• In tonight’s episode, I am sharing my strategy for coping in the midst of chaos and madness. This is the first episode of season 8. During this season I am going to share quotes each week that support positive thoughts about things I feel are important to many of us.
• I am sorry but the show will be on hiatus for a while. I am recovering from surgery.

• Melody Beattie quote- "Gratitude unlocks the fulness of life..."
• Annie Dillard quote- "A schedule defends from chaos and whim..."
• David Cronenberg quote- " Everybody's a mad scientist..."

• Please email me if you have suggestions or comments for my show, daisygwoods@gmail.com.
• I want to recommend this free book to you if you need a resource for encouraging quotes. https://inspiremetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/365DailyQuotes.pdf

• In tonight’s episode, I am talking about the amazing lessons that I learned when I had an encounter with a man who was experiencing homelessness. He amplified my gratitude for the life I am living today.

• 01:51 Haiku
• 02:15 Meeting Terry
• 03:35 My Story

• Please email me if you have suggestions or comments for my show, cocogriot@gmail.com (The a is missing in cocoa in my email addy!)
• Please consider donating to https://backonmyfeet.org/ to disrupt the cycle of homelessness.

• In tonight’s episode, I am talking about the amazing lessons that I gleaned from studying the history of Michelangelo's statue of David. There are relevant life lessons I am grateful to share with you about the challenges of creating this statue.

• 01:33 What others deem as fixed, may not be the case for someone with vision.
• 02:46 One man's trash is another man's treasure.
• 03:57 Don't be overly influenced by the opinions of others.

• Please email me if you have suggestions or comments for my show, cocogriot@gmail.com (The a is missing in cocoa in my email addy!)

Please bear with me while I work to find a show notes format that is best for my listeners. There is a transcript attached to this episode.

• In tonight’s episode, I am talking about quotes from the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson. If you have been struggling with change during the pandemic, I have some great insights to share with you in this show.

• 01:13“Sometimes, Hem, things change and they are never the same again. This looks like one of those times. That's life! Life moves on. And so should we.”
• 02:11 “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”
• 02:59“Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.” 

• Please email me if you have suggestions or comments for my show, cocogriot@gmail.com (The a is missing in cocoa in my email addy!)

Check out the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson

00:13

Good evening and welcome to my humble podcast abode! I am Cocoa Griot, a fifty-something who is not going to keep you long but strives to keep you strong. Have you ever had one of those days that was so intense you literally wanted to rip the day off the calendar and pretend it never happened? I experienced that last week and then I had to scold myself for allowing myself to get in the negativity zone. I have ingredients that I keep on hand to enhance my happiness and when I summoned them, my blue skies dissipated and there was sun shining in my life again. Let me just say I am only speaking based on my own experience. Ithought I would share a little info about what turns me around when I am down. This evening I was to share with you my ingredients for happiness: loving wisely, giving freely, and laughing frequently.

01:18

What does love wisely mean? I believe that when you love wisely your eyes are always wide open and you don’t overlook red flags when they are paraded in your face. A couple of sayings from my mom and grandmother come to mind when I think about loving wisely. Everything that looks good to you ain’t good for you my mom used to say. That handsome man or striking woman could be the source of immeasurable trouble dear listeners. Sometimes we are fascinated by a person’s outward appearance and we don’t take into account the inside may not be attractive. This is the case with he=who=shall-not be named. He was strikingly handsome but nutty as a fruitcake. A saying my grandmother shared with me describes my situation with he-who=shall-not-be-named. “The same thing that can make you laugh can make you cry!” In my case, it would often be within the same day. There was such an emotional roller coaster ride I would teeter between elation and despair in the span of a few hours. Now what does love look like for me? Loving wisely involves making self-love a priority. Understanding that when I am healthy and whole, a relationship has a better chance of surviving than when I don’t make myself a priority. On that day when I was struggling last week, I just focused on pampering myself. That was the downpayment on elevating my mood.

