And then if you lost it and you started feeling angry because of traffic, I'd say, "Oh my God, you're back to the unconscious program again, of allowing something outside of you to control your feelings and thoughts. You're back to that victimization program." So then when you start playing this game and you catch yourself and you self correct, and you get back into gratitude and feeling it, then your body is no longer preoccupied of when it's gonna happen or where it's gonna happen. If you feel it, it feels like it's already happened. So that's the moment you're no longer separate from it. That's the moment you start drawing or magnetizing experiences to you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's not just the thought of gratitude, it's feeling.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: You gotta make it visceral.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: And we actually use HRV monitors. We put heart rate monitors on people. We study them for 24 hours. We wanna know if they're actually doing it. And we have great results. People could actually sustain that state for over 45 minutes. They just, it's just a skill. Now, why is that important? Because in their life, they should be able to do it with their eyes open. That's the game, right? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: Practice with your eyes closed 'cause you don't wanna be distracted. Get good at it. Stand in line. Sit in traffic. Listen to your best friend complain.

[laughter]

DR. JOE DISPENZA: You stay in gratitude. You're doing something really well. You're self-regulating. So much of our attention's on our outer environment, and we wanna put a little bit more attention on our inner environment and we wanna create that coherence between the outer world and our inner world. That's when we start to master things.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Absolutely. Yeah. We wanna be able to mediate our emotions, because I think it's so easy, again, to get trapped in those old patterns. If you don't catch it, and you can decide how you want to feel in that moment, rather than being just a victim to circumstance.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: There you go. And listen, I react. We all react.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

DR. JOE DISPENZA: But the question is, how long are you gonna react? 'Cause those chemicals really last 90 seconds to two minutes. Yeah. After that, you're faking it.

[laughter]

DR. JOE DISPENZA: You're just... You're keeping it going. So shortening the refractory period of your emotional reactions is really emotional intelligence. If you're gonna teach your kids anything, teach them that. Because if you don't, it'll turn out to be part of their personality. And they gotta work really hard the rest of their life to not be angry or to have a short temper, or to be impatient. And I think that people who self-regulate, who mediate in that way internally are just generally happier people.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright, next up in this incredible gratitude compilation is an absolute superstar in the world of personal development, bestselling author, and one of my really good friends. I'm talking about Ed Millett. In this segment, ED is going to be sharing how gratitude helps us to overcome negative emotions. Check out what Ed Millett has to say about gratitude.

ED MILLETT: Gratitude is the antidote to almost everything negative in your life. Gratitude is, if it's not, love's the most powerful emotion, but gratitude is the emotion that will deliver you the most joy in your life. I'm just telling you. And so I'm constantly taking inventory of what I'm grateful for. Small and big things. I'm a gratitude addict because the normal human being and my normal proclivity is to worry, is to stress. I'm a... I was grown up because of the going on around me. I was wired to be a warrior. Is dad coming home? What if mom and dad are fighting? What's the environment gonna be like? What's dad's state gonna be when he gets home? And so I grew up worrying all the time. So as I got older, the antidote to that was being grateful. And so I'm constantly trying to seek things out. I'm grateful for small and big things.

ED MILLETT: It sounds hokey, but like, I have this experience. Humans have it. Sometimes just the wind man just hitting you the right way. It's like, man, thank you Lord. So I'm constantly tryna find things that I'm grateful for because your mind goes to work on finding the things you want to find. And for me, I want it to find stuff I'm grateful for. And the more successful you become. That's why so many successful people are so unhappy. It's the next material thing that... And what most people think is, here's what they think. I'll be happy when it's the most common human condition. I will let myself feel gratitude and happiness when. When I find the right person relationship, when I get a certain amount of money, when I buy that car, when I buy that home, when I buy that... When I get that promotion.

ED MILLETT: So they delay their happiness until, and that until never arrives. It never shows up. So I always talk about being blissfully dissatisfied, learning to live blissfully, being happy, but dissatisfied with where you are. There's no relationship between being dissatisfied and unhappy. You can be happy and still dissatisfied at the same time. And so happiness to me is gratitude. So I'm constantly tryna find things like just you being here today and getting to know you. It's like, I'm grateful for this time, your beautiful wife. It's like, what a wonderful way to spend a day. What a wonderful experience. Like I'm grateful for that. And I make sure I remind myself.

