Welcome to another episode of Lurie Breaks It Down, a podcast where we dig deeply to connect the dots on the issues that shape our world.

I'm Lurie Daniel Favors, author, activist, attorney, and the host of the Lurie Daniel Favors show on Sirius XM's Urban View, Channel 126. If you like what you're about to hear, go ahead and give us five stars and then tell everybody that you know. And if you don't like it, just, child, keep it to yourself and pray our strength. Okay? Thank you so much.

Also, don't forget to check out my YouTube page, Lurie Daniel Favor's Media, where you should subscribe, like, and share because then you'll get notified when I post videos from my show, which I do just about every single day and when I go live with my YouTube audience. So we got a lot to get to this morning. and we have a ritual on this show because doing the work of Black Talklandia can be pretty difficult.

It's heavy work. audience. So we got a lot to get to this morning. And we have a ritual on this show because doing

the work of Black Talklandia can be pretty difficult. It's heavy work and, you know, it's not,

this ain't one of them light and airy kind of shows. We all shot no chaser and we are proud to do it,

but we also recognize that before we get into the analysis, before we get into the, the dissecting

of the stories and the considerations as to how they're going to impact us today and into the analysis, before we get into the dissecting of the stories and the considerations

as to how they're going to impact us today and into the future, we got to get in the right

frame of mind, the right frame of spirit, if you will. Now, I know we have a very diverse audience,

and I know that there are probably 1511 different practices, both spiritual practices, religious

traditions and whatnot within our community.

But we have a ritual that we use to sort of unify us around this notion that we have to, before we do the

work of social justice, before we do the work of making the world a better place, we have to do what

is necessary to create as much joy, gratitude, and appreciation within our own hearts.

And the reason that's important is because our lives have confirmed and it has been

doubly confirmed by the science that when you are rooted in gratitude, for example, you can't be

trapped by fear. Right. When you're connected and rooted to joy and appreciation, it's really,

really hard to be trapped by loneliness and depression. So we have a ritual on this show that allows us to incorporate that knowingness. And it's so important not just for your emotions, but it's also important for your mental health. Right. And frankly, our mental health and our emotions interplay so much with each other that it's almost hard to talk about one without talking about the other. And the recognition that our mental health and our emotions interplay so much with each other that it's almost hard to talk

about one without talking about the other. And the recognition that our mental health, our emotional

health, our spiritual health are all connected is something that sort of grounds this ritual.

Now, I know we got a lot of atheists out there as well, honey, we got something for you. That's why I talk

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