Interview with Kristi Nelson, author of Wake Up Grateful

Introduction to Christy Nelson

0:00All right. There we go. Hello and welcome to The Art of Gratitude with me, Margaret Alvarez, creativity coach, artist, and art teacher, teaching people how to combine creativity and mindfulness. Today is a very special day. I am going to be interviewing one of my favorite authors. I would like to introduce Ms. Christy Nelson. Christy is an author of one of my favorite

0:31books, Wake Up Grateful, The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted. From 2014 to 2023, Christy was the executive director at a network for Grateful Living and continues to serve in the role of ambassador. Christy's current work as a consultant includes uplifting the beauty and power of gratefulness through teaching, speaking, interviews, and writing. Being a long time stage four cancer survivor moves her every day to live and love wholeheartedly and to support

1:03others to do the same. Christy's work in the nonprofit sector has focused on leading, inspiring, and strengthening organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change, including the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Spirit and Action Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Wisdom 2.0, and the Center of Contemplative Mind in Society, among others. She has also served as executive director of the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, founding director of the Soul of Money

1:36Institute, and with Lynn Twist, director of development at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and director of development and community relations for the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society. This is the amazing Christy Nelson. I am so, so excited about interviewing you today when I'm already getting emotional. I know. It's been such a wonderful history with you.

Christy's Book Inspiration

2:05It has been. And so I just want to say, first of all, I'm so inspired by your book. The reason that I actually reached out to Christy at the very beginning, and this was years ago when I first started my artsy coach was because somebody who was taking my class during the pandemic on a Wednesday night, I would have this group of people and we would do art journaling online. She came to me and she was like, you have to read this book. And so I ordered it right away and I read it and I was like, oh my goodness, this is so aligned with what I do with my artsy coach. And I reached out to Christy and

2:38she reached back out to me. And to me, I felt like, oh my gosh, like I was so honored. And then the rest is history, right? It was so much fun. I loved working with you. It was super great. I always felt so when we did work together, we would have meetings or something would come up and we would have to meet about it. And I remember just talking to her and just saying, oh my God, these are my people. This is, this is what I'm all about. And it was just a, the energy was always there. It was just always so great to talk to you. And I just always felt really comfortable.

3:11And so fast forward today when, you know, I, here I am with a podcast and, and just trying to, you know, piece together all the things that I love with my work, with my artsy coach, I reached out to Christy again, and she is more than willing to have a little conversation with me. So I am so excited. Thank you, Christy, for being here. I am so happy to be with you, Margaret, because you found us and we found you, you know, gratefulness really took to you and you took to it. So it's just, I'm thrilled to be

3:43here with you. So thank you for inviting me. Thank you so much for being here. So let's get into, so I have a few questions for you, but like I had mentioned before, I want it to be this, to be a conversation that we can just kind of just chat about, you know, different ideas. And I, of course I had to reread Wake Up Grateful because I just felt like this need to like, just, I feel like it's one of those books. I have a bunch of these books that I have that I always go back to and Wake Up Grateful is that book for me. Like I have to go back to remind myself

4:14like, Oh yeah, that was what I needed to remember. And I think that when you try to live the way that we do, just trying to be in the moment and be present all of the time, you know, things happen. And so it's like, you need that reminder and that motivation and Wake Up Grateful for me is that book that I have on the shelf that I can always just like flip open if I need a little inspiration. Um, and say, have I got a copy right here somewhere? Okay. Yeah, I do. But it's, thank you. It is. That's that for a lot of people, actually. It's that for a lot. People say it's a

4:44bedside table book. You know, it's like something that you want to have within reach a lot of the time. And that just makes me so happy. Yeah. And so because I teach art journaling, um, I also am like have big ideas of like maybe doing a, you know, book club where we, where we journal along with the book and all of the sections of the book, cause it is just that juicy. It's not good that I really just want. I feel like it will be worth the time to sit with people and discuss and dig in and really talk about all the topics. My first question for you. Um, I know sometimes,