ED MILLETT: And we were in, I Interviewed you earlier today, right? And I remember in the middle of the interview just going, I'm so grateful for this man, I'm just so grateful he is here. And so I'm constantly seeking anything I can find that I'm grateful for. 'Cause it makes me happy. Why wouldn't I do that? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright, our next expert in this gratitude compilation is the person that I refer to as the most interesting man in the world. Jesse Itzler is not only a New York Times bestselling author who's brought the likes of David Goggins to the rest of the world. He's not only the part owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He's not only the person who bought and sold a private jet company to Warren Buffett's company, and he didn't have money for Jets when he got started. Not only is he a signed recording artist rapper with a string of hits, not stuff that you'll hear on the radio, but jingles that he's done for a myriad of different companies. And also in his rap career, he also became a mentor of 50 Cent, who you might have heard of as well, just giving him the exposure and the experience of work ethic, of being in the studio, of having certain approaches to things.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so the list goes on and on. He's also married to Sara Blakely, who just happens to be the founder of the billion dollar brand, Spanx. I could just keep going on and on. Not only does he run ultra marathons and does all this other really remarkable stuff, but he is one of the coolest people that I've ever met as well. And with all of that said about Jesse, when he's speaking about gratitude and how it's helped him to uncover what really matters most in his life, we really should be listening, not just with our ears, but with our inner ear. Really, really tune in and listen to this. Check out this segment from the One and only Jesse Itzler.

JESSE ITZLER: I think people think there's a lead on happiness, and I don't, and I think it is a choice. I think that it's a lifestyle, and it starts with gratitude, which we hear all the time. But I don't feel very often we don't feel grateful unless something tragic happens. Like you hear someone gets sick or gets someone dies, someone's in the hospital like, oh my God, I feel so lucky I have... And then the next day it's gone. Yeah. You know, like, I don't feel like I need someone to pass away that's close to me, for me to feel grateful. I have a deep, deep appreciation for where I am, what I have, knock up my kid, everything. You know, everyday I say it to my wife everyday, like, do you understand how lucky we are? And I'm not talking about money at all, but just, you know. So that's the starting point.

JESSE ITZLER: But when I first, my dad owned the plumbing supply house in Long Island where I grew up. I wasn't handed anything. And, my first job was as a break dancer. And believe it or not, I know I don't look the role, the camera guys are laughing at me.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You gotta get some of that after the show.

JESSE ITZLER: They're laughing at me, man. They're laughing at me. But I grew up in the '80s when I was, you know, 15 years old, whatever. So I realized that there's no way the kids in Washington DC there's a lot of competition in New York. We're as good as the kids in New York. Like, we invented this stuff, man. So I convinced my sister, who had just got a driver's license to drive my friend Myron and myself down to Washington DC and we would set up at like in Georgetown for a couple of hours with the boombox dance and make some money.

JESSE ITZLER: So we go down to Washington DC we're driving down there. I'll give you the fast version, and we set up our boombox and, in this little parking lot, hit play. People start to gather around. Myron does his thing. He passes it to me. I do my thing. A couple of hours passed. Now we got a big crowd. I take my hat off, I pass my hat around to get the money. We collect like maybe $200 or something. I pay my sister for driving us down, the gas money. We separate some money for lunch and dinner. And Myron and I split like $82, $41 each. And I give him his 41 and I get my 41 and he counts it up. And then he looks at me 15 years old and he comes over and he gives me a bear hug.

JESSE ITZLER: And he says, "Man, Jess, we're fucking rich." You know, he is like, we're rich man. And we were, because like I realized at that moment that if you... And I was scared the whole ride up thinking about what if nobody shows up? What if we're not as good? But when you overcome fear and you put yourself out there, you can get rewarded for doing things that you like. And you can make people feel good. It was a great feeling. It was a start of my entrepreneurial journey. Fast forward 20 years later, I was, maybe it was 25 years later, let's see 15. Yeah, it was probably 20 years later. I built this company, Marquis Jet. We did $5 billion in cumulative sales. We get the phone call, we're selling the company to Warren Buffett. And I just remember at that moment, and this is gonna sound like a movie or like, I'm making it up, but it's not.

