The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

I couldn’t help but notice you breathing oxygen. Guess what? That’s what I breathe too! What a coincidence….what’s your name? I’m Kevin.

www.grateful4.org

Gratitude

Intention

First

Things

The G.I.F.T. Today

Grateful-to know that the silent observer of my actions has all the answers I could ever need.

Intention-visualization exercises today during pauses, great practice and preparation

First-calendar check

Things-Assesment codes from TC for RJ and Trey

Morning Platitude from The GratiDude

I believe one of the big differences in my behavior with strangers as compared to the behavior that most people have with strangers is that I’m not afraid of acknowledging and talking about feeling connected. I have no problem at all looking for the commonalities or something to make a connection with a perfect stranger because I know deep down spiritually and emotionally that this is our true reality; one of interconnectedness and one of being all from the same source of light, love, energy and life.

While sometimes necessary for social situations, consistently limiting emotional expression can be unhealthy, potentially leading to increased stress, mental health issues, and even physical problems.

Here’s a more detailed explanation:

Potential Negative Consequences of Suppressing Emotions:

Increased Stress and Anxiety: Bottling up emotions can lead to a buildup of stress and anxiety, which can have negative effects on both mental and physical health.

Mental Health Issues: Suppressed emotions can contribute to or exacerbate conditions like depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Physical Health Problems: Chronic stress from suppressing emotions can increase the risk of heart disease, hypertension, and other physical health problems.

Relationship Difficulties: Difficulty expressing emotions can make it challenging to form and maintain healthy relationships.

Emotional Outbursts: Constantly suppressing emotions can lead to emotional outbursts or meltdowns when the pressure becomes too great.

Difficulty Identifying and Processing Emotions: Suppression can make it harder to recognize and process emotions, potentially leading to a disconnect from oneself.

Substance Misuse: Some individuals may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like alcohol or drug use to numb their emotions(Kevin Carpenter 1.0, por ejemplo).

The job I did for the first couple of years when I landed in California in 1988 when I was 20 and 21 was environmental and political fundraising for a nonprofit run by Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden called Campaign California. How I got the job was when I saw a dude with a clipboard knocking on doors in my neighborhood in Cupertino and I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was working to protect the redwoods from getting cut down.

I told him that’s all fine and dandy, but are they paying you to do this?

Yeah, he said, but he only gets paid if he raises money from people and he gets to keep a significant percentage of what he raises and the rest goes to the nonprofit.

Well, holy shit this job was made for me!

So I started knocking on doors for this group in no time, even though they started me off doing phone canvassing, which was some incredible sales experience that I’ve used throughout my life. The phone skills I honed were around listening to different tones of voice and parroting the emotion in the energy of people and realizing that you need to bring your own energy and enthusiasm when you’re picking up the phone and calling a perfect stranger. Otherwise, why would they bother listening?

Soon I was with the advanced group being dropped in the middle of nowhere out of a panel van every day in the afternoon to knock on doors and convince people of all different backgrounds and incomes why they should participate in protecting the environment and to give me, this random long hair dude standing at the door, 25 bucks maybe just to get off his porch.

While I was doing this, I had the opportunity to meet a man that did the same thing down in Southern California and worked out of the Santa Monica office. I can picture everything about him, but I’m spacing on his name. He was a wonderful guy that sported a bit of a retro Afro as a black man and he was very fit and rocked a big smile he wasn’t stingy with. This dude raised more money going door-to-door than literally anybody in the country and he looked like the dude easy reader from the electric company like he just walked right off of a sitcom in 1978 and he straight didn’t give a shit.

They would drop this dude in Beverly Hills and other hoity-toity lily-white neighborhoods and he’d walk out of there with $1000 from these folks, his pockets bursting at the seams.

I had to ask him when I met him what is your secret sauce and what are you doing to be so effective?

I’ll never forget his explanation and it’s stuck with me for my entire life.

He explained that he believes that we are all interconnected as children of God and that it is only social programming that has us so fixated on all of our differences, and if we let that go and look for the commonalities in people when we meet them, those people will often respond to that because deep down, they know that we are all connected.

This is way more thoughtful and interesting than I had anticipated.

However, I needed more detail so I asked him to give me some examples.

He explained his process, and that was that when he would be walking to the next house he would immediately let go of whatever happened at the previous house and start looking for clues and physical signs of anything that he might use as a conversation starter or is a form of connection. For example, if there are children’s toys in the yard or in the driveway by the size and type of toy, he could get a good idea of what the age of the kids are. He said kids are a great conversation starter and he might talk about his own children or his nieces and nephews or a specific toy or anything in that realm of conversation subject matter that creates a common bond, which is all he’s looking for in order to transition to the meat and potatoes of why he’s at the door-asking for that money.

He then he took it a step further and showed me why he’s the OG closer and the king of canvassing door-to-door from back in the day when he would say “we come from different neighborhoods and different backgrounds, but what we have in common is our love for our children and our concern for the future I don’t want to take any money that you can’t afford to give us, but I know you want to help us ensure that your kids have clean air and the ability to swim in the ocean like you did when they grow up. Most folks in the neighborhood are just doing a $100.

Here’s 100 my brother thank you for coming by and for helping protect the future for my children.

And so it goes, he smiles.

To recognize and to see an opportunity to connect with someone, you have to be fully present and aware of your surroundings and not wrapped up in your own thoughts of the future or past thoughts that stir up regret.

Like Justin Turner here who’s getting ready for a game and looks up in the stands and see sees two little mini me doppelgänger from Japan both sporting faux beards and he had to make their day and give them some lifelong memories in return for the joy that they brought him.