Impact of Writing Wake Up Grateful

5:18uh, as you're working on a project, you never realized the impact that it might have. Can you tell me a little bit about the impact of writing Wake Up Grateful on your life? Um, and I know you just re-released it. So what are some things that came up after you wrote this book? Like, did you realize how impactful it would be on people? Cause it is, it is super powerful. Thank you. Um, so few people ask me about being an author. I really love that because I, you know, I feel like I, I dropped into being an author, you know, it was something that I did in

5:52service of the organization I was working for. So, you know, for me, it feels like it, um, it was really in service of my work. So I didn't have this idea for myself of like, oh, I'm going to be an author and I'm going to write this book and it's going to impact my life in this way. But it did, it has been so powerful. Um, you know, I, I don't talk about this much, but I don't have my own birth children. I don't have my own kids. And so there's something about something that's going to outlast me, you know, not just a piece of my artwork or pottery or a

6:25piece of jewelry or something that I get to pass on, but there's something that will actually outlive me. And that's really cool for me. And the publishers told me to weave my own story in there and how important that was going to be in the book because it grounds all the theory and all the principles. So for me, that feels like it's a really, I'm going to move this a little bit over here. That feels like it's made a really big difference is that the, to go through this big cancer experience as I did and have it be of benefit to other people. People write me all the

6:57time. People who have lost people to cancer. Reading the story and just, just, I mean, and not having gone through anything like that before, but knowing that in, you know, everybody knows somebody who's gone through some version of that or know somebody who knows somebody who's gone through some version of that. Yeah. I mean, do people reach out to you all the time? I mean, this, to me, I feel like it's the, it's a wonderful, like, I mean, you really dive in like that is so super personal. And I think that that's why people connect with it so much is why I connect with it because it was just such a

7:32like personal journey and you put it all out there for people to read. And I think that that authenticity is what, you know, people really crave. They need to see that and see that other people are going through things too. A hundred percent. Oh my gosh. So many different responses to your good questions. So one is yes, people reach out to me all the time, including this morning. I just got an email from a woman who just, just got diagnosed with cancer and she's really scared and all this stuff that's going on. And she takes heart and takes hope, you know, in knowing about

8:03my story and reading about things and also just in the whole practice of living gratefully. So, and I also think the reason why my story is important, it's interesting because we decided to lay the book out in a particular way. You as an artist may notice that like the book has so many elements and it's structured in such a specific way. And it's, it's not typical how it's laid out. And so we decided to put, you know, us, a couple of pages of my story in the front of every chapter, all 10 chapters. And instead of weaving it all the way through, so it's not really a total memoir,

8:38but it's like a theoretical book about, it's a guidebook about how to live your life gratefully, but it tells this little bit of my story on purpose because it's then grounded in something that isn't just woo woo or Pollyanna ish or, Oh yeah, you can live gratefully if hard things don't happen to you. But what happens when the hard things really do happen, which happens in everyone's life. This is a guidebook that grounds itself in someone's lived experience who has been through stage four

9:09cancer and had to face dying at a young age. And, and so therefore it gives it legs and teeth and heart. And I think those things that you really want a theoretical book to have. Yes. Cause it actually, and I love that it goes through all the different stages. And I feel like that was such a smart way to lay it out because when you're reading that, it's like you, you're so into this, you know, all of the things that are happening in this chapter. And then all of a sudden it's like, it goes back to your story and you're like, Oh my gosh, this is like a timeline

9:41of you actually went through. And to me, I felt like that's so powerful that you can connect some of these ideas to what you were actually feeling. And I, I mean, there was, there was parts in there that I was just like, Oh, like, you know, and, and I'm telling you, I'm like, you read it and you just think, okay. So, you know, it's, it's almost like a strength thing. It's like, I see, I see what I saw what you were going through. I was reading it and just imagining. And then you have these ideas and

10:11it was like, you would break away into this beautiful thought out, like, but you have to look at it this way because this is how it actually is. And step back. And, you know, the stop, look, go is like, you know, for me, I'm a visual person. So when I see the word stop, look, go, I can see it in my head already. That idea is like, okay, that will stick with me. I can remember that. That is something that I can take to me, take with me every day. And so there's that, that, you know,

