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Gratitude - the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

Welcome to our final episode of Season 4 and of 2025. Brandt and I have started a little tradition here at I’m Listening headquarters. We are bringing Gratitude back to the forefront. But isn’t your podcast about listening? Yes. And gratitude is listening’s not too distant cousin. So here we go!

Surprises, acts of kindness, generosity, and yes, listening, are all ways that create opportunities for moments of gratitude. Yet, the holidays can be so stressful, and even sometimes sad. Is this the great paradox of this time of the season? We believe that you have the power to fill the holiday season with gratitude… and right now!

Thank you to all who answered our call and sent us recordings of what they are grateful and thankful for this holiday season: Jon, Anna, Matt, Elizabeth, Kris, and Erin!

Until next time and with gratitude,

Brandt and Drew

Sources:

https://www.earthsattractions.com/your-brain-is-wired-to-remember-the-worst-moments-and-the-reason-is-wilder/

https://harbormentalhealth.com/2022/11/26/how-to-overcome-negativity-bias/

https://medium.com/@rlmartin078/the-problem-with-being-grateful-for-your-hardship-e70392b9d96c

"Gameshow correct answer bell" by Zapsplat Media

"Kool Kats", "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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We welcome our guests Travis and Kate to this episode. They are both elementary teachers and we get to explore all things listening in the classroom! They bring excellent insight into things like “whole body listening”, building relationships, and what trust and respect looks like in today’s public education system.

Things have changed a bit since Brandt and I were in elementary school. Back then, listening was just an expectation… and some us of weren’t very good at that. Today, it’s still an expectation, but they actually teach you how to do it.

A huge thank you to Travis and Kate for spending time with us. And thank you to all of our hard working teachers across the world!

What are you thankful for? We want to know! We are putting together are second annual episode on gratitude and want to hear from you. Send us an audio clip of what you are thankful for. Keep it around 30 seconds. Send your clip to imlistening@duck.com, we hope to use it in an upcoming episode.

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Welcome to the classic court case of Listening v. Reading ca.2025.

When it comes to the best way to take in a book, which method is the best? In this case, Brandt defends listening to books while Drew defends reading them. Clearly the author of this set of podcast notes is correct, but not without a great debate.

Can you experience a book the same way by listening to it vs reading it. Is it just as effective?

We dig deep into this topic and come out with 1 very clear indisputable outcome. Enjoy listening to this podcast and if you want to read this episode, please as AI to help…

Resources:

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+percetange+of+amercialns+read+daily&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS923US923&oq=what+percetange+of+amercialns+read+daily&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMg0IBhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMgoIBxAAGIAEGKIEMgcICBAAGO8FMgoICRAAGIAEGKIE0gEIOTgzMWowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&zx=1761144795005&no_sw_cr=1

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyched/202506/can-we-just-read-audiobooks-instead

https://theconversation.com/do-you-really-need-to-read-to-learn-what-neuroscience-says-about-reading-versus-listening-250743

https://www.wcpo.com/brand-spotlight/how-reading-20-minutes-a-day-impacts-your-child-amazon-kindle

https://nesca-newton.com/why-does-my-child-have-to-read-20-minutes-per-night-after-being-in-school-all-day/

What are you thankful for? We want to know! We are putting together are second annual episode on gratitude and want to hear from you. Send us an audio clip of what you are thankful for. Keep it around 30 seconds. Send your clip to imlistening@duck.com, we hope to use it in an upcoming episode.

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There is no better time to capture the past than during a holiday. Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., a time most often spent with family. This episode is your re-reminder to listen and capture those stories!

And while you are at it, check out this link and upload your story to The Great Thanksgiving Listen and have it preserved forever in the Library of Congress.

https://storycorps.org/discover/the-great-thanksgiving-listen/

Enjoy!

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How often do we wish we would have captured the past? The stories from grandparents, parents, maybe even great grandparents. Or what about that neighbor you had for 20 years... what was their story? This episode of I'm Listening is your reminder to go capture those stories right now.

Brandt recently received a set of tapes from his brother who recorded stories 20 years ago and they are amazing. We visit some of those recordings live, listen to what life was like 100 years ago, and challenge ourselves (and you) to go capture any and all other stories right now. Go!

What are you thankful for? We want to know! We are putting together are second annual episode on gratitude and want to hear from you. Send us an audio clip of what you are thankful for. Keep it around 30 seconds. Send your clip to imlistening@duck.com, we hope to use it in an upcoming episode.

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Please no more top 10 "Best ways to run a virtual meeting" lists. Please. However, we do need to have a little chat about how they are run. Brandt and I take a different angle on how to run effective virtual meetings... utilizing "listening" as our guide.

Take a few notes with this episode, it will make you instantly better. And if you don't, Brandt may just ridicule you live... and nobody wants that.

Sources:

https://connect.societycorpgov.org/blogs/randi-morrison/2024/10/23/annual-meeting-statistics-trends#:~:text=Meeting%20format%E2%80%9427%25%20of%20US,non%2DS&P%20100%20company%20meetings

What are you thankful for? We want to know! We are putting together are second annual episode on gratitude and want to hear from you. Send us an audio clip of what you are thankful for. Keep it around 30 seconds. Send your clip to imlistening@duck.com, we hope to use it in an upcoming episode.

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Time for a riddle: This thing can be annoying, effective, and fun. I'll repeat it, this thing can be annoying, effective, and fun.

In this episode we explore the strange paradox of repetition. Repetition is widely utilized in a variety of ways, every single day of our lives. We utilize it to bring comfort and to be annoying. It helps us remember that name, that number, and to please hold, because someone will be right with us. It is also symbolic in times of celebration, defeat, and all of our efforts in between.

He hope you enjoy this silly little episode. We really do hope you enjoy it!

Sources:

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/11/earworms

https://www.psypost.org/listening-to-the-music-you-love-will-make-your-brain-release-more-dopamine-study-finds/

https://neurolaunch.com/listening-to-the-same-song-over-and-over/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Today

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Ok everyone, let's take a deep breath innnnnn and ouuuuuut. Innnnnn and ouuuuuut. Great job.

Welcome to the next Sprint Episode where Brandt takes Drew on a mindfulness journey and explains the relationship between mindfulness and listening. So much of our lives can be go , go ,go with kids, and dogs, and cars, and pancakes, sometime we just need to take a moment to be in the moment.

That is not an easy task, but don't worry, Brandt helps us all with a few ways that we can become more mindful.... starting right now.

Car video: https://youtu.be/iN6g2mr0p3Q

Headspace Site: https://www.headspace.com/

Chime and Vehicle sounds by freesound_community from Pixabay
Dog Barking Slight Distance 70611 from Zapsplat

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In this episode we talk with Lead Paranormal Investigator Noah Leigh, founder of the nonprofit Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee (WI). We originally thought we would identify what its like to listen for (or to) ghosts... what we learned is what it takes to listen to people about ghosts.

This is one of our favorite episodes of the season thus far. It is filled with compassion, curiosity, and commitment to those who are experiencing real fear and how the power of excellent listening can help them hopefully solve their mystery.

For more information about PIM visit https://paranormalmilwaukee.com/