Seeing Blessings Everywhere: 3 Ways to Stay Grateful

Gratitude isn’t just a nice feeling — it shapes your perspective, strengthens your faith, and helps you notice the blessings God is already giving you, even in ordinary moments. Life can be busy and full of distractions, and sometimes seeing those blessings takes intention and insight. In this episode, we explore three faith-filled keys and share practical, real-life ways to apply them so gratitude doesn’t just stay in your head — it transforms your day, your relationships, and your perspective.

 🔑 Noticing the Small Things 
 🔑 Truly Appreciating Others 

🔑 Seeing Gratitude as a Choice

Press play and join us — discover how to see God’s goodness in ways you might have been missing.

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"Imagine Yourself" is hosted by Lanée Blaise and Sandy Kovach—two dynamic voices with a passion for inspiring and uplifting others. Lanée, a TV writer, producer, motivational speaker, and podcaster, brings powerful storytelling and insight. Sandy, a radio personality, voiceover artist, and podcaster, delivers warmth and wisdom with every conversation. Broadcasting from the Detroit Metro area, they welcome guests from around the world to share valuable perspectives on health, career growth, faith, and personal transformation. Tune in and imagine the possibilities for your life!

Transcript

Lanée Blaise [00:00:01]:
Hello, everybody. Sandy and I are so grateful and thankful to have each and every one of you listening to today's episode. The holidays are right around the corner and we wanted to take time to talk about, be about, think about being grateful. Grateful to God. Grateful for the things that we do have, grateful for the people that we do have and just focusing an entire episode on how to do that best. And so Sandy and I were talking together and thinking about a nice three step, easy way to accomplish all this because many times we have all day long to think about the things that make us mad, upset. We wish we could change. We don't like, you know, we, Human nature can have us really do great at that.

Lanée Blaise [00:00:55]:
But it's really beautiful when you are grateful for the things that are going right and for the ways that your life is being stretched, enriched, blossomed. Blessing. Blessing. I don't think that's the worst.

Sandy Kovach [00:01:12]:
I like it. Every episode we may manage to make up a word and.

Lanée Blaise [00:01:16]:
Exactly. And I'm grateful for that. Yeah. Yes. I'm grateful for all of the, the times when we get to think about how the Lord is blessing us.

Lanée Blaise [00:01:24]:
Blessing us. Yes.

Lanée Blaise [00:01:27]:
This is going to be a kind of a quick episode just to kind of get you in that mode. Because a lot of times when we gear up for holidays and traveling and food and fun and family, we, we sometimes forget that we need to just take that time to get ourselves right. We can be right and we can spread it and make everything a lot better for others. So the first thing out of our little tips that I encourage each of you to do is look around and notice the small things that God is doing around you. I almost, I dare you to see what's the absolute smallest, tiniest little thing that you could think of to be thankful for. Like you wake up and you like. Even if something's like, I am so grateful that I didn't stub my toe this morning as I'm getting ripped.

Sandy Kovach [00:02:14]:
Why? Is it something you do a lot?

Lanée Blaise [00:02:17]:
Yeah, because I close my eyes when I get up and I'm still half sleep. But, but you know, just, or even just grateful that you got sleep. Grateful that you have a comfortable bed to be in. Grateful that you can pray when you wake up, that you can pray when you go to bed. Grateful that God is with you, watching over you and your loved ones as you sleep. So I just want you to try to think of the smallest thing possible and then you can build your way up and just there's this quote and, and Sandy, I have a Plaque of it in my bedroom, honest to God. It is a quote by Robert Brault, and it says, enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Sandy Kovach [00:03:03]:
Oh, my gosh. So true.

Lanée Blaise [00:03:05]:
Yeah, I love that quote.

Sandy Kovach [00:03:06]:
Whether you're talking about relationships, moments with others, or sometimes just even moments. Like, I love moments with my kitty cat when I'm doing devotions in the morning and looking at her sweet little face and thanking God. Oh, you know. Cause we adopted her and she was a feral, or her mom was feral. She wasn't feral. We had her since she was a kitten. So, yeah, that's the littlest thing. Does that count? My kittens?