JESSE ITZLER: I remember, maybe not in that exact moment, but certainly now that I didn't feel any more happy when we sold the company then that moment. And we made more money than when I made $41. I really did. I mean, yes, did it change my life? Did it impact me? But it wasn't like I was weighing it on a scale, like, oh my God, I was so much more happy because we made this money. I really wasn't. So in between those two extremes of $41 and selling your company to Warren Buffett's, Berkshire Hathaway. In between those two extremes, what is the gatekeeper? 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Keep in mind that gratitude isn't just a "brain thing". Gratitude is a whole body phenomenon, a mind body experience. And there are certain states, obviously, that are kind of counter to experiencing gratitude. They make it a little bit more difficult. So we wanna support our mind and body stack conditions in our favor so that gratitude can be on more automatic for us. That it can be more easily accessible, especially when we get stressed. Now, one of my favorite specific resources as far as nutrition for helping to stack conditions in our bodies' favor for helping to reduce things like anxiety, for helping to reduce inflammation. And this is again, based on science. As a matter of fact, a study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology points to turmeric's potential in reducing the severity of both anxiety and depression. While another study that was published in the European Journal of Nutrition uncovered that compounds in turmeric can down regulate inflammatory cytokines and upregulate the activity of adiponectin and other satiety related hormones.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Again, just putting our bodies in a better position. Now, if you're not doing this already, this is a great time of year to enjoy a turmeric latte. And my favorite turmeric latte, not only does it feature the highest quality organic turmeric, but it also features Reishi Medicinal Mushroom, which has been proven in multiple studies to support relaxation and even to improve our sleep quality. And I'm talking about the turmeric latte called Gold from Organifi. And right now through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, only when you head over to organifi.com/model, not only are you going to get 20% off, but you're also going to get free shipping when you spend just $100. And listen to this, if you spend $150, you're gonna get 20% off check, free shipping check. But you're also going to get it for free, they're incredible digest product, which is enzymes and Digestive support, their Turmeric Plus product, and their focus product, which is their nootropic for cognitive performance.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright, a lot of free goodies. Head over to organifi.com/model right now and take advantage of this again, through Black Friday and Cyber Monday only, you're gonna get this special hookup. Go to organifi.com/model, that's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com/model. And take advantage of these wonderful, wonderful, organic high quality products from Organifi. And also being that it's that time of year to snuggle up, some say it's cuffing season, they've got their pumpkin spice gold is available for a limited time right now as well. So you get the hookup on that too. 20% off storewide. So gold pumpkin spice. So the turmeric latte with the pumpkin spice twist. Perfect for cuffing season. Head over there, check them out. Organifi.com/model. And now moving on to our next expert in this gratitude compilation. Next up we've got bestselling author and the founder and CEO of Fit Body Bootcamp. And they have hundreds of gyms across the country.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And his story is so incredible coming here as an immigrant and his entire family basically sharing one room and him being homeless for a time period. And now for him to be the CEO and founder of Fit Body Bootcamp. Again, hundreds of gyms across the country, but not just that his empowerment, his personal development work is changing the game. He's just skyrocketing. He's now got millions of followers for his huge heart and also just the way that he's approaching things. And in this segment, you're gonna hear from my really good friend Bedros Keuilian. Now Bedros and I have spent a lot of time together in addition to recording some epic shows in the past. But just getting together and having multiple meals, whether he's coming out to St. Louis or whether I'm going over to see him in his part of California in Chino Hills. We've spent a lot of time together and he's the real deal. He's an incredible human being. And to hear this segment and this conversation, when he shared how he incorporates gratitude into his daily success practice, it really made me listen at a deeper level. So check out this segment on gratitude from the one and only Bedros Keuilian.

BEDROS KEUILIAN: My morning routine starts in the evening. And it goes back to if you believe that you've got a greater gift in life, and I believe all humans do, you wouldn't by chance be put on this planet. Like we've got a greater purpose. And the truth of that is someone who I believe has really tapped into their, one of their big purposes is Elon Musk, the man right now, there's a rocket with a Tesla in it that's being shot to Mars, right? It's like enroute, like, wow, that's big. That's big. Like there's a man reaching for his potential. And so if you believe that you've got greater potential than where you're at in life, whether it's your health, your business, your relationship, your mindset, then you've gotta have a more structured day than the average Joe who's just swimming in that sea of mediocrity. So for me, my morning routine starts the night before.

BEDROS KEUILIAN: I make sure that I'm in bed by 10:00 PM and before I go to bed, I make a list of the... I do a brain dump of the three to five things I need to do tomorrow morning when I wake up that will move the needle in my life. Right? That will move the needle in my life in a positive way. And this way, two things happen. One, by doing the brain dump, I'm not subconsciously thinking about this stuff while I'm sleeping and it's not keeping me awake. Two, when I wake up in the morning and I always wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 in the morning, I never hit the snooze button. That's part of my morning routine. I've conditioned myself that if I hit the snooze button, I've subconsciously accepted 10 more minutes of horrible sleep over getting up and living my purpose on this planet.