Practical Applications of Gratitude

10:39there's all of these little things that really stuck with me. And I think that it's important when you're reading a book like this, that is so heavy, has so many goods that there's so dense in it. Yes. I like calling it dense. It is so dense, you know, to have these little like methodologies, I guess, you know, like little, little practices of it that I can just take and say, and it all relates, it all kind of goes back to, and so it's practical. It's actually intended to be very practical so that you can use these things in your daily life. And I love, there's so many

11:12visuals, you know, you being an artist, I'm so grateful for your appreciation for the layout and all those things. And, and thank you for reading it so thoroughly. But one of the things like stop, let go, I loved it when I teach that I talk about how gratitude is grateful for the green lights, but gratefulness and grateful living actually appreciate the yellow lights and the red lights too, because that's look and go, look, it's green is go, but it's stop, stop for the red light, look at the yellow lights, that's yield, that's notice what's around, you have to be mindful,

11:43notice what's in your environment, and then go. And then we live so much of a deeper life. But I think so many of us crave just living the green lights, like, oh my god, I'm having the best day. And I got 17 green nights in a row, and nobody stopped me. And I got, but that's a way to crash. And so I love stop, let go, because it is mindfulness. It is. And that's the thing. It's like, I think what happens is we go on these rants where we want to be positive. And it's like, okay, I'm going to live. I'm going to be grateful. And I'm going to live, you know, and then the minute you get caught up on

12:15something that is not in that the green area, yes, you stop everything. And it's like, oh, forget it. I'm not even going to do this anymore. And I think that we're living in such a fast paced society where everything is, you know, you've got it. I mean, there's so many things, and it's busy and this and that. And we forget to stop, you know, we forget that there, you know, we have to focus, you have to focus. And it's like, you have to literally, I mean, I make, I put alarms on my phone all the time, just telling me to, you know, stop. And did you breathe today? Like, did you stop? And did you think

12:47about, you know, your life today, you know, because that's just, that's just the world we live in now. And I think it's, I think that's, what's so important about that stop, look, go. And just the fact that you connect it with being present and possibility and all the things it's like, this book is so aligned with so many books that I've read before, where it's like, I see little bits and pieces. And I feel like in this whole thing, when I, when I really started researching gratitude and when I really dug deep into this whole idea of using gratefulness and gratitude

13:21for my mental wellbeing and journaling and all of the things and connecting it all together, because that's what my journaling is. When I really started to put all of that together, I noticed that there's dots that connect when in spirituality and all of the, all of the different things that I've researched. It's like, you connect the dots, like, yes, that's what so-and-so said, you know, and that's, you know, and like, there's, I mean, it's all in the same, we're all in the same boat and it's like. We're in the same soup, right? We're in the same soup. Yeah, in the same soup. And it just feels so like, you know, like it was just even more

13:55of a push for me to, to dig deeper for myself, you know? And so I think that that's, that's the part that I really love is that it's, it's a, it's a, it's a true story. It's a real story. And I think that we'll really do connect with that. And that makes you so much. It's powerful. Yeah. I love it. I love, love, love it. Okay. So in the beginning of the book, there's these guy, the guide book, or I, I even, I've also compared it to a textbook. Cause I'm like, I go back to my, my wake up grateful. You know, at the beginning you

14:27have all of the, you know, five principles, which in the past when Christie and I have met before I had actually got to her to do my series, which I did on YouTube. I have a YouTube channel and I actually did a gratitude challenge series based on these principles. Cause I loved them so much. And those principles are, um, life is a gift. Everything is surprised. The ordinary is extraordinary. Appreciation is generative and love is transformative. And each of those pieces,

14:58again, the way that you organize this book for me, the way my brain works, it was just so like perfect because I can imagine each of those pieces. And I was like, I have to make a journal, you know, challenge for people so that they can visualize. And so they could see that each of these pieces are so important. How did you come up with these? I mean, I know that the book, you know, it was a, it was your heart and soul. Um, what were some of the ways that you came up with some of these things? I know that you, um, and brother David, yeah, worked really tight. I mean, I know