Lanée Blaise [00:03:31]:
Yes, that's the littlest thing. And actually, you have me even thinking, since we're thinking of, like, little buddies. I have all these nieces and nephews now because my siblings are younger than me, and they're having their. Some of them having their first babies or second babies. But I just think about. Babies grow up so fast. And even pets, they, you know, but. But right now, babies, they grow up so fast, and you really want to savor the little moments and the little things, when they do their little giggles or when they're trying to walk and they kind of tip over and fall down and that they laugh, you know, those are the little things that just like this quote, turn out to be the big things.

Sandy Kovach [00:04:11]:
Yeah. Graduations and kindergarten graduation or high school graduation, all those big things are important. We're not saying that they're not. But thinking of this in terms of their parents, your brothers and sisters, especially, because they're there. And then we can think back to our kids, the times that we think of as the time that our kids said a funny word or when you used to tell me how your son Jay used to pray and, hey, guys, you know, talking to God, talking to God and Jesus, guys, I mean, but.

Lanée Blaise [00:04:46]:
Those are big things, right? But now that we're looking back, that meant that he had that foundation. So it's a little thing that he said in a cute thing, but it means that he had a foundation, he had a relationship with God, that he was that familiar with them. It is just. Sandy, I tell you, in this world, we get so caught up on fame and fortune and billionaires and things like that, when we really need to focus on school, teachers and children and elderly people who have so much wisdom to impart and the small successes that any of us have. And I say small, but again, I know that God looks at these things so differently from Us. And God is probably like, yeah, big deal that you won that Oscar, that Grammy. What I really appreciated was when you turned around and you saw that there was an older lady trying to bring her little grandchild across the street, and you stopped and you turned around and you helped, or you saw someone who was homeless and who looked like they had fallen on difficult times, and you gave a smile, a word, some food, something. Those are the big things.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:11]:
And those are the things that we can be grateful for, that those recipients can be grateful for, and that even God can be grateful that his children are doing these beautiful, sweet, kind things.

Sandy Kovach [00:06:24]:
I love that. I love the examples that you gave. God's economy is different than our economy. He is not concerned with fame or foster followers or any of that stuff. I mean, he allows people to have things. And there's nothing wrong with fame and there's nothing wrong with money, as long as they're not idols to us. But the other things, the relationship builders, the reaching out to people is so much more important. And it kind of leads to the second point, and that is giving thanks for others, giving thanks that we have them in our lives.

Sandy Kovach [00:07:00]:
In this case movie, we're talking about relationships. Maybe, like you said, a kind word. Kind words can affect us. Back the other day in church, I don't know whether I'm gonna be going to Bible study this week, but a couple of people said, oh, I hope you come. You know, I hope you can be there. And it just. The way they said it, it wasn't like anything special, but it really felt so sincere, like they really wanted me to be there. And it made me feel included and wanted and not like I felt excluded, but do you know what I mean? It's just.

Sandy Kovach [00:07:31]:
I mean, sometimes it's not even what you say, it's how you say it.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:34]:
It's just that, like you said, it's always room for that touch of feeling of belonging and of being cherished by someone that either that's a loved one or in your family or other people who aren't in your family or in your immediate BFF group. It is just a beautiful thing. And it works both ways.

Sandy Kovach [00:07:57]:
I like that.

Lanée Blaise [00:07:57]:
Giving thanks for others, which remember too, none of us is guaranteed to be around tomorrow. In a. In the human body, our spirit will live on, but none of us is guaranteed to be around tomorrow. So we give thanks for these people that we have right now. You know, not all of us love our neighbors, and I'm talking about the neighbors like that physically live right next door to you or whatever. But what if you are thankful for that one neighbor who always, you know, is kind of looking out for your house or making sure nothing crazy is going on or who will grab your mail or bring it over to you and like the postman put the mail in the wrong box or whatever. Just being grateful for those people. Being grateful for our neighbors, for our family, for our friends, for our people at church.

Sandy Kovach [00:08:52]:
Yeah, there were these actual neighbors that we had that just moved, but they've been with us for years. And it was when they first moved in, it was a couple and their two kids. And her husband passed away, and so she was left with her two daughters. They were slightly younger than my son, and Danian just kind of adopted. Fixed their cars and fixed things in their yard. And, you know, just Danian is my husband. That's right in the Bible, taking care of widows and orphans. So it can be something like that, and it can be literal neighbors.