BEDROS KEUILIAN: Like I've chosen that, that has a greater good, that 10 more minutes of interrupted sleep has a greater value to me, right? And so part of my morning routine is to not hit the snooze button. The alarm goes off, I turn it off, and I'm up. I'm showered. I drink my... It used to be 16 ounces of water until you taught me just a few months ago, 30 ounces of water, I drink my 30 ounces of cold water, I make a protein shake and coffee. And I'm outside with my dog Cookie playing catch 10 times while I go through my little gratitude exercise. Our mutual friend Craig Ballantyne said, "Hey Bedros, you gotta start meditating." I tried. Meditating was not for me. I choose not to meditate. However, I've got a little gratitude exercise that anyone listening to this can do. And it takes three to five minutes.

BEDROS KEUILIAN: Just think about three people that you're grateful for in your life. And then once you think about them, just really like, okay, Shawn Stevenson, I'm really grateful for him. Why? He's just a genuine person, a kind person, a caring person, a family man. And I strive to be more like him in many of those areas. Okay, well, I thought about it, I took that in. Now I'm gonna apply it to my life. But I'm gonna do one more thing. The next thing is text Shawn. A text message of gratitude. Right? And so just think about three people that you're grateful for who helped you maybe in your life, in your journey, in your health, in your business. And then how did they help you? Take that in, take two minutes to take that in, and then text the guy or girl and watch the response you get.

BEDROS KEUILIAN: Like, it's always, man, I can't believe you sent me this. Thank you so much. You came at a timely, like, it is the most selfish thing I can do is to text you a gratitude message. 'cause then you're always gonna be like, Bedros, thank you. This meant so much. I'm gonna just be so happy, my morning starts off so well. Right? Then I'll sit down on my couch, I turn my phone and I go into great detail. I put it on silent screen, side down, and two arm lengths away from me. Like, look how much specificity. Because I control my days. 'Cause I don't wanna see the screen flash. I don't want to hear it. And I don't wanna be tempted by just grabbing it. It's away from me. And now I take that list that I wrote down the night before and I dominate that list. And by 9:00 AM, I've done more things to move my business, my health, and my mindset forward than most people have done all day.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I hope that you're enjoying this incredible gratitude compilation. Next up you're gonna hear from Dr. Elissa Epel. Now, not only is she a bestselling author, she's one of the world's leading researchers in stress and how stress is impacting our health negatively. And both positively as well, it just depends on how we're utilizing it, interacting with the stress. And so she's gonna be sharing why you should bookend your day with gratitude for more emotional wellbeing. So again, this perspective on gratitude from somebody who is a scientist who's focused on studying stress is something that's really, really important. So check out this segment from Dr. Elissa Epel.

DR. ELISSA EPEL: Emotional wellbeing and happiness literature are really fascinating and clear. And if we're directly seeking happiness, we probably won't find it. And that those are some of the people who are most unhappy. If we are waiting to be happy until something happens, we reach this goal, or we get this, we achieve this. That is also not a good formula for happiness. And it turns out that when we can see things right in front of us that we're grateful for, or that make us happy, when we can notice them and appreciate them and savor them, that brings daily happiness. And so we can use that. We can just, we can use that when we wake up. We can use that when we go to bed just asking... We can use it at the dinner table. Is there something that happened better than you expected today? 

DR. ELISSA EPEL: Is there something you're grateful for? Is there... Waking up and just asking, what am I looking forward to? What gives me meaning today? And it can be the small things. Making someone smile, doing something kind, accomplishing something that fits into your North star. It's accessible to all of us. It's just a matter of asking ourselves and noticing. And it's those nudges, those bookends to the day that are helpful to both set us up for a positive trajectory instead of like waking. I mean, believe me, I do this, waking up with a to-do list and adrenaline. It's like, just wait a minute, and let's have a positive boost of emotion and energy. And that's like the opposite of that. Getting on high battery node and burning up energy and feeling exhausted. 'Cause that joy is energy. It's energizing, especially when it's in dialogue with someone else.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow And again, we have this accessible to us at all times. And we don't have to try to proactively do that all day, but if we can just booked our day, start our day with that, a dose of joy. End our day with a dose of joy. It's another thing that's a part of the stress prescription for a reason. It makes us more resilient.

DR. ELISSA EPEL: Exactly. And if you can't think of things, just we can ask ourselves in a gentle way and brainstorm answers and ask again if we can't think of anything. But what brings you joy? What brings you joy over and over? And it's those little things that we'll think of that we maybe haven't noticed. Pets come up often. Coffee, a hug in the morning. All these little things that really are love, really are meaningful. And same with vitality. What brings you vitality? What drains your battery? What people, what situations and what energizes you. Those are some clues. [chuckle]

SHAWN STEVENSON: Next up we've got another superstar in the world of personal development who has an incredible story. He's actually the founder of one of the top sports agency companies in the world. And his mentor was actually the basis of the character in the movie Jerry Maguire. Right? I'm talking about, show me the money. I'm talking about Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. And this was his close proximity and he's actually built the top sports agency company in the world at one point and has just been really focused more recently on sharing his knowledge. And in this segment, David Meltzer is gonna be sharing the real world utility value of gratitude. Check out this segment from the incredible David Meltzer.

