What do Native Americans and Gratitude Have in Common? (Hint: It's Not Thanksgiving)

Dreamcatcher Native American Gratitude

When I was 6, I moved to Portland, Oregon after only living in towering cityscapes: Tokyo and Singapore, specifically. Living in a lush part of the world surrounded by nature was a massive shift that I embraced wholeheartedly. I loved playing outside, rain or shine, and delighted in finding arrowhead-shaped rocks in my backyard.

This may have been my first introduction to indigenous culture. And, naturally, as a child, I was fascinated by the fact that a whole civilization lived and thrived in the same places I roamed, long before the paved roads and houses that shaped my reality. It was unbeknownst to me, at the time, how brutally these cultures and rich traditions were forced out of the area I so cherished—so I, like many white people, I assume, romanticized what little history I’d come to learn about the Pacific Northwest’s roots.

In hindsight, I lean into the belief that indigenous cultures share values that are inherent in most humans before they’re conditioned out of us. Namely: animism, and the concept of living in harmony with the earth and other animals who inhabit it.

It makes sense, then, that I found myself favoriting certain children’s books centered on Native American folklore. I particularly loved, "The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses," which was about a young girl who gets carried away by a stampede of horses and begins to live among them. She is rescued by her tribe, but becomes depressed and falls ill, begging to return to her herd. She is eventually granted that wish and disappears with them, reappearing every year to gift her tribe a baby colt in gratitude for letting her follow her dreams. One year she does not return—but the tribe discovers a new mare riding beside the stallion the little girl used to ride. She loved horses so much she literally became one.

That story completely altered my sense of what was or wasn’t real. It introduced me to the kind of metaphor you’re constantly questioning as potentially factual.

My interest in indigenous culture has shifted over the years—out of respect for cultures that aren’t my own, I started to dive deeper into my own ancestry and the indigenous roots therein. I happen to be of Celtic ancestry, so Celtic Shamanism and Druid concepts pulled more of my focus, but there’s a thread that connects many indigenous societies: and it’s the value they place on the land, itself.

Most ancient customs are centered on a deep and abiding love for the Earth. And a real sense of gratitude for all the earth’s offerings, to the point where merely pulling leaves from a branch would be done with a sense of ritual and reverence.

This respect is accompanied by an inherent gratitude. Because it’s so centered on that which grants us life, it’s intertwined with a natural celebration for life, itself.

Most of us are taught about this great exchange we call ‘cause-and-effect:’ if you say thank you, someone will say you're welcome. If you want money, you have to ‘earn’ it. We DO things to GET things.

But what about doing something simply out of reverence? With no request in return? With no expectation of a "thank you" or an acknowledgement that what you've done is very nice and you should be hailed as the world's kindest human? Without a transactional response?? THAT is gratitude.

Acting from a place of love is gratitude.

Thanking a tree for simply existing and being in the right place at the right time to give you shade is gratitude.

Thanking the grass for giving you a soft place to lay and watch the clouds go by is gratitude.

Thanking a dog for letting you hug him, which in my house is a one-sided exchange because my dog hates hugs, is gratitude.

Thanking a body of water for providing LIFE to a community even though that water cannot see or hear you and has been mistreated and contaminated and abused and wasted for decades but still provides, is gratitude.

Thanking a community of people for working to protect the lands that ensure safe drinking water for many—even though none of those people will hear you say it—is gratitude.

Deep reverence is gratitude.

Deep reverence is the acknowledgment that life—even with its suffering—is sacred. And that which gifts it to us deserves as much respect as life, itself.

Gratitude Calendar 2017

So many of us (not just millennials, our parents and their parents, too) were raised to believe that we are entitled to do what we want with the Earth because we work hard or have the money to purchase it. That's not gratitude. That's gluttony.

It’s no surprise that so many of us in Western colonized culture question whether or not it’s ‘worth’ living. We are so disconnected from the magic of all that is life-giving. So many people have lost sight of the interconnectedness of this planet and its virtues.

The thing that I've always respected about indigenous culture—even though I know it varies from tribe to tribe—is that in all that I've learned, no matter how violent or friendly or spiritual or grounded the stories I've read, there is always, ALWAYS, a deep respect for what is taken on behalf of the tribe. There is an underlying sense that life is fragile and that we are truly connected to the land that we till and tear apart. There is a ceremonial expression of love and honor for the very real fact that we cannot survive without a thriving planet. Not even faith can save life on Earth once our Earth is stripped bare.

It baffles me how so many people refuse to acknowledge the planet as its own thing—separate from something we "own." It does not owe us anything. We owe it. And this is why I CAN’T NOT stand with the peaceful protestors at Standing Rock. This is a long-winded way to express my own gratitude for the sacrifices they're making to once again try to protect land that our government promised them and are now trying to take away. Since it also happens to be Black Friday, I'm announcing that today through Sunday I will be donating 10% of all my Gratitude Calendar proceeds to the medics on site at Standing Rock. This calendar is meant to be a source of reflection and appreciation. I'd be remiss not to give back to a culture whose teachings embodied those values exactly. I welcome you to join me in supporting this cause, however you can. Now get out there and enjoy the rest of your long weekend! ✨

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day— and to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind and rain; their dance is in the flowing spiral grain in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent Owl at dawn. Breath of our song clear spirit breeze in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets, freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk; self-complete, brave, and aware in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Water; clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers; holding or releasing; streaming through all our bodies salty seas in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the Sun; blinding pulsing light through trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where bears and snakes sleep—he who wakes us— in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the Great Sky who holds billions of stars—and goes yet beyond that— beyond all powers, and thoughts and yet is within us— Grandfather Space. The Mind is his Wife.

so be it.

— Gary Snyder (after a Mohawk Prayer)