Sandy Kovach [00:09:30]:
And if you have a situation like that to reach out. And they left. I don't know, they moved away about three or four months ago, and they gave us a nice thank you gift. And it just felt so special. I think back when I was a single mom for a while, and, yeah, when you're a woman, not that you don't have capacity to do all the things, but a lot of times somebody to fix things and somebody to do things like that and somebody to. To watch over you. So, yeah, that's my literal reach out and help your neighbor story. It was mostly my husband.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:03]:
See. Yeah, that's. I almost like, since we're challenging people to be grateful, I do challenge each person to try to think of one neighbor on their street, on their block, current or past neighbor, who really just made a beautiful impact. And how you can, if it's possible for you to just make sure that you let them know how you feel about them. Because I am sitting here right now, and I have a neighbor, sue, and she invited me to tea last year, a whole year ago. And she was like, you know, one day, if you're not busy, just come on over to my house and let's just have tea together. Because even though we're neighbors and we say hello to each other while we're outside and doing different things, we've never spent time within each other's homes. It has been a year, Sandy, and I know that I've been busy, but I still haven't been able to take her up on that offer for tea.

Lanée Blaise [00:10:56]:
And so in this moment, I want to thank God for her and her husband and the way that they've treated my family and my kids all these years that we've lived here. But I also want to say, shout out to her if she's listening. But, yes, we will get that team together.

Sandy Kovach [00:11:15]:
Neighbors, friends, family. Treasure the small things about them and treasure the big things, the big meaningful relationships, too. So the last thing that we have is gratitude as a choice and not just a feeling. And what do you feel about that, Lynae?

Lanée Blaise [00:11:35]:
I like that. I like that because I never thought of it that way. I thought that your heart might just swell with gratitude at certain things. But then I guess I should rethink that because even little children can be so ungrateful sometimes. You take them to Disney World and you have a great day and you get them all the stuff, and then the very next day, they're kind of like crying because you didn't let them go have cake and go swimming or whatever. You're like, we just had a great day, you know? So human nature is not necessarily wired to be grateful. So I do like that we can think of gratitude as a choice. I want to choose gratitude.

Lanée Blaise [00:12:17]:
I want to choose thanking God. I want to choose thanking my husband for all that he does to make sure that, you know, we. He works so hard and he makes sure that we're safe. He gassed up my car today. He washed it, too. And then he went and did the same for my daughters. I'm like, you are just rocking and rolling. He's like, yeah, I just.

Lanée Blaise [00:12:40]:
He is one of those. His love language is service, doing service for others. So all that to say, I want to choose to remember, to really be grateful for the big and little things. I want to choose to wake up and say, God, I'm really grateful for my life. I'm really grateful for all these little nieces and nephews I have. I'm really grateful for the way that you made me. And even when you correct me and have me change and grow, I'm thankful. Thankful for it most of the time.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:14]:
Every once in a while, I don't like the way God is making me have to learn lessons.

Sandy Kovach [00:13:19]:
Like we discussed in the last episode.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:21]:
Yes, exactly right. Like some of those unexpected things, maybe I'm not grateful for them yet.

Sandy Kovach [00:13:26]:
But you will be.

Lanée Blaise [00:13:27]:
Yeah, but I will be. I will be. And in the meantime, I will look around, actively look for things to say, thank you, God. I will look out the window and say, thank you, God, for the beautiful colors of the trees in the autumn in Michigan. I Will look at my toes and say, thank you God for making them work. Because Sandy, you know, I've had two foot surgeries and probably more on the way. It's like thank you feet for working. Thank you, thank you for the rest of my body for working and cooperating.

Sandy Kovach [00:14:00]:
I don't know, the have to get to paradox. Like instead of saying I have to go to work, I get to go to work. And I know sometimes that's not easy. I have a part time job that I do on top of my stuff at home and lately I've been working there more because they've had some illnesses and some people who have been out and it's a small staff. So I'd be a real jerk if I said no. Sorry. I know I'm the only one not in the hospital. No, I'm exaggerating.

Sandy Kovach [00:14:31]:
But it did get pretty crazy there for a while. So I'm walking out yesterday and realizing all the stuff I still have ahead and it's like 5:30 and I know I'm gonna be working at least till 9 o' clock instead of focusing on that and getting angry. And who would I be angry at me for choosing my schedule. But that's just a side note. I got one of my favorite coffees, the Starbucks pecan oat milk latte. It's really good. And I got one of those and I drove home in the traffic and listened to podcasts and I was just like grateful for that little time I had to sip my coffee and it just reset me so that by the time I got home I was ready. Not like jumping out of my seat.