DAVID MELTZER: The utility value is that it's the easiest way to change your life. So we both have studied physics, quantum physics, metaphysics, and all the different things that I've learned. Nothing changes your life more than your perspective. And there's only one factor in perspective. And that's whether you're grateful for it or not. Because what gratitude does, it makes everything in your past better. Everything in your present, even better than that. And everything in your future, even brighter. It's an entire perspective changer. And so what we wanna do is program ourselves, wire ourselves to be grateful and the power of it went beyond just saying thank you in the morning when I woke up and listing out like a little 5-year-old, what I was grateful for.

DAVID MELTZER: And thank you, when I went to bed, it started truly invading everything I did. I'll give you an example. I was on my way home, pick up my son, and I was late. I'm accountable for being late. And of course I get stopped at the red light. In the past, I would always swear, get aggravated, be detrimental, raise resistance, and then most likely attract more red lights on the way or other things to stop me. I used gratitude all of a sudden and said, thank you. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Obviously there's something in store for me that you're teaching me, and this is the formula. Lessons are miracles, period. Lessons in life are the miracles of life. Well, how do you learn lessons? Through experiences. Those experiences can be seen as good or bad, but they truly are just experiences.

DAVID MELTZER: So what makes an experience good or bad? Gratitude. If something happens to you and you're grateful for it, like for me, I lost everything as you stated earlier, right? When I truly believed and understood that I was so grateful that losing everything brought radical humility into my life. A great lesson is a miracle. Without the miracle of radical humility, I won't be where I am today. So, in essence, the best thing that ever happened to me, most people would consider the hardest, most challenging, worst thing that ever happened to them, but it's the miracle of my life. It's the miracle of humility, and one of the key components, one of the key characteristics to give me a better perspective along with gratitude.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I love that. I love it so much because as soon as you said it, it makes the past better, I was like, what is this? But it's so real. But I think that you've also, it's a muscle that you exercise because like you said.

DAVID MELTZER: Innercise.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, innercise. When something seemingly negative on the surface is going on for you to stop and then to realize like, wait a minute, this is happening for me. It's not happening to me. It's a gift in its own way.

DAVID MELTZER: Well, let me touch on that one.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, absolutely.

DAVID MELTZER: You kill me because I've just went through this transformation. You'll love it. So I used to think everything happened to me, right? I remember when my brother died, when I was in law school, and I almost had to drop out of law school. And I went home to my mom to tell her I was quitting law school. And my uncle, he's like, my biggest fear is you think everything happens to you. You're a victim. I've never seen you be a victim, Dave, right? He's like, you're making it. Things don't happen to you. They happen for you. The universe is in your favor. It's always been in your favor, right? And so I lived the rest of my time thinking that my new philosophy, which I think is just incredible, is things don't even happen for me anymore. They happen through me.

DAVID MELTZER: So they are coming down for me, and then the only way they actually have value is when I give them away. X plus David equals more coming through me. And that emptying of the vessel keeping in the flow allows me to attract and handle everything that I want. And how do we have things come through us, by doing good deeds. So as many as we can, and that living an inspired life. So I tell people all the time, hold on, it's better than things are happening for you, man. They're happening through you. So not only happening for you, it's happening for everybody else, 'cause we're all connected.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Next up in our gratitude compilation, you're gonna be learning how gratitude is the key to changing your filter in finding more success in your life with bestselling author and psychologist, Dr. Ben Hardy, check it out.

BEN HARDY: There's a lot of research on the whole idea of gratitude at the end of the day, right? The reason rather than inputting, like, rather than scrolling and just doing what we all do, which is just surfing the web before we go to bed, the reason for gratitude at the end of the day is because if you just sit down and think about it and say, what are three things that I'm grateful for today? It's, you find what you're filtering for, right? And so, like, if I'm filtering for it and if I'm thinking about it, usually most people don't think that time to even just think about it, right? They just go to bed or surf. They don't... But if you look at it and you think about it, you will find what you're looking for. It's like, oh there actually was way more than three things I could be grateful for.