15:35that you guys are very close. That was a huge part of the book as well. Um, so, so the teachings, you know, I wanted to write something that was really a Testament to him. So it had to honor his teachings. And so I read everything, you know, that he had written and I, um, I went through all these different pieces and tried to figure out what were the common themes and then, but how to also language them in a way he's a Benedictine monk. And so I also wanted to make it, um, actionable and practical in your average everyday person's life. So, but he, he has said all of these things

16:12about not taking anything for granted about life as a gift. He says, um, open to surprise, you know, so I kind of, I, I changed some of this around to like, everything is surprise open to wonder, you know, if like, if life is going to be surprising, let's open to wonder and be in wonder about that surprise. Um, the ordinary is extraordinary. That's from him. Appreciation is generative is more like what we know is that when you tend to things that you value and you appreciate them, they, they absolutely come to life. You know, you can see it, your relationships,

16:45your home, your plants, your garden, your, the world, the earth, the democracy, you know, I like to say it really goes out so that we can engage in the world in a way that is when we appreciate what we care about and really engage with it. Um, and then love is transformative. You know, love is, he, he calls love, I love, he has such beautiful sayings, very, very poetic and spiritual. Love is a lived yes to belonging. So love and belonging, those are really transformative, um, principles and just, it circles us back around to, to me, life is a gift again. So love really

17:20changes how we go through life when we hold our hearts open and commit to being generous and, and, uh, supporting people in ways that are really needed right now in our world that, that also gratitude has an action element to it is super important to me, according to brother David, because it's, it makes it a lived practice rather than just something that you can just kind of, you know, the King is in his counting house, counting out his money, you know, that's like a, Oh, I'm, I'm grateful

17:51for the blessings I have in my life. But what if it goes beyond just us? And we say, how can I use my blessings in service of life? How can I use the privileges and the abundance that I have, or that I enjoy that I'm aware of when I really notice it and take stock of it? How can I benefit the people around me in the world around me as a result of what's available to me? But first I have to stop to notice it. So it really is a practice of look at what you have differently. You know, I love that term perspective is really, I call it a spiritual muscle because if you don't use it, you'd lose it.

18:28That spiritual musculature. Can you get perspective on what you have instead of like, Oh, you know, and then all of a sudden something will happen in life and you see things completely differently. You don't see different things. You see things differently. And that's a big change. It's how life changes is profound. I believe that. I feel like there's a conditioning that happens when you start studying, you start understanding. That's what I love about it too, is that the book actually, like you said, it's, it shows you different ways. So it's, it's not just,

Living a Deeper Life

19:01let me list my gratitude every day, once a day, it is, how do I live like this? Like, how do I take every moment? And, and, and for me, it's, it's taking every moment, but also that's making my life so much richer, you know, it's, it's that digging deep, like, okay, how can I make this work? Because, you know, even when things are not working out, when things are bad, or you feel like you're in a hole or whatever, it's like, how can I make this moment, you know, better? And what can I get out of this? And so it's like, it's really about living.

19:37What am I, there's, I'm a loss for words. It's like living a deeper, more rich life. And rich is a really beautiful, you know, what are the, what's the richness that comes out of that? And it's not about getting more so that your life is rich. It's about appreciating what you already have makes for such a rich life, because you could basically be busy from now until kingdom comes, so to speak. Just noticing and appreciating all that there is to appreciate in your body, in your thoughts, in your heart, in your awareness, in your relationships, in the natural world, and

20:12all of the blessings and things that we have, the ordinary being extraordinary. It's like, it's endless. And so I love saying to people, you know, it really does change. I think it has all kinds of really powerful ripple effects, because when you start really appreciating what you have, it changes how you want to behave in your life, how, what you want to consume, how you want to consume or be a consumer, how you want to engage with the people around you, how you're likely to

20:44love people and appreciate them. It is transformative. So it's not just a, it's not just a personal practice. It's a practice with tremendous ripple effects. Yeah. Oh my gosh, yes, absolutely. I feel like there's all these, you know, I try to teach my son, I, I'm, I'm trying to model gratitude for him because he's now nine and just trying to, you know, like, okay, how do I show him like, you know, mommy is, you know, teaching and like, I really want him to start understanding what I'm teaching

