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What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan Leak podcast. I am your host, Ryan Leak, and this podcast is designed to be short and sweet. We like to just give you just a nugget or two to hold on for the week. And this week is Thanksgiving. And I heard a term from a friend of mine, shout out to Guillermo Castellano, one of my best friends in the whole wide world. He came up with this phrase, and maybe he stole it from somebody else, but that's on him. But I heard it from him and he didn't give credit to somebody else. And he has this phrase called thanks living. Thanks living. And I just thought, man, that's what a great word to use because, you know, Thanksgiving is a day, but thanks living is a way. It's a lifestyle. Thanksgiving happens once a year. Thanks Living. Well, that can happen every single day. Thanksgiving is a meal. Thanks living is a. Is a mindset. And I think we're good at giving thanks around the table once a year, but not always great at living thankful lives once the leftovers are gone. Gratitude isn't supposed to be seasonal, is supposed to be spiritual. It's more than a feeling. It's a way of living that I believe requires our perspective and can renew our energy. Gratitude isn't something you feel when life is good. It's something you choose. Because I believe God is good. In fact, I don't know if you know this. There's some science behind this. Did you know that gratitude literally changes your brain? Research shows that people who intentionally practice gratitude experience higher levels of dopamine and serotonin. Serotonin, the same chemicals that make us feel happiness and calm. It lowers stress. It improves sleep. It strengthens your immune system. Gratitude doesn't just improve your day, it improves your mindset. It requires your mind. And so today, I'm going to encourage you to choose gratitude. Because when you do, your brain starts scanning the world for what's right instead of what's wrong. That small shift changes everything. Did you know two people can go through the exact same situation? And one can spiral into negativity and the other, somehow, some way, finds peace? The difference isn't what happened to them. The difference is what they focused on. Now, here's the deal. I know we've been taught that there are two types of people in this world. You got your optimist and your pessimist. Some people look at a glass of half water and they say, the glass is half full. The next person says, the glass is half empty. I just want you to know I got a third option for you today. Can you imagine if we all just decided to be grateful for the glass of water at all kinds of people? Do you know how many people in this world would kill to argue about a glass of water? Some people think I'm just a happy person all the time. That's not true. I'm not a happy person. I'm a grateful person. Yeah, happiness depends on what happens. Gratitude depends on how you see what happens. You don't have to wait for everything to be perfect to be grateful. You don't even have to feel good to be grateful. Gratitude isn't an emotion. It's a decision. You can wake up on the worst day of your life and still decide, God, I'm thankful that you're with me in this because gratitude doesn't ignore pain. It puts pain in perspective. There's a powerful scripture, and I realize that everybody's not a person of faith here, but that's okay. This scripture, I think, adds value to your life. Anyways. The scripture says this, and this would be a good idea for you whether you're a faith person or not. It says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Notice it says in all circumstances, not for all circumstances. Massive difference. You don't have to be thankful for the hard thing that happened to you. That might actually be pretty silly. People would think you're crazy, but you can still be thankful in the middle of a hard thing that happened to you. Gratitude doesn't say everything's fine. It says, even though everything isn't fine, I still believe God's working things together for my good. I still believe that things are going to turn around. I'm hopeful and I'm grateful that it's not worse than it is. Let's just say you hate your job. A lot of people hate their job. But if you have a job, you ought to be grateful that you're not on Indeed.com right now. Because there are people on there right now wishing they had your work problems. That boss who drives you crazy. Someone else would kill to have a boss at all because they've been unemployed for months. You might be irritated by your commute, but there's someone sitting at home praying for a job to commute to. You might be annoyed that traffic is slow, but. But there's a person learning to walk again who would love to be stuck in traffic if it meant having full mobility. You might roll your eyes at your apartment because it's not Big enough, modern enough, or HGTV enough. But somebody else is desperate to get approved for any place that's safe, warm, and theirs. Even the nights when you stare at your fridge, frustrated because you don't feel like eating any of the food that you bought, there's someone who would give anything to have too many options. Even when we start talking marriage and parenting. Listen, your spouse might get on your nerves, but there's someone who goes to bed every night wishing they had a person to share their life with and get on their nerves. Your kids may leave messes, talk back, and test every ounce of your patience. But there are people who would trade every clean countertop in the world just to