BEN HARDY: So that's that. Second piece is that people don't actually look for a new angle. They don't look for the ways that they're different from who they were a week ago. They don't look for the wins that have happened. They're so focused on what other people think are on their own future self, that they're not looking back and saying, actually, holy cow, a lot happened just today, or a lot happened this week that I wouldn't have even thought about or that I was downplaying. So they honestly aren't even just taking the time or framing it in a way that they can see it and learn from it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's so powerful. You're changing your filter. And we do that...

BEN HARDY: Dude, everything is a filter.

SHAWN STEVENSON: We do that for our house and our air conditioning unit and it gets nasty. Like if you don't change your filter...

BEN HARDY: If you're not changing your filter... Dusty.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It is. It is definitely...

BEN HARDY: Moldy, dusty.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you're of course you're not getting the coolest air and all the things like, it's going to reduce your...

BEN HARDY: Good point, good point. Think about water filter.

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's gonna reduce your outcomes. Same thing, right? Water filter, your car. We gotta change those filters, guys.

BEN HARDY: Dude, the filter is the frame, and that's your identity is your frame and your filter.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Next up in our gratitude compilation, we're gonna be looking at gratitude through the lens of a leading double board certified psychiatrist who also has the world's largest database of SPECT imaging. So actually, looking at and studying functionally human brains. He has hundreds of thousands of brain scans and he knows a thing or 20 about mental health and about brain health and also about success. I'm talking about none other than Dr. Daniel Amen. You're about to hear two conversations back to back like the cover of Lethal Weapon with Dr. Daniel Amen. And he's gonna share how to extend gratitude into active appreciation and how to set up your environment to remind you of gratitude and happiness. Check out these back-to-back segments with Dr. Daniel Amen.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: A lot of people talk about the research on gratitude. I actually like appreciation better, because appreciation is gratitude squared. So we have a website that I like called Brain Fit Life. And one of the exercises on it is, who am I going to appreciate today? And if you can just find one person a day and then send him or her a text or an email or call them and just say, "Hey, I was thinking about you today and I really appreciate you." What you're doing and why call it gratitude squared, is you're building a bridge to another person. So you're giving it away, which means you're helping their day be better.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I love that. It just made me think of the statement, what you appreciate.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: I like that a lot. Every day I start the day with, today is going to be a great day. It's on the top of my to-do list. And that way I'm like, well, what am I looking forward to today? Rather than I have to get through this day. When I go to bed every night, I say a prayer, and then I go, what went well today? And that's my favorite happiness strategy, because it's like a treasure hunt where I start at the beginning of the day and I just look for what went well and the bad things will pop up. And I'm like, it's not the point right now, what went well? And I even look for the micro moments of happiness. What's the smallest thing that happened today that made me happy? And I just, I love that so much. And I remember, and I think you and I talked about this last time I was on about two years ago, my dad died and he died of COVID, and it was terrible. And it was an awful day.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: And when I went to bed that night, I went, what went well today? 'Cause it's my habit, right? Your brain does what you've done. And initially I'm like, really? Today? But it's my habit. And I thought about an interaction between the police officer and my mother. And it was so funny. And then I thought about all the texts I'd gotten from my friends and how much, how loved I felt. And then I thought about holding my father's hand before they took him away, and it was so soft. And then I went to sleep. And you have to build these habits 'cause even though I grieved for him, still do, still miss him, I went to sleep. And if you wanna get over grief, you have to sleep, right? You would agree with me on that. And it's these little tiny exercises, looking for the micro moments of happiness. I have another fun exercise where write down the 20 happiest moments of your life. I actually had one happen last May, the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine. So my work has been very controversial. I've gotten no end of grief from my colleagues, but last May, the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine wrote new procedure guidelines for SPECT as if I wrote them. And of the 10 authors, five of them were my students. So happy.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: But I take those 20 happiest moments of mine, and I plant them around my house. So I make an association in my mind. Like my front door is my wedding day, and I'm carrying Tana over the threshold, and I almost drop her. But that's...

[laughter]