21:17and why I'm doing it. And also just, you know, what are you grateful for? You know, we start talking about it. And one day he told me, mom, why do you say, why do you ask me what I'm thankful for? And I said, because it's important and it's something that, you know, makes you feel good. And I said, and it's just a good thing to do. And, oh, okay, well, I'm thankful for, and, you know, he'll go on and say, you know, it's, it's, it is that, you know, I, I'm a teacher. I teach children too on a day, you know, daily basis. It's like, it is these kids watching us and, and it is a ripple

21:50effect and you are, you know, making your mark and you want people, even adults, you know, even adults are, you know, you're, you're, you're making your mark on people. And this book is making a mark on me and on a lot of people. And so there is that residual, you know, like it's just going down the line and it's so wonderful. Um, and it's important with kids, really important with children. So I just want to say, and it really does stick. It really does stick. I've got step kids. So I just, I can tell you it's very significant, the influence that it has.

22:26Well, and I also love that you, um, in the book throughout the book, I've noticed that there's topics that come up like, you know, the earth and taking care of our planet and politics. And it's like, it touches on all of the things, um, because those things it's like, how do you, you know, keep a, keep your head up when you're watching the news, you know, like how do you, you know, when things are happening and I don't even watch the news, to be honest, I can't, I just don't bring myself to that place, but I, but I'm also, you know, human and I have social

22:57media and I wear business. And, you know, when I'm doing that, you do get glimpses of things that are happening. So it's not avoidable, um, unless you are, you know, it's not in a cave. Yeah. And so I love that there's pieces in there that kind of go, it's almost like the, how to, how do you deal with, how do you, yes, it is happening in the world and still be grateful because it can be really scary. It definitely. And I think Margaret, for me, the most important thing was to acknowledge

Grateful Living in the Real World

23:27that, you know, it's called grateful living in the real world, that whole section, which is about kind of the app, what I call the application section section. So I think it's like, if you don't address that, then it is this, just this idea that, oh, well, we should be grateful and it's never going to stick and it's not going to last throughout the day. And whenever things are difficult and, um, when things happen in the world. And so part of what I'm trying to encourage and grateful living tries to encourage is a consistent, unconditional engagement with life so that you stay engaged with life and you're able to develop resilience in the face

24:04of all the difficult things that are going to happen, because you also know how to maintain that awareness. You've built the muscle to maintain perspective, to be able to build the awareness of what else is true in any given moment. And you don't substitute something good or that you're grateful for for something hard, because that's like spiritual bypassing or toxic positivity that we like replacing. And what I always say is it's about how to companion the difficult thing with the

24:38difficult things. You companion the truth of joy, of love, of delight, of beauty, of, of all the, of blessing, of privilege, of, of all that's plentiful, because we're always going to go through periods of time when things are going to feel incredibly hard in the world. And we need to be able to, in order to stay engaged, we need to be able to have the hope and the, the fortitude, um, to be able to stick with it. And I think it's a really important musculature to develop is to hold

25:11both things at once. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it comes up a lot. Um, and, and that's, that's the part that is, you know, for me, I try to, uh, when I teach about gratitude, I try to make sure that I, I, I, I got really scared of the toxic positivity. Somebody brought it when it first came to me. Am I doing this? I hope I'm not doing this. I really did, but I, I'm a realist. And I say this all the time when I teach people about it, you know, I'm a realist, I'm a mom, I have a full-time

25:44job, you know, I'm doing my thing, but I also know that like, you know, it is not always possible to sit down and journal, you know, it's not always the easiest thing to do, you know, but this is one thing you can do. And there's other things. And so there's so many tools in this book that were, there's so many, like, I'm even just having the questions at the end of each. Yeah. The questions are strong. I mean, when I'm reading it, I love how you're using them. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're all such beautiful art prompts. You know, there's so many things.

