Pocketful of Mojo
Pocketful of Mojo
Rediscovering Happiness Through Daily Gratitude
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Imagine transforming chaos into happiness through the simple yet powerful practice of gratitude. That's the journey I embarked on, moving from a life filled with disorder to one illuminated by joy and fulfillment. Join me as I unfold my personal story of intentional living and self-love, and explore the mantra that has reshaped my perspective: 'I'm grateful that I get to live the life I've chosen.' This isn't just a story; it's a guide to recognizing privileges and shifting from feeling obligated to embracing the abundance around us.
Gratitude goes beyond just a feeling—it's a force that guides us in making choices aligned with our deepest desires. Through my own experiences, including a significant move back to France after years in Canada, I've learned the importance of pursuing dreams and savoring the present moment. We'll explore how gratitude is more than a concept; it's a practical tool for navigating life's challenges with resilience and grace. Whether it's responding to the crunch of leaves underfoot or taking a moment by the river, these moments anchor us during turbulent times, revealing the profound impact gratitude can have on our lives.
Facing emotional challenges from afar, especially during family health crises, can feel overwhelming. Yet, gratitude offers clarity and comfort, shifting focus from scarcity to abundance. I'll share personal struggles and the coping mechanisms that have helped me persevere, like finding joy and respite in a local bakery's treats. By practicing gratitude, we enhance emotional resilience, strengthen relationships, and appreciate the richness in our lives, regardless of adversity. This episode invites you to embrace gratitude as a transformative practice, enriching your journey and attracting more positivity into your life.
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welcome to pocket full of mojo. Where you're, you and I'm steph, and we tune in here to dab into some mojo. And if you're new here and asking what's's Mojo? Well, mojo is that feeling of unshakable confidence, that booming self-worth. Like you're an unstoppable force of nature. You know that feeling you get that makes you want to strut like a 90s supermodel, and I'm here to show you how you can have that feeling every single day.
Speaker 1:You see, I think I've cracked the code to being happy. I'm happy all the freaking time, every day, at least most of the day, possibly to an annoying degree. But hey, I wasn't always this way. And not to flex, but I've had multiple breakdowns on multiple continents and in two different languages. Three years ago, my whole life was a dumpster fire and today I'm better than I've ever been. How Well? By paying attention and by living with more intention. And I've curated this self-love first aid kit and it's full of amazing tools that help me level up and navigate life with that main character energy. And I'm not here to gatekeep. In fact, I'm on a mission to help you tap into your best stuff and remember that you have everything you need to live your life on your own terms. So settle in, we're here for some positive change. So let's dig in to where your mojo meets the road.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I'm going to review our mantra for the week and then we're going to dig into today's main topic, and that topic is the attitude of gratitude. Just in time for Thanksgiving, and we're going to take giving thanks from a holiday to a way of life. But, plot twist, we are not taking it just on the road, but we are taking it international. We're going overseas once again, and today's episode is coming to you in between bites of croissants and sips of wine, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. So you stick around, and I'm going to make sure that you're glad that you did. So. Let's get started with today's mantra and get tuned in, tapped in and turned on.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to the 39th episode of Pocketful of Mojo man 39. I can't believe it. And once again, I'm Steph, I'm your Mojo Maven, I'm your emotional Sherpa, and I'm so glad you're here. Am I a therapist? No, do I have a degree in psychology? Also, no, I'm a flawed human and a recovering people pleaser, and I just happened to have figured out how to tap into our best stuff. I'm here to reflect your awesomeness and hook you up with some inspiration and motivation to help you live the life that you love and love the life that you live you in. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Let's start by digging into today's mantra, and today's mantra is I'm grateful that I get to live the life I've chosen. Oh, my God, I think this may be my favorite mantra, yet let's unpack it together I'm grateful that I get to live the life that I've chosen. Now, you know I love a good, I am mantra, and this one is no exception. It's a juicy one and it can provoke some mixed feelings. So let's put it under the microscope and look at what we've got.