DR. DANIEL AMEN: Because the night before when we were practicing our wedding dance, I almost dropped her, but it was funny and nobody got a head injury. That every time I walk through the door, plus that reminds me how much I love her. So I'm gonna notice what I like more than what I don't like. And when I go into the living room now, it's where I also got an award from Discover Magazine. One of my research papers was listed as the top science story, neuroscience story for 2015. That was pretty cool. And then I put the Canadian paper there as well. So every time I see my living room, I see happiness. Whenever I go to the kitchen, my grandfather is at the stove, I'm named after him. He was my best friend when I was growing up. He was a candy maker and we're making brain healthy hot chocolate. So we used to make a fudge together, but I'm like, no, I want you to live longer. It was sad when he died. And so wherever I go in my house, I find happiness.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Now, running the anchor leg in this gratitude compilation is one of my favorite human beings in the world. And really, really good friend and mentor, somebody I'm incredibly grateful for myself. I give thanks for him every day, Dr. Michael Beckwith. In this segment, he's gonna be sharing the difference between information that informs and information that transforms, the power of the words that we use and how gratitude changes our perception. Check out this closing segment from Dr. Michael Beckwith.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: With this information that informs and this information that transforms. And so a lot of people are accumulating information, but it's not transformative. They're not digesting it. They don't have a practice that's actually assimilating the information until it becomes real knowledge. And so they may go get high for the weekend at a seminar, but then by Monday, they reverted back to their old patterns because they don't have an underlying practice and a higher purpose to keep them going. And oftentimes, they're not really going to change, they're going to get something. If I get that, I'm gonna be happy. But real transformation is about an inner dynamic of change within yourself, which is not an easy thing to do. It's simple, but it's not easy. But if you're willing, you can participate in your own transformation. And so there are people that just wanna accumulate information and they become very academic about things. There's nothing wrong with academics at all but they'll have a lot of information but it's not embodied yet.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You mentioned a universal law basically speaking things into reality.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Isn't just speaking something that's a creation in and of itself, isn't it? 

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah, it's energy. When we hear the different scriptures say things like, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God. The word with God. It is speaking. I call it a cellular logos. It's the logos. It's an energy, it's a vibration that then becomes flesh. It becomes... It condenses itself into perception. It condenses itself into thoughts. It condenses itself into experience. So oftentimes, people are just casual with their conversations, not understanding that they're actually setting something in motion. Oh, my poor back, oh, I don't like this person, gossiping, talking bad about themselves even. They're setting things in motion. So I like to say, I don't wanna say what I don't want to experience. I wanna say what I want to experience. So I'll say it's a magnificent day. Life is good. There's a way out of this. There's an answer to this issue. There's a solution somewhere. I'm gonna stay there until that becomes flesh. But it's practice because individuals, particularly now, people have normalized negativity.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: They've made fear popular. You know what I mean? And that's become, you're an oddball if in fact, you're operating at a different level. They think you're just weird. And so you'd rather be an oddball in a crazy world than to be normal in a crazy world. Yeah, but I always caution people and I will check people with me. I say, well, wait a minute, there's unlimited good here. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not not here. There's unlimited possibilities. Don't block yourself in to what your mind thinks is possible. This is the only way that some good is gonna come into your life. It becomes, that's blocked. No good is gonna come in, infinite ways. Infinite ways can... Miracles can happen. Your mind will call it miracles, but they're just demonstrations of truth. So why block yourself in? Just stop it. Just say you don't know how it's gonna happen right now, you're available to it. Let's see what happens. Let the universal presence through its laws shock and surprise you.

[laughter]

SHAWN STEVENSON: Normalize that.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right, normalize that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, yeah. I'm literally just still ruminating on normalizing fear. That is, it's a system within us that of course, it's provided us value over our evolution, for sure. But today, to live in that state habitually, we're not wired up to live that way. We're not designed to be that way. And so, even with so many folks having their aspirations, goals, everybody listening right now has incredible potential to achieve things beyond our wildest imagination. But I think so often in fear being a big driving force of this, we get caught up in what if, instead of what is. So how do we go from what if to what is? 

