Saying Thank you!

Dear Friends, 

As we head into election week here in the U.S.A.
I felt compelled to reach out.
To send each of you a hug.
To remind us we are all in this together.

And.

I’ve been rereading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Her chapter on allegiance to gratitude includesThe Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Invocation of Gratitude.(I happen to have been born and lived my first 19 years on those indigenous lands. It feels important to acknowledge that. And say thank you).

My partner Kevin and I have been reciting The Thanksgiving Address each morning.
The first words we hear aloud from each other as the sun begins to stream through the windows.
There are times tears well up, and there are times my heart bursts with love, and there is everything in between.

It is changing us.
This daily practice.
I find myself greeting and thanking trees and bushes as I meander my neighborhoods.
The water I drink, the air I breathe...I am thanking. 

As Robin shares in Braiding Sweetgrass, you are not culturally appropriating by reciting this. 

It’s The Haudenosaunees' gift to the world. HERE is a PDF version. 

You can begin by learning the one I attached and over time make it an oral tradition.
No reading.
Speak from your hearts.
 

Honestly, the entire book is a Thanksgiving.
A sacred text.

Kimmerer offers so much for us to question, consider and be transformed by. Here are a few quotes to ponder this week if you feel called!

“You can’t listen to the Thanksgiving Address without feeling wealthy.”

“In consumer culture, contentment is a radical proposition”.

“What would it be like to be raised on gratitude, to speak to the natural world as a member of the democracy of species, to raise a pledge of interdependence?”

---”longing for the day when we can hear the land give thanks for the people in return.” ( I can't wait for this!!)

“Cultures of gratitude must also be cultures of reciprocity.”-- Robin Wall Kimmerer, excerpts from Braiding Sweetgrass
 

Take this practice on.

Give it the time it's been waiting for.

It will work on you.

I can feel that in the hollow bones.

The rich reciprocity that is welling up.
Ready to spill forth from humanity!
It's our turn to give.
The land is waiting...

Remember whatever happens next Tuesday.

We can continue to recite our love for the natural world and give thanks. Everyday.
We can continue to move towards justice and equity and liberation.

And thank you Robin Wall Kimmerer for the wisdom you so graciously share.

Much love,

Carol

P.S. Here is a short youtube video describing the Thanksgiving Address. 

P.S.S. And here is a recitation if you would like to listen.