Speaker 1:When we're talking about gratitude, it's a choice, it's a conscious act, it's a way to see the world, a way that we can identify what's important to us and what we value. The act or the practice of gratitude. It's more than just appreciation. Gratitude grounds you in the present moment and it anchors you in strength and in optimism. It really allows you to tune into the positive, the nourishing feelings that come when you practice gratitude and you get to be the author of the list of things that you're grateful for. There's no right or wrong answers when it comes to your gratitude list. When it comes to gratitude, there's no middle ground. You're either grateful or you're not. It's like pregnancy you can't be a little bit grateful. So when practicing gratitude and making the list of the things that you're thankful for, this is your cue to jump in the deep end and truly embody the feeling of gratitude. Feel it in every cell in your body. I am grateful that I get to live the life that I've chosen. Tuning into this feeling reminds us how good it feels to feel good, and when we do this, our brains will automatically work on our behalf to get more of these things in our life. Practicing gratitude will prepare you to receive and accept more in your life that you're actually grateful for.
Speaker 1:If you don't appreciate what you already have, it can feel like a struggle to get more of what you love in your life. Imagine for a second that you don't have to do anything, but instead you get to do whatever you want. Stay with me. When you say the phrase I have to make dinner tonight, there's an oppressive resistance, a sense of obligation and duty that kind of takes the fun out of it. But what if you said I get to make dinner tonight. Notice the shift. Notice how it feels lighter, more fun and like it's a privilege. When you see the world this way, the day gets a little brighter just from making this gentle shift. It means that you've tapped into the power and the purity that comes when you're living in awareness of how great life can be. I'm grateful that I get to live the life that I've chosen.
Speaker 1:So let me guess this mantra feels a little wonky, like it doesn't quite fit, because you don't feel like it's true, like it's a statement that might work for other people, but you don't feel like you're in the driver's seat and if it were up to you, life would look a whole lot different, right? Well, my friend, I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is is that you've been in charge this whole time and it's your choices that have made your life what it is today, for better or for worse. And the good news is that you're in charge. The choices you make from here on out will determine your future. How powerful is that? This moment is all that really exists and you get to be the author, the director, the architect of the rest of your life, even if your awareness that you've been in charge has only occurred to you now. The rest of your story isn't written yet.
Speaker 1:So what does this mean? Well, you don't have to blow up your life in order to find the happiness that you're looking for. Simply by seeing your life through the lens of gratitude, you can begin to shape your thoughts, your beliefs and your actions to be more in alignment with a life that you love. I'm grateful that I get to live the life I've chosen. Now, don't get me wrong. Life can be chaos. There's plenty of choices that are made for us and there are plenty of things in this life that happen daily that are completely out of our control. Facts are facts, but I'm here to remind you that that's not your cue to lie down and just take whatever the world throws at you. This is about empowerment. This is about engaging in the choices that you make and reminding you that you might just have more control over the choices you make than you think.
Speaker 1:There may be a few limiting beliefs kicking around the old noggin that are limiting the joy and the pleasure in your life. What would your life look like if you had more joy, more pleasure in your day-to-day, and not just on special occasions Hot take. It's through gratitude that we are able to collect and multiply the moments that do serve and fulfill us, and it's through gratitude that we can inventory the things in our life that we hold dear, that fill our needs, that inspire our desires and warm our hearts. Now what if you made a simple shift in perspective and remembered that you are indeed in charge and steered your choices towards sunny skies and happier days? I'm grateful that I get to live the life I've chosen. Now you don't need to be successful to be grateful. You don't need to have achieved the goal in order to be grateful. You don't have to be perfect to be grateful, and you don't have to wait until you have all your needs met in order to tap into your gratitude. When you practice the art of giving thanks, you are shifting away from scarcity and reminding yourself that you actually do have abundance in your life, and this lays the path towards having that abundance in more areas of your life.