hear a child's laughter in their home. You might complain that there's nothing new on Netflix. I know people who had to cancel their Netflix just to keep their lights on. Just want to let you know your complaint sometimes is a privilege. Even your friendships, the ones you sometimes take for granted because we don't hang out enough, they are blessings other people pray for. Someone out there is lonely, scrolling through their phone, wishing they had just one friend they could call. Gratitude does not deny the frustration, my friend. It just reminds you that even your frustrations come wrapped in blessings someone else wishes they had. Now, here's the deal. I'll be honest. I wonder sometimes if we need worse to be grateful for better. You know what I mean? Like, do we need to see a homeless person and be grateful for our roof? Do we need to see someone hungry to be grateful for our dinner? Do we need to hear a nightmare story about someone else's job just to appreciate ours? Because I think we'd all agree that the opposite of gratefulness is entitlement. And we hate seeing entitlement in anybody, especially our kids, right? Like, when they roll their eyes because dinner isn't exactly what they wanted, you're like, dude, do you know what I had to eat growing up? Like, you're eating Chick Fil A and you're mad about Chick Fil A. Like, what's happening right now when they act like their toys are old or that their life is boring? You want to look at them and say, you can't spell boring. You know what we did when we rode in the car as children? We looked out the window. That's what we did. And we can look at them and go, you don't know how good you have it, but you know how many people in this world will look at us and. And think the same thing. You don't realize how Blessed you are. You don't realize how good you have it. And gratitude sometimes gets lost when we start treating blessings like background noise. And I had a moment recently that brought this really home for me. I was in Chicago on a guys trip with some friends. And while I was there, I got a text from my mom saying that she had some pain in her chest and she was heading to the er and she's fine now, she's okay. But that text definitely stopped me in my tracks and. And I called her immediately and had her on speakerphone and. And my friends were in the room as well. And the first thing she said before I could even ask how she was, was she said, good morning, honey. Are you ministering anywhere today? Are you talking to anybody today? And I looked over at my friend Daniel, who was sitting next to me, and he was visibly moved. You could feel emotion welling up in him. And he said to me, as I was getting off the phone with her, he said, would your mom consider adopting me? I was like. I, like, chuckled a little bit. But you see, my friend Daniel lost his mom to cancer 20 years ago when he was in high school. And let me just tell you something. He would give anything, absolute anything, to have a mom at all. And he just looked at me and goes, ryan, do you realize what you have? You have a mom who cares about what you're doing today. And in that moment, what's interesting is I saw my mom differently than I did the day before. Sometimes gratitude sneaks up on you just like that. It's not that God gives you something new. I think it's that he helps you see something old in a new way. Gratitude isn't about getting more. It's about seeing more. That moment changed me because I realized I don't need life to get better. I just need eyes that can see how good it already is. Gratitude turns what you already have into more than enough. If I'm honest, I think that's one of the biggest challenges for us today. We live in a culture that keeps telling us that enough is just one more thing away. One more vacation, one more raise, one more like one more upgrade, one more subscriber, one more share. But gratitude says, even if nothing changes tomorrow, I'm still thankful for today. Gratitude doesn't wait for circumstances to improve. It improves how we experience our circumstances. And if you've lost some joy lately, I think that's usually where you'll find it again, in gratitude. Because joy and gratitude are always connected. You can't have one without the other so if your life feels heavy, start small. Notice one thing. Thank God for one thing. Say one kind word. Maybe life gets better when we become more grateful. And I'll just tell you this. It's hard to stay bitter when you're busy being thankful. And when you start living this way, your perspective's gonna change, your energy's gonna change, your home's gonna change. You're gonna stop comparing, you're gonna start celebrating. You're gonna stop focusing on what's missing and start noticing what's been there all along. My friend, this is thanks living. So as you gather around the table this week, don't just eat food, see the faces. Don't just think about what you're thankful for. Think about who you're thankful for. Look around and realize that every person, every breath, every story is grace on display. Because grateful people don't wait for life to get easier. They realize it's already good. My friends, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan Leak podcast today. If today's episode helps added value to your life or will add value to your Thanksgiving table, I would ask that you would share it with a friend. And hey, it would mean the world to me if you would take a moment to rate, review and subscribe. Your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thank you so much for being a part of the journey and Happy Thanksgiving.