Mookie takes you on a ride through the tangled mess of what it means to be human—generous, flawed, disappointed, hopeful. It starts with a rock star story: a friend of a friend's one-night stand with Eddie Van Halen, where months after their fling, Eddie spots her in a concert crowd and throws her a humble thumbs-up. Just a tiny gesture, but a seismic show of humanity.

From there, things turn personal and painful. Mookie recounts adopting his ex-wife’s niece from overseas—raising her from age ten, providing everything from Apple gadgets to a sense of family—and how years later, after she graduates NYU, her biological parents fly in, and don’t even send him a text. Not a handshake, not a nod. Nothing.

It’s a gut punch. But Mookie doesn’t just wallow—he unpacks it. Why are people so terrified to show gratitude? Why does it feel like admitting weakness or handing over leverage? Why, in a society that’s wealthier, safer, and more comfortable than almost any in history, do we seem more entitled and less appreciative than ever?

He ties it to everything from our trillion-dollar national debt to the way kids ghost their mentors after landing a job. He admits his own failures to thank those who helped him when he was young and clueless, holding up a mirror to his hypocrisy without flinching.

But it’s not just a rant. It’s a plea—for more humility, for more grace, for the simple, gut-level relief of saying “thank you.” For realizing that giving, even when it’s ignored or taken for granted, is still its own form of magic. That the universe has a funny way of balancing things out if you keep putting good into it.

So if you’ve ever helped someone only to be met with silence—or found yourself too proud or too distracted to properly thank those who lifted you up—this episode will hit somewhere tender.

Join Mookie as he wrestles with the sting of ingratitude, the beauty of giving anyway, and what it means to keep your heart open in a world that often seems hell-bent on closing it.

The Joy of Showing Gratitude Podcast

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