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. Well, what if can also be used positively What if everything works out? What if I have more than enough money? You can go there and you'll get to what is, 'cause what is is that right here and right now, all of the power, all of the presence, all of the intelligence, all of the love, all that is, is already here. It's already here. It may be latent within us, but it is here. And as we begin to think like that, and contemplate that truth, our frequency rises. We begin to hang in that awareness. Now, what has happened is that individuals have normalized fear, which means their attention is more on what they don't want than on what they do want.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: So what people don't understand is that anything you don't want, you're having a relationship with it. It's existing and you're not wanting it. And so people walk out, I don't wanna be broke, I don't wanna get sick, I don't wanna collect the rona collect, I don't want to catch the coronavirus. I don't wanna, I don't wanna. So in that moment of I don't wanna, the law doesn't distinguish between what you want and don't want. It only knows what you're interested in. And so if you're interested in not getting robbed, not getting poor, not catching a disease, you're in relationship with that. And then that's what you manifest. Now, you may not manifest that exactly, but your body temple doesn't know the difference. You'll still produce toxic chemicals, immediate toxic chemicals, immediate create the condition for a disease.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: So I teach people, you get what you want or don't want. The law doesn't differentiate. So stop placing all of your attention on what you don't want to happen. And begin to place your attention on what you like to see unfold in your life. Begin to describe it. The law says you don't describe what you see. You see what you describe. So if you living in an accurate description of possibility, then the law starts to bring that into manifestation. You see? And now most people... People should be taught this in elementary school. But instead, we have the nefarious forces that keep people in fear, and keeping them all pumped up about what to be afraid of next.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Oh, the Russians, oh, Corona, oh, aliens, oh whatever it is, people are nervous. We're not meant to be like that. We are an absolute reflection of the entire cosmos. What do we have to be afraid of? There's no such thing as death. You see? So there's no loss in the cosmic scheme, but everybody is... They've allowed themselves to shrink into being a little old something and then they normalize their fear. You know, Shakespeare said a coward dies a thousand deaths constantly, even before anything even happens. They've rehearsed all the negative stuff. It's not funny, but it is kind of a comedy, what human beings do to themselves.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Ah, I love this so much. This is what I wanted to ask you about this today. I wanted to ask you about the comedy of life and the sickness that we can get caught in, of taking life too seriously, of taking everything so seriously. So let's talk a little bit about that.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Well, first of all, there's nothing serious going on in the universe. Nothing at all. The universe is a big explosion of joy and ecstasy and bliss. Okay? So if you gotta stretch your perception a little bit, there's no such thing as death, and there's no such thing as loss. Okay? Yeah, you're gonna exit a body temple when it's your time. In the world of the phenomena, things come, things go. We don't deny that, but there's nothing serious happening. So since there's nothing serious happening, what is happening? What's happening is the universal presence and all of its creation is continuing to expand, to reveal the infinite nature. So that means you get to play. It's our time to play in this. Now, we create seriousness, NBA championships going on. We create a serious time crunch. Time doesn't really exist, but we play with it. Okay, we only have this many minutes. And when the end of the game, whoever has more points, they win. Another person loses. Oh, that's serious. It's not really. We call it a consistent irrelevancy. You know what I mean? It's irrelevant. It's consistent. It's fun. At the end of the day...

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's a social agreement.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. Truly, we just made that up. We just make it up. It's all made up. Yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: So the idea is that we are here as joy babies we are to tap into that joy. And the thing about it is, when you move into conscious joy and gratitude, now, you may have heard this from your mom and it probably spans to all cultures. Our parents saying to us, if you don't stop crying, I'm gonna give you something to cry about. That's pretty common, right? Okay.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I've gotten that one.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. Yeah. But this, the universe says, if you don't stop being grateful, I'm gonna give you something to be grateful for. It's the same law.

SHAWN STEVENSON: I like that.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: So as you lift your attention to being grateful for anything, for the next breath you're about to take. The next beating of your heart, then the universe will find something that matches that field, and it will shock you, because it will come outside of your present perception. We have a perception of life, and then in this perception, we want this, we want that to be happy. We want that to be happy. We don't know all of this exists. But if you go into the feeling of gratitude, then all of this opens up for you, and this is when you're surprised by things. You meet the person you were supposed to meet, you didn't even know that person existed. But that's the person you needed to meet, to go to the next level of your unfoldment. Opportunities show up, possibilities show up that you didn't even know existed, just because you're in the feeling tone of possibility.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode today. I hope that you got a lot of value out of this. And I hope that this inspired a lot of gratitude and an energy of gratitude and attitude of gratitude for you today, and giving you tools for you to utilize moving forward. Gratitude is something that is also shareable, and it can become infectious. And we wanna spread more of that and have that as a resource for us, especially when times get difficult. And as I said, this is something to share, and this is a time of sharing and giving and giving thanks. Please share this out with somebody that you care about to keep this empowerment going. You can send this directly from the podcast app that you're listening on, and of course you can take a screenshot. Take a screenshot of this episode, share it out on social media.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You can tag me. I'm @shawnmodel on Instagram. We're getting them popping on Instagram. We got like half a million followers over there. That's pretty incredible. Pretty incredible. And I'm not one of these "influencers" out here, just active doing all the posts and stuff. But there's something remarkable and has a resonance about this mission, about this energy. And it's a really special thing to be a part of. And I'm so grateful for you making me a part of your world.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And again, if you feel inspired, please share this out with somebody that you care about. And we've got some epic masterclasses and world-class guests coming your way very, very soon. So make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. And for more after the show, make sure to head over to themodelhealthshow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes. You can find transcriptions, videos for each episode. And if you've got a comment, you can leave me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome. And I appreciate that so much. And take care. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.