Speaker 1:The fun part here is how gratitude allows us to tune in to what we love about life and empowers us to begin to make choices that pave the way for more of what we love most in our life. After all, we're here for a good time and not a long time. The goal Live the life you love. Love the life you live. I am grateful that I get to live the life I've chosen. Ermagird what a powerful and game-changing mantra. I really love it because it's a great gut check to see how much I'm listening to myself and how my day-to-day choices are serving me, and you know when I'm.
Speaker 1:When we're talking about gratitude and our ability to make choices and you know, loving the life that we are living, that doesn't mean that the hard times and the bad times and the failures we want to be grateful for those things as well, because those are the things that nudge us back on our path. Those are the things that help us learn what we need to learn in order to get where we want to go. So it's about loving all of it the peaks, the valleys and the journey in between. Because when I think about looking at my day-to-day choices and how they're serving me or maybe how they're not serving me and as soon as I feel that pang of being out of alignment with what I really want, it helps me to tune in, to be more in touch with what my needs are, and it makes that change way easier because the things in my life that are out of whack they're going to pop up immediately and help me take steps to get back on track and let go of the things in my life that are holding me back and aren't serving me or limiting my life from being as great as it can be.
Speaker 1:So I want to take you on a little walk now. I'm going to shoot it over. We're going to do some mojo on the go and we're going to go get some croissants. So, without further ado, I pass it on over to Mojo on the go. Well, gobble, gobble, gobble. Welcome to Mojo on the Go, the French edition.
Speaker 1:You and I, we are going to go on a little walk and discover how the attitude of gratitude can make a difference, and I've got lots to share with you. It's really that special time of year we just wrapped up Thanksgiving in Canada and then for all my American friends it's coming up in November. So what a great time to talk about a super fundamental ingredient in mojo, and that's gratitude and thankfulness, and I can tell you after the last couple of weeks that I've had, that gratitude and thankfulness are definitely the flotation device that I've needed to keep going and I mean, hey, just because I'm your Mojo Maven, doesn't that mean that my life is nothing but rainbows and unicorns? Life happens. I am not beyond that.
Speaker 1:So what I want to share with you today is about gratitude and how it's a tool and not just an idea, how it's an act, how it's a mindset, and how it can really help us achieve those really fundamental parts of mojo, which are, you know, emotional resilience and mindset, and that thing that we're all chasing, which is overall happiness. And that seems kind of hard to talk about when you're not in a happy place, but that's okay, because what we're going to talk about today is how to break it down, how to look at it a little bit differently what is gratitude, what it's not, and how this tool in our toolbox is really going to help steer the ship when there's stormy waters. And my analogy might be influenced by the fact that I'm walking by the river, because I thought I'd take us for a little walk today. It's a beautiful day, it's quiet, I'm just walking underneath a bridge next to the river and I'm feeling all the crunchy leaves under my feet, and these are things that I'm grateful for. Right. Being grateful really drops you into that present moment and helps you be in the here and now.
Speaker 1:So, like I was saying, I've been on the struggle bus a little bit, so I'm going to tell you about that, but first I want to back up a bit. So, as I mentioned, I'm coming to you direct from France. I'm back in my former hometown. I used to live here from 2017 to 2021. And I really built some incredible relationships here and this is kind of like coming home. I mean, in addition to the amazing people that I met, I also really just love this city. It just really feels like it's my speed, my style, and it just feels really good to be here.
Speaker 1:And ever since I left in 2021, I've wanted to come back and I've been talking about coming back and I've been dreaming about coming back and I've been thinking about coming back and then finally, I got tired of hearing myself say I'm going to come back and visit. It just felt like I was someone who talked about it, not somebody who did something about it. So not that long ago, I looked at my bank account, I looked at my environment and I was like, okay, it's time to do the thing, it's time to stop talking about it and it's time to do the thing. It's time to stop talking about it and it's time to do the thing because, as you know one of my favorite mantras, thoughts become things. So I finally put myself first and I saw this as it really being my turn. This is my reward, this is me thanking myself, this is me owning my choices, this is me finding balance in my life of service Because for the last three years since I moved from France back to Canada to help out with my dad after my mom passed away, that has been my life, a life of service and, of course, rebuilding myself and processing my own grief and creating Mojo Mastery, but with family really being a towering value of mine.