Sandy Kovach [00:15:21]:
I can't wait to go up to my studio and spend three or four hours. But it was not bad. I got to and I had the resources to go get a coffee. How about that too, you know, a lot of people.

Lanée Blaise [00:15:32]:
And to have a car.

Sandy Kovach [00:15:33]:
Yeah, and to have a car. I mean these little things like jumping in your car, picking up a Starbucks, going to the grocery store. I don't want to go to the grocery store. Well, you have the resources to go and feed your family. I think that's plenty to be grateful for. And we've many of us have been in circumstances where that was not always easy.

Lanée Blaise [00:15:52]:
That's true. That is a blessing. And lately especially, there are so many people dealing with food insecurities and financial situations that we want to really be grateful for every little thing. I mean the Bible tells us in Thessalonians, give thanks in all circumstances. And I know there's grace with that. Because I know that we're just in a car accident. Maybe we'll be grateful that we're alive, but there is a part of us that wants to say, no, I wish, you know, if I just left a little later or this or that, or why did it happen or why me? We get that. Sandy, and I get that.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:30]:
We are not trying to do, you know, Rebecca from Sunnybrook Farm type of, you know, like, stuff. We get that. But if at all possible, when at all possible, however possible, take a moment, take a breath, and just say, thank you, God. I'm here. I'm loved by the creator of the universe, and I must have some more purpose left to go because God still has me standing here. And I can use whatever is left in my body, in my brain, in my breath to praise God and to try to put one foot in front of the other and try to help. Be a blessing to others and be thankful for those who bless me back.

Sandy Kovach [00:17:24]:
Yeah. What about recapping? And just. As opposed to just recapping the things. Maybe we give people and ourselves some action steps here. Yes. Yes.

Lanée Blaise [00:17:35]:
Maybe we'll do three of those also.

Sandy Kovach [00:17:37]:
Okay. All right. Three of those. Three of those. So what was the first one we had?

Lanée Blaise [00:17:41]:
The first thing that we talked about was making sure that we notice the small things around us. And we give gratitude for that. There's even the concept of opening your eyes or closing your eyes, whichever is best. And just saying, you don't have to pretend that everything is fine and perfect, but just saying, dear God, one of the small things, which we realize is the biggest thing, is God, I am grateful that you're still here. I trust that you are still here beside me, holding me up, getting me through. And again, like finding some little, tiny, cute little thing. Thank you for that little robin or sparrow that just flew by happily singing some little song to remind me that God is still good, nature's still beautiful, life is still worth living.

Sandy Kovach [00:18:33]:
Thank you for the warm socks when you get up in the morning. I don't know. Are you a sock person?

Lanée Blaise [00:18:38]:
No, but I should be because winter is coming.

Sandy Kovach [00:18:42]:
Yeah. So, yeah. Okay. Tell someone you're thankful for them. Give thanks for others. Sometimes they don't know, like how thankful. There was the big example I used with my husband and our neighbors. And, you know, we got a thank you note and gift cards and all the things and.

Sandy Kovach [00:19:00]:
But for the little things, things that make you. You're just glad they're in your life, like your husband and all his service and all the things he does. Like your neighbors or friends or people in your church or just sending a text to a friend that you haven't seen in a while. Here's somebody I'm blowing off. You said you're blowing off your neighbor? I'm literally blowing off one of my very best friends who lives out of state because she is like, yeah, we gotta arrange a time to talk. She texted me with a happy birthday in September. It's now November, and we haven't set up a time. And she just retexted me and I felt like a jerk.

Sandy Kovach [00:19:42]:
Like, I am blowing off my best friend. And I don't mean to, but that's crazy.

Lanée Blaise [00:19:49]:
But see, next time, when you do reach out to her, you will go ahead and take that challenge on and let her know how much you appreciate her and why you appreciate her and just give all that love right back to her. Because we really. I think we underestimate it. And this one, too, I have to say, for people who are older and maybe can kind of struggle with loneliness, it is so important. Like, you know, some of our aunts or uncles or grandparents, it is so important to check in on them and tell them how much of an impact they've made on your life and what you're grateful for them for. It just changes the game so strongly. It really, really hits them in their heart in a beautiful way. And I think about myself when I'm older, these little nieces and nephews I was talking about, I would love it if they call me, if telephones are even a thing, but if they call.

Sandy Kovach [00:20:46]:
Me, like, Star Trek, yeah, they're like.

