If you live in the DC area you've likely heard of this next company I'm partnering with mighty meals is a convenient healthy meal delivery service made with locally sourced ingredients by chefs. I love mighty meals because with over 150 options that are constantly rotated for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, I am never bored. What's even better than the options is that the food is well I said earlier delivered no lugging groceries. For listeners of the your good news podcast mighty meals is offering you $25 off for purchases of $75 or more head to eat mighty meals.com/your Good News to check out the deal. And if you've missed that link, I've included it in the show notes. Hi, and welcome to the your good news podcast with me your host, Katherine Getty. Each Thursday, I'll give you the scoop on the good news coming out of Washington, and how you can get involved with this thing called democracy. Welcome back to another episode of The York good news podcast, so nearly two years ago, but I guess it actually starts more like three years ago, let's transport ourselves back for only a moment before we teleport into this episode, the 100th episode of the organ news podcast. Three years ago, the world was a really scary place, it was all about not knowing exactly what was going to happen. I nervously laugh because I think even thinking back to that time, it is a magnet as a transport into the past that was real scary. We didn't know what the future would look like. And it really all started with listening to podcasts, I was taking a ton of walks, because that was about all I could deal in my apartment in DC. And I was just thinking about how I really loved podcasts. I loved listening to people's stories, I think it probably goes back to when I was a child listening to NPR, with my dad in the car and hearing about different stories of faraway lands or maybe things that were just back home. And it really kind of transported me again, I keep saying transport. But it took me back to that time and the podcast was a way to escape from the reality that was three years ago. It also started with seeing the good many of my friends, family colleagues were doing in the midst of that scary time and feeling like we needed more of that I needed more of that. Because I felt myself slipping, I needed more of the good. And maybe it was just acknowledging the good in the midst of the really freaking bad but I want more of the gut. And so it started with a yes, this podcast started with a saying yes to myself. And it was a nudge to speak my truth, to not be afraid of taking up space and finding the good and sharing it. So flash forward a year hence the two year comment the outset of this episode, you know, and you flash forward to 2021 I finally leaned in, and I launched the York good news podcast. It was an is an absolute labor of love one of the scariest yeses, and I'm getting a little teared up saying it was one of the scariest guesses because I am way more comfortable with the supporting role than ever speaking my whole truth. But man, am I so glad I did it. I'm so proud of the 100 episodes, I've created and shared. I've met people that have truly changed my life. Because from that first time I said yes to myself, I have been able to tell their stories, I've been able to tell my own story, I'm able to tell the good that is out there. Because the good that I tell doesn't negate the bad because there's a lot of bad stuff out there. I won't curse. There's a lot of bad stuff. But it is the choice to sometimes find the gut. And it is not always easy. And I don't always do it perfectly. But it's something I truly believe on. This second year, the year that we're in, I made a transition. And I transition to bridge the good that I was seeing with my love of telling everything about DC if you know me, and you probably feel like you do if you've listened to any of these episodes, I am a political nerd. I love this stuff. I get so excited about sharing more about how we can get engaged with this thing called our US government and making it work for us. So today I've pulled four clips. It felt like having I don't have children, but if it felt like I would have to pick favorite kids when I looked back at all the episodes because like I said I have been able to meet incredible, incredible people. If you haven't listened to all the episodes go back. Some of the original ones. My audio is really rough. So don't judge me we've gotten improved but it go back and listen to some some episodes. And I'm going to highlight a few episodes that are a few of the ones that are near and dear to my heart for a variety of reasons. So first, from Episode 21, I pulled this clip because it reminded me of sharing the good news of the value of we need to seek it and acknowledge it. So listen here. I titled this episode, why not for a very key reason. The idea of why not has been a mantra even more so in the last really the last year. This quiet drumbeat has been the reason I said yes to myself more in a variety of ways, from this podcast, to opening myself up to relationships. To being more honest with the need of healthy barriers, I kept thinking about why I had to take a chance. Because when I started this, it was born out of a desire to find more good news share more good news, it was the summer of 2020. And I admittedly was really sinking into a place where I could believe the bad every single day, I felt strongly that there was good news around us some somehow, even oftentimes, when it didn't feel like it, I knew there had to be something I could latch on to. Maybe it's a new name for a gratitude practice. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, that finding good news is really about finding the gratitude in each day. But it's more so just the idea of recognizing the little joys we have in each day. Some days, it's calling a friend after way too long, or grabbing a cup of coffee and saying hi to the barista. Or maybe it's even just healthy prognosis for a family member. There is good, maybe just the shadows that makes it hard to see. Next, from Episode 19, I am joined by a woman who changed my life, Amanda, it is this little clip is all about things. If you haven't go back and listen to her episode, she is incredibly inspiring and recently passed. And from the moment you listen to her voice and how she views she has had incredible, she had incredibly, an incredibly tough road in this world. And she always found the good, and I was so inspired and so honored to be able to get to talk to her. And in this little clip, we talk about some things that she does to help get the good in her heart, from positive self talk to also utilizing her own strengths. And I think it's a good reminder for all of us that we can do the same. So listen here, we need to kind of be our own advocate for our lives and the lives that we want to choose every single day, which is not always easy. And there are things that happen that we can control, but how we respond to it, like our reaction. That's our power. And that's our choice.