Speaker 1:It very much led and guided a lot of my decisions and was very much my priority. So now that things were stable at home, I knew that this was my time. I just had that intuition of like being fed up with my own self, of not doing the big thing, because trust me when I say, when you limit your own joy in the name of service, it seems real noble, but that turns into resentment pretty quick. So I booked everything when things were stable and you know I could tell that my dad wasn't was happy for me kind of, but also really concerned for himself and you know his care is now in my brother's hands. So you know everything's good there and all the I's were dotted and the T's were crossed.
Speaker 1:But you know you can't plan everything in life and I knew the risks. I knew that there was going to be a risk that something happened to my dad when I was away, whether that was something big or something small. And I had to have some really tough conversations with myself, like really give myself some parameters, like if I'm going to be on this trip, I need to allow myself to be on this trip and not try to be in two places at once and not try to provide care from across the Atlantic Ocean. It was really important for me to have awareness that something could happen in my absence and not feel guilt and just completely reject the idea that I was responsible in some way for his 86-year-old body taking a turn for the worse. I have lots of superpowers, but invincibility is not one of them and I had plenty of reasons to be suspect that something was going to happen in my absence. Because you know. Again, I don't consider myself a magic ingredient, but history does dictate.
Speaker 1:Like when I go on any like dog sitting jobs it doesn't happen every time, but probably like one out of every four times. Probably like one out of every four times it'll happen that I'm away just up the street, sometimes doing some dog sitting or cat sitting, and I get a call from dad that something has happened. I went away to the lake and I called to check in and see how he was doing and he fell down and hurt his knee. I was going to go to Minnesota to go see Madonna and that morning I woke up to him calling the ambulance because his defibrillator went off and they took him to the hospital lights and sirens. So it's not beyond me that something could have happened.
Speaker 1:Like I was mentally prepared for the reality that something might happen while I was away, because I know that I've already done so much. I've curated an incredible relationship with my dad that I never had before. I was very much of service and being able to keep him comfortable as comfortable as possible and helping him maintain a quality of life that he's worthy of, even if it is limited. I got to be a part of that and I'm really grateful for that. I'm super thankful for the choices that I've made, but that also doesn't lock me in to that being my life and my lifestyle for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:So I knew before I left that it was really important for me to give myself grace, to do what's right in the moment. So I didn't have to have all of the contingency plans worked out and figured out before I left, because the future is fiction and I couldn't say to myself well, if this happens, I'll do this, and if that happens I'll do that, because that's just putting all my energy in the wrong place. So I rooted myself in gratitude that I was able to take this trip. I rooted myself in thankfulness that dad's health had stabilized enough to allow me to feel confident to make this decision, to go on this trip. So I pulled the trigger, bought the ticket, and I did it with zero anxiety and with the true intention to really live in the now and not a possible future that may or may not exist based on my imagination, because your imagination is going to tell you anything. Sometimes your imagination is great and sometimes it's a stupid liar that just muddies the waters. So it had been a week that I'd landed.
Speaker 1:This was last Monday. I was doing one of my favorite things in the whole world with some of my favorite people. I went for a three-hour dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and we grabbed a drink first and then we had the full three-course meal and shared a bottle of wine. And so many laughs and so many good times and we did some reminiscing and we caught up about life and it was really a really great moment. And as we were leaving, my phone buzzed and I got somewhat of a cryptic text from my brother saying hey, steph, do you want an update? Okay, and this was at 11 o'clock at night, kind of floating on air, and I rose above my sassy instinct to reply something clever or quippy and I just said yeah, how are things? What's up? And that's when I found out that my dad had been admitted to the emergency room with shortness of breath and a possible lung infection. And that's when the bubble popped.