03:03

Living freely is easier said than done. I have a few strategies I like to employ which support this goal. One of the most difficult things for me to do, but it is absolutely necessary, is to recognize when my cup is full. Part of me sees this as giving up, but the reality is it is a self-preservation tool. When you chain yourself to a task it can drain you. I find myself overly committed to doing things for others sometimes. This eats up my available free time and it is difficult to stay emotionally upbeat when you feel like there is always something to do. I am going to say this and please hear me out. Voicemail exists for a reason. You don’t have to answer every call, text, or email immediately. There are times when you have to liberate yourself and just be free. It seems we are conditioned to quickly respond to communication once we receive it, but that is not the ideal way to live. I unplugged for a little while last week and it was an incredibly enjoyable experience. The biggest piece of advice I am sharing is know when you are at your limit, and out of respect for your own sanity, take some downtime to re-energize yourself. Don’t get caught up in the Atlas complex. You don’t have to take on the weight of the world!

04:34

The most effective part of my trifecta of improving my mood is to laugh frequently. There is a library of material on Netflix, youtube, and old sitcoms that I consult when I need to lift myself out of the dumps. I recognize that everyone has different tastes in comedy. I enjoy clean comedy because I want to be able to recommend the subject matter to all types of people. It amazes how Lucille Ball working on the chocolate factory assembly line still makes me chuckle like it did years ago when I first saw that episode....

Thank you for turning in tonight. I am working on getting my transcript service reactivated.

Please visit tonight’s sponsor at pair.com/free to get one free month of web hosting.

There is no transcript for tonight’s episode. Please accept my apology for this. 😊

You can't force someone to respect you, but you can refuse to be disrespected.

-Anonymous

Please visit the sponsor of tonight's show at www.pair.com/free.

My mistakes are not edited out of this podcast, because they remind me I am human. So many people want everything to be perfect, that is not the place where I choose to live and I am happy!

00:12

Good evening and welcome to my humble podcast abode! I am Cocoa Griot an enthusiastic fifty-something who is delighted to talk to you about life, love, and a smattering of other topics. I feel very confident when I share information about topics I am very familiar with on this show. Tonight’s topic is a little different for me because I love my job! Many of you know I work as a professional mentor and I absolutely feel like it is purpose-driven work. I don’t just make a living, I make a difference! I know I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to the work I am blessed to do. Something very interesting happened during the pandemic and many people have separated themselves from employment. This phenomenon is known as the Great Resignation. I decided to check out what the experts are saying caused the Great Resignation. Tonight I am going to share three main reasons some experts say that work is not working for millions of Americans.

01:19

According to Dave Ramsey, one reason people quit their jobs was that the pandemic caused a philosophical reset. People literally realized that life was too short to spend it doing something they did not enjoy. Let's think about how work changed for so many people. There were layoffs, furloughs, working from home hybrid models of work, and the list goes on and on when it comes to the district disruption of the hamster wheel many of us lived on for years. the past gave some individuals time to rethink what work meant to them. After some of us thought deeply about our work. We let it go. Yep, pulled up an Elsa moment right out of the hat. In September 2021 Alone 4.4 million individuals quit their jobs. That is a staggering number. And it's hard to comprehend that many people just said I quit. The reality is that in the first seven months of 2021 25 million Americans separated themselves from their employer. It made me think about this quote. " Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark and professionals build the Titanic Titanic. Okay, I cannot talk tonight.

02:27

Beyond the philosophical reasons, there are other reasons people quit their jobs. Andrew Flowers, a labor economist, offers insight as to why some workers are quitting their jobs and it really boils down to money matters. Mr. Flowers compared the wages of job switchers and people who remained in jobs. Interestingly enough he noted there was significant earnings for people who chose to switch jobs. The fact is that many companies realize that in this current economy wages have to increase to attract and hire new employees. Mr. Flowers stated that companies have to start looking at their salary scales more frequently than on an annual basis in order to stay competitive in the job hiring sphere. Evidence of this is all around in my community. When I saw pizza chains offering $3,000 sign-on bonuses I was shocked!

Before I reveal the final reason some experts are saying work isn’t working for millions of Americans, I want to share a word from tonight's exciting sponsor of this episode.

03:31

"If you have a business, you need a website. What’s the best way to get a website up and running? Choose a website hosting company that makes it simple, like Pair Networks. Pair has over 20 years of experience managing the entire digital ecosystem for thousands of online businesses, all around the world. Pair makes it easy for you, with do-it-yourself website building tools and features, including simple drag and drop page design. And they have guaranteed US-based support technicians ready to help you whenever you need it – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Right now, when you sign up with Pair...