Absolutely. And I one of the things that I do. Two of the things that I do that I think are really easy tips to kind of put into your everyday life. You know, one is I've kind of use, I guess, positive self talk, or you can say like a mantra or things like that. That's kind of big in my life, because I didn't know I was already doing it. Yeah. But for a long time, I really would tell myself, it can't get any worse. It can't get any worse. It can't get any worse. And you know what, it really did get worse. You're
like, Okay, I'm manifesting something else, because we're gonna try this again.
It was not the right thing to be telling myself because I think it was just, it was just it wasn't, it wasn't what I needed to be thinking about. And now I even it's almost like a little song in my head. Yeah, I hear myself saying it when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed and you know, just when I'm walking around the house looking in the frigerator I think about I think about my family, I love my family. I love my friends. I love my mom, I love my dad, I love Patrick I love Dever, I like convention, you know, friends that are on my mind in the moment. And I just you know, I ended up kind of having a little sing song thing in my head and
it totally changes. It totally changes I like in the morning, try to think of like three things I'm grateful for and I do a monitor on. It totally changes the way you kind of show up to those tough times. Next, from Episode 88, I am joined by Brandon Harvey, the founder of the goodgoodgood company. He is just so incredible. And I love this clip because it reminds us of sometimes the bad sticks to our brains and he kind of shares a little bit more of why that might be happening. So if you haven't go ahead and follow Him and the good good, good company. and also listen to this episode, it is inspiring. But here's a little clip from that episode.
So before there was good, good, good, there was just me running around being very interested in people making a difference. My background was as a humanitarian photographer, where I got to travel all over the world with a bunch of amazing inspiring nonprofits, helping them tell the story of the positive impact that they were making, and specifically, really the solutions they were creating to the world's greatest problems. So I come home from these trips, really amped up being like, wow, I felt really overwhelmed by, you know, HIV and AIDS rates, or maternal mortality rates, or, you know, like these big ideas. And I would come home and be like, Wow, there are people working to create amazing solutions to these problems. They are inspiring, they are creative, they are using, you know, like, just the people in these communities who care deeply about these issues. And they are making a huge difference in the world. And it was just so energizing and inspiring. And I could not help but find ways to share this. And that's where good, good good begin with a sense of essentially, trial and error. How do you communicate these ideas, because I learned this later. Apparently, all of our brains have this internal negativity bias, where bad news sticks to our brains like Velcro, and good news slides right off our brains like a Sobey. Slip and Slide. And the the, the terrible thing about that is that even though we all say we want good news, even though we all, you know, maybe even try to see out good news, it just doesn't stick to our brains as easily. And so I've got these stories that are super inspiring to me. And I know from my conversations with friends who love hearing them, that there's a lot of people who want them, but they just can't compete on social media, they can't compete online. And so I'm basically just trying to figure out, okay, well, how do I get these stories to other people, because I also want to make sure more of these stories are coming to me.
And lastly, something I say all the time, this is from Episode 70. It was right before Thanksgiving. I talked about disagreeing without being disagreeable. It is something I feel really passionate about. Because we know we all know politics is personal. And it is all about the importance of actively listening and what that can do to transform a conversation because we have to listen more if we actually want to change this world and find more good and share more good and create more good policy. So first, don't anticipate what the other person is going to say, actively listen, I tend to do this really fun thing called anticipate a fight, maybe you do it too, before it happens. And it's kind of one of the worst things because you're already decided what you're going to say in response versus listening, actively listening to maybe where they're coming from, because when you're already inserting the idea of what you're going to say in response, you've taken away the conversation, it's now just spewing against one another, who can ratchet it up more, it's not gonna be good for anyone. Second, take time for yourself. We are all busy during the holiday season and pulled in 1000 different directions. But as a good friend once said, you can't pour from an empty cup. So maybe it's a walk. Maybe it's watching your favorite TV show in the morning. Maybe it's a longer shower, however, you need to take time, take those minutes. Because when you feel your best, you are more likely able to listen to be a part of the conversation. Be a part of the joy. So those are all the clips. I can't there's you know, 100 of them. So I'm it's weird saying that out loud. There's 100 of them. But go back and listen, if you haven't listened to an episode, there are so many amazing interviews. I'm going to be bringing more interviews back. But before we wrap up today, I want to say a couple thank yous. I want to thank the amazing team at upstart or podcast, Chase and Sean, thank you so much for always reminding me that I need to go in and add the episode title for editing these episodes and you can so tell the quality's improved since I joined the team and I am so grateful for the time and talent and everything you do to support the orchid news podcast. It is from the bottom of my heart. I also want to say a personal thank you. I want to thank my family and my friends for nudging me along to say yes to myself. This podcast means so much to me because I'm able to share the good and It is not always easy. And it won't always be easy. I've always called it The Little Engine That Could this podcast has meant so much because I have learned so much I have been able to share so much good. And I am reminded every single week that we can choose the God, if we only just allow ourselves to do it. It is not. The lack of bad things are hard things in our lives. Because there are a lot. There always be well be. But it is the choice to find the gut. And I thank you for listening to the interviews about the amazing people doing good in their communities. I thank you for listening to my Schoolhouse Rock that tries to break down what's happening in Washington. I love this podcast. I love each and every one of you. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for all you do to make good in your own communities. And keep on doing that. See you next week.