Speaker 1:So there I was, caught between my dream and my nightmare. So I sat down, I took a breath, I accepted a hug from my friend and I just took a beat to process and to ground myself and to observe my thoughts a little bit and just kind of I know this sounds weird, but kind of like emotionally detach myself from the situation so that I could objectively look at it and say, okay, what are the facts, and maybe that's a coping mechanism, maybe that's just dissociating Again. Listen to the intro. I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a therapist, but that's what I did and besides, I had the wine from dinner do a lot of the heavy lifting, so that was kind of helpful. And so, god bless my brothers. We've been in pretty close touch ever since and they're giving me updates on what's going on.
Speaker 1:But it all seems really hard to navigate and uncertain. And in my own head ever since then I've just really felt rattled. I felt it's been really hard to get work done. I feel like it's been really hard to concentrate. I feel like I just want to dissociate all the time and fill my head with distraction because I feel somewhat paralyzed too. I'm unable to show up and help in that capacity.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to figure out how I can be supportive from so far away, and I go back to the mantra that I was using ever since that moment, which is I'm not at my best, but I'm doing my best and there's so much grace and comfort in there that the second that I start to reel and start to like get in my head, I just take a breath and I say those words to myself and it lets me off the hook a little bit and it lets me have a little bit more clarity on how I want to put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 1:And it was really sweet. My brother sent me a message the other day and he said I've got a turkey in the freezer and we'll enjoy it all together when we're all back together. Enjoy it all together when we're all back together and with things being really touch and go with dad right now, like he's still in the hospital almost two weeks later and they don't really know what to do with him and he doesn't need so much care that they can put him in a facility, but he needs more care than what we can provide him at home. So we're living in this really weird gray area and it's hard to navigate, and it's really hard to navigate from 4,000 kilometers away. Okay, we made it. We're at the bakery, let's go get some things.
Speaker 2:Bonjour, bonjour, ficelle, aperro, l'ardon est mentale. S'il vous plaît, things croissant classique, ce serait parfait. Très bien, voilà, merci. Merci beaucoup, madame. Bonne journée Bon.
Speaker 1:That was our little trip to the boulangerie, my friends. I hope you enjoyed that. For those of you who need a translation, I got a classic croissant. I got a almond croissant, which has this like really yummy marzipan inside, and then they put powdered sugar on top and it's very gourmand, very delicious. And then the ficelle aperitif it's like this teeny, tiny little baguette and they stuff it with bacon and cheese. So that's pretty dope.
Speaker 1:Talk about girl dinner. Talk about things to be grateful for, my goodness. So let's get back to gratitude.
Speaker 1:Now that I've got a handful of gratitude here in carb form, one thing I want to share with you is something that I actually got from Oprah. If anybody knows what's up, it's that lady. She says she's trained her thoughts so that the first thing that she thinks when she wakes up is to say thank you. That's her first thought. Because tomorrow is not promised, my friends. We make plans as though it is, which is wonderful, because that's hope, that's faith, but when we start our day like literal first thought being thank you, we are already off to the races to be rooted in what we're thankful for. So let's now talk about what gratitude is, what it isn't, and how it helps us build a happy life, even when things are hard, because gratitude it's a daily practice, it's a mindset shift, it's an act, and the best thing that it can do for you is it can act as a tool for your emotional resilience, because emotional resilience is the ability to bounce back, the ability to rise above, the ability to dust yourself off and keep going. But don't get it twisted. When we talk about what gratitude isn't, it is not ignoring your problems. Problems are still going to exist, but it might put you on better footing to be able to actually address the problems in your life and navigate the stormy waters and have a little bit of a better time controlling how we respond and react to things when they hit us out of the blue. Another thing that gratitude is not.
Speaker 1:Gratitude is not conditional on success. It does not need to wait for you to win in order to be grateful or to be thankful. And I read an article the other day that was really interesting and it talked about how gratitude is not and they called it passive contentment. And that's what really caught my eye and I dug into it a little bit more to really see how passive contentment is settling. It's saying to yourself. Well, you know I didn't get the job, but that's fine.