26:15So good as art prompts. That's the part that I was like, Ooh, I'm going to have a book club. I'm going to try to put this together because honestly, it just, to me, I feel like when you're reading something, the way that I learn is that you read it and then you have these questions and I would literally put the book down and I'd ask myself the questions and I would talk to myself in my head just to work it out because you have to make those connections when you are reading to kind of learn it, to really get it in your head. And then you remember and you relate it to your life

26:47and I'm going to do that thing that I said I was going to do, or I'm going to, you know, I'm going to think about this when I'm actually doing it and having a conversation with my husband or, you know, going to work and being around children. What, you know, how do I approach this? So lots of, lots of pieces in this that are just, you know, things that you can. I love, so I, sorry, I didn't draw. I'm just thinking like to me, to me, what you're saying is so provocative, right? So that I love that. And so maybe it's provocative positivity that, you know, it's like, instead of toxic that, that there's a way it's really not asking people to let

27:22go of their grief, their sorrow, their hardship, you know, all of those things are true. And it helps us navigate those things when we open our hearts to joy and to love and to beauty. And it, it just only increases our capacity to deal with what's difficult in life. When we build up a reserve so that the well is full, we're all walking around with basically empty wells. Most of the time, no reserves, no reservoir, and we're trying to deal with the hardships of life. And this book is really

27:56about, can you remember to fill up your well with the things that are worthy and you don't have to make stuff up. It's just in your space, no matter what you do and don't have in the world, there's still people have hearts that are so full of being grateful for things and people in their lives. And it's about remembering that, not concocting it or getting something new that you have to be grateful for. It's what already is in front of you. Yeah. Like right there. Yeah. Such good stuff. I love

28:28it. I love it. I love it. Um, I, I don't want to end this conversation without talking about one of my favorite quotes from the book. So I'm going to go ahead and read it because it, oh, I'm just like, so I, it's so funny because I'm, I'm, I'm reading the book. Um, and I read while I'm on a treadmill every morning and I'm like reading and I have, I'm like, I have to highlight this. And so I use this orange crayon and so great. And I like circled really. And I'm like, I know I circled this and highlighted, I colored it really good. And I thought, oh my gosh, this quote is so amazing.

28:59So let me read it to you. Um, I can't wait. What can bring us back from the precarious edges of uncertainty and suffering to live life fully in the day-to-day beauty and difficulties of the here and now. I'm sorry. I said that wrong. What can bring us back from the precarious edges of uncertainty and suffering to live life fully in the day-to-day beauty and difficulties of the here and now the answer is not wanting or waiting for some moment other than the one that is here, but instead seeing and seizing this moment and all its opportunity as ours for the living. I love this.

29:35Oh my God. Oh, good. I wonder what page that's on. Um, I'll tell you, you'll find it. Yeah. I mean, it was just to me that just stuck out. It's page two Oh five. Beautiful. Thank you. Oh my gosh. It's so good. I mean, to me, like, and we talked about this before we started recording, we're talking about just kind of like the inevitably in, in, why can't I say that word? It is. You got it. It's inevitable that things are going to happen in life, right? We are all

30:08going to go through stuff. And I think that as I become closer, you know, like I'm getting older, you start to realize like, Oh my gosh, you know, there's going to be changes. And I think that when you can find something that, you know, hits that spot, like it's going to be okay, no matter what happens, it's going to be okay. This is how you handle it. This is what you can think about. This is what you can dig for, you know? And that to me, I'm like, that's what makes it powerful. So glad you make it powerful because how you relate to it and how you teach it and how you

30:42translate it to foster people's creativity and to get people to drop into their hearts in this way. What a blessing that is. It's just means so much to me because, you know, once you write something, it's done, you know, it's like the bow is tied and it's out in the world and it is what it is for better and for worse for all of what, you know, and what I love though, is then people take it, you know, I feel so blessed and gift. It's such a gift to me that, and to grateful living that people take these beautiful principles and the practices and everything in the words, and they go out and

31:17make their own thing out of it. And they teach it in a particular way. And I, that's just a, such a, an honor and a source of joy for me. I know that you, you worked so hard on this book. I mean, you can see that your heart and soul is in it. So to me, I feel like to be able to do that and to be able to talk to you about it and all the things it's also very powerful. And it is just, it is just a gift to have and to know that I have something to reference for the rest of my life because rest of your life. Yeah. It's like, it's my