Lanée Blaise [00:20:49]:
Beat me up or just a hologram or whatever. I would love it if they send their little hologram and be like, hey, Auntie Lynae, I love you. I remember when you used to come visit me. I remember this, that, and the other. You know, you really made an impact in my life. We need more of that, and we need it more than ever.

Sandy Kovach [00:21:08]:
I know. And speaking of seniors, and even as we grow older, we can already see that society starts valuing people that are older less when the opposite should be true. When they've gained all this knowledge and they've run their race. And obviously, if God still has them here, they still have race to run. And I think one of the things that older people can do is bless them with their knowledge and understanding. And oftentimes, the older you get, the less you're worried about what people think of you. And you have so much perspective. Great things to share with younger people who could really use that.

Sandy Kovach [00:21:49]:
And the way younger people are coming up now with technology and not as much human interaction, really use that.

Lanée Blaise [00:21:55]:
Agreed. It's just. It is really a conscious decision. This kind of goes to the last key number three we had. It really is a conscious decision to really try to be grateful, to really thank others, to really thank God in every moment. When life is easy. When life is not as easy, of course, again, we give grace when life has smacked you completely in the face. Give us a beat before we decide we're going to rejoice and be thankful and gratitude.

Lanée Blaise [00:22:26]:
But Eckhart Tolle said, acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.

Sandy Kovach [00:22:36]:
I mean, when you go to God in prayer, say to him before you give him your laundry list of things, thank you. And you can even say thank you for the little things. Thank you for my coffee. Thank you for my kitty cat. Thank you. And then, oh, warm socks. Yeah, I don't. Can't.

Sandy Kovach [00:22:55]:
Gotta put socks in. So you don't like socks. And I get you socks that one time for Christmas. I never would have done that. See, I'm a.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:03]:
No. I will wear them when it gets really cold. But it's not January yet.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:08]:
Okay. I wear them in January.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:09]:
Okay. So I have them. Don't worry. I have them. January.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:13]:
So whether or not, you know, you're a sock person, thankful for those little things. And thank you for the big things. Thank you for the people in my life, like the older people in my life. Sometimes when I'm doing devotion, I'll say thank you that I can have the technology where I can look at a scripture and just scroll and find it in all kinds of different translations. We don't always have to say bad things about technology. I mean, it's used for a lot of things, too. You know, in your case, thank you for the movies and TV shows that I've become involved in. And.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:44]:
Yes.

Sandy Kovach [00:23:45]:
Yeah. I mean, just huge dreams that have come true. Those are huge.

Lanée Blaise [00:23:50]:
You have me thinking, even to the point of Sandy, I thank God that humans even invented tv. Like, how do you get those people inside that little box, you know, and like radio. How do you get those people's voices inside your phone or inside that little speaker? How do you get the air conditioning? This is for something, you know, not now, but how do you get air conditioning to push through? How do you get heat to heat up and push through your whole house? And inventions, things that make our lives more convenient. It just goes on and on. If we really stretch our mind, we can come up with some whoppers to be grateful for that humans have been able to provide. But of course, the source being God, there really is that verse, you know, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And there are, like I said, there are some days where we're going to wake up and we have really struggled or suffered a big blow.

Lanée Blaise [00:24:52]:
Let's leave that one to the side. But on a normal day, Sandy the other day, because of the time change, I have this luxury. I can actually watch the sunrise because, you know, it's getting closer to the winter solstice and the sun rises later and it has beautiful pinks and purples and oranges. The hues are gorgeous. God brings the sun up every day for us to see and to be warmed. We're going longer on this episode than I had intended. It's supposed to be a quick boom, boom, boom. Three things.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:26]:
But gosh, there's so much to be thankful for.

Sandy Kovach [00:25:29]:
Yeah. Yeah. And let's let our listeners continue the list and maybe let us know what they are most grateful for. From the smallest to the biggest.

Lanée Blaise [00:25:39]:
Yeah. And to share with us. And, and again, we do thank all of our listeners for supporting us, for interacting us on social media, for checking out our website, imagine yourself podcast.com for going on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leaving a little review, a little comment. Subscribe. Follow us. Let us know that you're getting something from what we are trying to push out and offer in the best ways that we know how. So overall, imagine yourself taking a little moment any time of day and just saying, thank you God, for me being here and thank you, God, for you as our creator, being here with us every step of the way for all the things that you do that we see and the things that we don't see. God bless.