Love Notes for Gratitude

Posted on November 11, 2025 by Catherine Cheng, MD

OH but I should wait until Thanksgiving to post this one, right? Oh well, I feel overwhelming gratitude today so I will post this today! The world is better when we express gratitude in real time, no??

What are you grateful for today? How have you already expressed it? How much better is your day, your life, when you do?

With abandon, my friends. Effuse it. Let’s go.

One year I wrote a thank you card a day. It was a centering experience. Maybe I can do it again in the New Year? God knows I have enough CARDS! 😀

2. Thank you for being you, sharing yourself with the rest of us, and not depriving us of the great joy and pleasure of knowing you.

3. Family Friends Teachers Colleagues Good Leaders Kind Strangers — Any human with a kind heart — Thank you all!

4. What is the silliest, most absurd thing that you are really grateful for? I have so many but pretty paper, OMG. Life would just not be as good without it!!

5. Holy COW, so much to be thankful for. And today I feel it especially for all the folks to trust me. What a big privilege and honor.

6. May all of your myriad acts of gratitude be reinforced so you stay motivated to commit them often and with great enthusiasm! More more more please! Thank you!

7. When someone opens up and shares something personal, we need to thank them for it. Because that is an act of bravery and trust, and needs to be acknowledged. Let’s pay attention, k?

8. I think it’s a great idea to always keep on hand paper and pen to write our gratitude down so it is documented and shared. This way it’s amplified and there is more of it in the world.

9. A quarter of this century is almost over! Holy cow! Thank our lucky stars that we are all still here, holding one another up! Let’s keep going, yes?

10. Do you have gratitude rituals? I don’t. But I think practices are more important and easier than rituals… When they are spontaneous and second nature–all the better!

11. I bet you made someone’s life better today and I am grateful for that because it made the world better and that is how we survive the shit show! Thank you!

12. How has gratitude (yours or others’) made your life better today? Wouldn’t it be even better if there were more of it getting tossed around?

Teehee, those came out fast. More where they came from–stay tuned. 🙂

Love Notes for Kindness

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Catherine Cheng, MD

Friend and I shared our stories of stress, struggle, and adversity today. We’d neither planned nor avoided it. The conversation flowed organically in connection and mutual understanding, shared empathy and a desire for each other’s well-being.
Friend reminded me that no matter how we look on the outside, we’re all going through our own things on the inside.
In college I walked to the subway looking apparently unhappy. As I approached a homeless woman on the sidewalk, she said, gesturing to herself and her panhandling spot, “Oh come on, whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as this.” I took it as a sign to be more aware of self and others and grateful for perspective.

So as we begin another work week, let’s see if we can dig a little deeper for that loving kindness, yes?

Every person has our struggles… Most don’t show on the surface, so others likely have no idea. May we take an extra breath before judging, eh?

2. Stick close to the kind people in your life! The best possible outcome is that they rub off on you and the world gets better and better for it! 😀

3. What’s your kindness gesture? I think mine is either hugging or blowing kisses… Or maybe profanity… Or some kind of face… Depends on the situation!

4. That small kindness you were shown just now. Did you notice? Did you acknowledge? Isn’t that just a great practice for connection?

5. Hey hi! Friendly reminder: Being kind definitely includes to yourself! I hope you have many who can keep reminding you – so you never forget!

6. Even people we disagree with and who vote differently from us are actually kind. We can reconcile all of these things – if we ourselves make the kind assumption.

7. What’s an act of big kindness that someone showed you that sticks in your memory? Powerful, no? This is power we all possess and can wield for good!

8. Kindness is love, duh. It’s not flashy, mushy, or headline newsworthy… Or is it? Don’t you feel better when you see stories about it? So let’s go out and love loudly!

9. I’d rather regret being too kind than not kind enough… Sometimes the latter still happens – but less and less. 🙂

10. I think kids are naturally kindn because the innate human trait that seeks connection has not been beaten out of them yet. Be childlike.

11. Food. Stickers. Pretty paper. Whis is how people show me kindness. Oh and quality time. How about you? Who knows this and shows up for you?

12. So many examples of genuine human kindness all over, friends! We can open our eyes and hearts to it all and follow with glorius (and unhinged) abandon!

Trying to keep a little lightness in these love notes from now on. 😉

Love Notes for Making Friends

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Catherine Cheng, MD

SO FUN! I went to my first industry dinner since before the pandemic. Heard a couple of informative talks while enjoying salad, pasta, fish, steak, and then the best tiramisu I’ve ever had! But the best part was talking to my new friend E. We had met before and we have mutual acquaintances, and tonight was our chance to know each other better. We talked industry, parenting, the pitfalls of corporate culture, topics of extemporaneous talks we’d give, and what we like about ourselves, as well as what we’re working on.

How often do you walk away from random conversations feeling uplifted, connected, intrigued, and reflective? How awesome would it be to have this every time you met someone, anyone, anywhere, under any circumstance? It may not be realistic, but hey, aim for the sun, right? Let’s see if I can inspire this attitude in tonight’s twelve, shall we? I’m excited for this challenge:

Food, music, sports, activism, travel — Whatever helps you connect meaningfully to other lovely humans is what I wish for you. Books, nature, insects– Whatever! 😀

2. What do you wish people would ask you about yourself? What do you want to know about other people that’s related? Why not connect around either? Could be fun!

3. Who will be your next great friend? You never know, right? May you approach any new-to-you human with the spirit of potential and utter possibility!

4. May your openness, curiosity, humility, empathy, generosity, and kindness be rewarded at least ten times over, today and all days — May the positive reinforcement fill your tank!

5. Where in your body do you feel the first inklings of a new wonderful friendship? May that part positively vibrate on a daily basis! No such thing as too many friends! 😀

6. What part of you really wants to be seen? May you find yourself surrounded by folks who really want to see it, and may you have the courage to show them.

7. I may not know you but I know you are worthy of attention and love. May all you meet today prove this to you, so you may never doubt or question again.

8. May you see in every person you meet today someone who is loved and admired by someone else. May that perspective lead your psyche in your own interactions, and may you be rewarded for it.

9. We have something in common with every person we will meet. How fun would it be to find out the most interesting thing we share with anyone? 😀 Wanna try with your next stranger? 🙂

10. You have fun and interesting things to say! Look around. Take a deep breath. Read the room. Be kind. Then let the interesting out!

11. What’s on your mind? Who can you share it with who will meet you there, ask you more about it, and take it farther with you? Why not reach out?

12. Oh, my dear darling. There are so many lovely humans everywhere, I know it. Not all folks are out to hurt others. May the next human you meet prove me right!

Ooo, that was fun! Writing them is the easy part–taking, cropping, and uploading the photos is the rate limiting step! I think I could keep going with this theme for a while yet… Maybe for the Ethos jar. 😉 Onward, my friends!!! xo