Speaker 1:You know you can be grateful and still want more. You can be grateful and thankful for everything that you have and still know that you want more, better, and that your worthiness is maybe greater than the situation that you find yourself in. All those things can be true at the same time, because when we talk about how to use thankfulness and gratitude to build a happy life, it shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance. It helps us stop thinking about what we don't have and redirects that energy into a loving, grateful, thankful place for everything that we do have, because we've made choices and decisions that have gotten us to this very moment and has brought us every single thing that we've ever had, every single experience that we've ever had. And when you practice gratitude, it strengthens our relationships. It lets people know how we feel about them and how important they are.
Speaker 2:Bonjour Vous avez rentré.
Speaker 3:Oui, est-ce que je peux vous accompagner? Nous n'avons pas de nouvelles de M Ponce, qui habite dans cet immeuble. D'accord, son fils est inquiet également. Il nous a demandé de venir voir ce qu'il. Oh wow, that was something.
Speaker 1:So I just ran into this lovely older couple who are doing a wellness check on someone because they hadn't heard from them in a really long time. Okay, so I think we got cut off there, but I want to wrap this up and bring it home. Think we got cut off there, but I want to wrap this up and bring it home because, yeah, gratitude and thankfulness they're really just incredible game changers when it comes to enhancing your self-worth, acknowledging all that you've accomplished, all the ways that you've grown, and it really does boost your mental well-being and and I know, as I say, that there's also like an element of like duh, because who doesn't want to take inventory of all that is great in their life? Because that keeps us rooted in what we appreciate, in what we honor, in what we value and in what's important to us. So what I know is that, from here, I am thankful that you tuned in here today. I am grateful that I've got choices in my life that allow me to share this mission, share my story and hopefully make a ripple effect that allows other people to ground themselves in thankfulness and gratefulness, so that we can go out into the world and navigate the chaos and quiet the noise and stay rooted in what's most important to us.
Speaker 1:So, if Thanksgiving is in front of you or behind you, remember that giving thanks is something that we can do every day, because to have one day a year dedicated to love, that's not enough. Every day should be Valentine's Day, every day should be Thanksgiving, because there's always room in your day for more love, more gratitude and more thankfulness. The world will never, ever, run out of those things. So, with that set, my gorgeous friend here's to you, here's to your mojo, and all of the blessings that we have to be thankful for, go and have fun making a list, because that is one of the best exercises to elevate your mood, to raise your vibration, to heighten your mojo and to help you tap in and tune in to all that is great in this life, and that is what you deserve an abundance of greatness. So, on that note, I'm going to shoot it back to the studio. Thank you so much for joining me on our little walk to go get some pastries. May your day be delicious and your life be magic. Ciao, for now, au revoir.
Speaker 2:Bisous.
Speaker 1:And that was Pocketful of Mojo Road Trip Edition. Tune in next week for a very special episode where we will continue to keep it international, and I want to wish all of my friends a happy Thanksgiving, wherever you celebrate. What a great time to be surrounded by things that lift you up, fill your cup and really immerse and drown yourself in all the beautiful and messy parts of life that make this moment what it is. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. We'll be back next week with another episode and in the meantime, if you feel like your mojo could use a little tune up, there's plenty of ways that we can do this again sometime. Make sure you take a couple of minutes to subscribe to this podcast and extra good, juju, if you leave a review. You can follow me on Instagram at moststefinately and you can check me out for some daily mantras and positive affirmations to keep your mojo on top of the to-do list every single day. You found me at a really exciting time. I've got so much more mojo to deliver and I'm excited to bring you along for the ride. Check out the show notes for all the links to all the fun things.
Speaker 1:Today's episode has been brought to you by Mojo Gummies All-natural, delicious mushroom-based to help with clarity focus and is an all natural substitute for Adderall. So if you struggle with ADHD and you're looking for a natural supplement to help you get your day back on track, I 100% recommend mojo gummies. I've been taking them for three months and I've got a special 15% off code for you in the show notes, so be sure to check that out and look, I've got so much more great stuff to share with you guys. So make sure you tune in next week and until then, stay classy, stay kind and put love in everything you do. Ciao for now, mwah.