31:48little workbook that I'm going to have my little guidebook that I'm going to have and that anybody could have. And I know you just re-released it, the paperback, right? Paperback. I have a copy right here. Ready? I'm going to go over here and come back here. I love it. It's pretty. It's the, the first one is, you know, you've got the one without the cover and it's so pretty. I love that without the cover. I know. And this one is a little, it's got a few updates in it. But you know,

32:19I think what's cool about that is it's like, I wanted to write something that would be kind of timeless because I think brother David's wisdom is timeless and it's really true. And I think that there is something about saying, you know, for less than $20, what you can, you can buy one good book that's been really thoughtful. And, you know, I, I really did write it. It was a very deep process to write it and to try to write something that was going to be fairly universally applicable and relevant and resonant and, and to write something that will last and that you can just keep going

32:55back to it. I think that's really something meaningful. It's like when you have a touchstone, I like to call it a touchstone. You can go back and go back and go back. At the end of each of the, the sections, it has like these guiding questions. So if you've not read this book yet, I would encourage you to go and get it, to have it. And to, you know, a little at a time, if you can, you know, if you can read the whole thing and, and, and, you know, Don't do it. Don't read it all at once. I would say just piece it out. You know, I know, I know that sometimes, you know, especially I, I, I really had to go back and reread it. And again, I'm going to

33:30have it forever because it has so many great questions and it really makes you think, and it's just something that you can just go back to anytime. So where can we find more information about you? I know you have, I get your newsletter. I want people to be able to reach out and get your newsletter. And I, I just want to know, like, are you doing new things now? What's going on with you? I want to make sure that everybody knows how to follow you and where to get the book.

Christy's Current Projects and Contact Info

33:59Tell us a little bit. Thank you. Um, well, this is such good timing. I just finished teaching a course and I took all of the, the principles and practices and stuff. And I just taught a course called aging gratefully, which was really joyful. It was, um, yeah, that I just was a six week class. I just finished that. I'll be teaching that again at Kripalu at the yoga center in the spring, in the fall, um, aging gratefully. And I still do a lot of, you know, talks and online things. And, uh, but my website is christynelson.net. Uh, and it's K R I S T I. I have the worst social

34:37media presence because I haven't found anybody who's really helping me yet. And I'm just not great at it. So this will be good for me to have all this go out. And, you know, at some point I'm going to get, I'm going to get better or I'm going to hire somebody or both. How about both? That's okay. We're going to still, we're going to still follow you. Um, you're on Instagram. I know that I found, I am very minimally I'm on Instagram, Facebook. Um, well, if you follow me, I will definitely be tagging her on this interview. We'll make sure that we do all the things to help you

35:08out because we love you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you. And, um, and the book is available everywhere and I'm going to take some months, the next four months or so that summer and the rest of the spring, just to do a bunch of writing. I'm really excited to have, um, uh, you know, use my time really differently. It's been busy since the paperback came out and I've done a bunch of events and book signings and things like that. So it's going to be, it's going to be fun to take some space with everything and just watch how it settles into me when I'm away from the computer screen

35:43and writing from a place of being really moved and inspired rather than having deadlines and stuff like that. So I'm looking forward to that. That's next. All right. Well, I am so grateful that you're here and that you came to talk to me. I thank you so much for being here. I am. I've just had a really good time. I coming up with the questions and just, Oh my God, I'm here to talk to Christie today. And I'm, I'm Margaret. You're so wonderful. You are so wonderful. You're such a gift and everybody should follow you and the art work that you're doing art of gratitude. So important. What a great

36:18name and your journaling. It's just, you have so much to offer and you do it with such a beautiful spirit. So thank you. I appreciate that. Yes. So, um, look out for Christie Nelson's book, go and purchase it. It is so good. Wake up grateful and follow me for more information, um, on my podcast and on social media. I'm on Instagram. Follow me, my artsy coach. I'm the only one. Um, I appreciate you so much, Christie. Thank you so much for being here and I am. Yeah, we're good.

36:52We'll see you soon. We'll talk to, we'll talk soon. Be well, my friend. Thank you so much.