My Gratitude Practice (and thanksgiving to Mother Earth)

In which I hike over Kearsarge Pass back to trail and make my way towards Glenn Pass, and think about what I am grateful for.

(Sunset over Kearsarge Pass)

Tuesday June 22nd

I was having feelings of anxiety and stress before the hike due to various internal and external sources. Many things in my control, about decision making for gear, jobs, schedule, and overall priority management dilemmas. Then also things outside of my control like the tenants sharing the yard at my house, the economy, racial justice, the overall political climate, CLIMATE change! And more.

I noticed this was affecting my relationships with people around me, causing me to focus on being annoyed or dwell on negativity. I decided I wanted to say and do nice things instead, in attempt to be a positive force.

So anyway my friend Mei introduced me to a gratitude practice (thanks Mei 🙏) and I’ve tried to keep up with it on trail.

It goes:

Morning

1. 3 things that I’m thankful for

2. 3 things that would make today great

Evening

1. 3 amazing things that happened today

2. 2 things that I could’ve done better

For example from my journal on Tuesday Morning June 22nd (when I had time after losing an impromptu chess match on my phone against Pops):

Today I am grateful for

1. Fun people around for spontaneous and impromptu hangouts on trail. It’s fun for me not to have to plan to meet people for social interactions, to move at my own pace and still meet people at different camp spots without stress or fear of abandonment.

2. All this wonderful food to eat! After my re-supply in Bishop I upped my game with salami, babybell cheeses, half a bag of baby spinach, and of course, flamin’ hot cheetos. Some real food to go along with my privileged dehydrated meals.

3. Nature Immersion! Being back in natural surroundings feels great not being so distracted by cars and noise and restaurant options and internet and making obligations and so on...feeling more connected to myself and at peace.

Looking forward to today

1. Rae Lakes! An absolute favorite spot on the JMT by my friends Zach and Lauren. Not getting my expectations too high yet but I am looking forward to some cool looking lake views and hopefully some more solitude and nature immersion.

2. Friends! Hopefully re-uniting with some of the crew later and maybe share some of the cool things with people who are cool too! I am glad to be able to be myself and feel accepted and supported. It’s also OK if they are on a different mission and my plan is not exactly theirs so thinking they are having fun somewhere is good too.

(note that these “looking forward to“ things don’t always come to pass, but the good intentions set a positive tone for the day anyway!)

Now that I’m on trail I don’t always have time to carve out for regular journaling, but when I get to have a slow morning or a non-exhausted evening I can write it out. For other times it still works to think or say out loud if I can remember!

Grateful for all my gear on a log

Since reading Braiding Sweetgrass I have also appropriated the Potawatomi Nation thanks giving to Mother Earth ceremony, or celebration. (I say appropriated on purpose to acknowledge that it is borrowing from another culture but to me it’s the good part and may cause some positive influence!).

In our English language, we refer to humans as beings, he or she or they, and attribute feelings and a higher status over things that are not animate in the same way as we are. In the Potawatomi language, animate and non-animate things are all referred to as beings, all equal and not superior to one -another. In this way we can thank the others all around us for their contributions to our life and for our existence and influence on theirs. In this way we not only give thanks but also show our reciprocity and responsibility to our brothers and sisters.

For What else can you offer the earth, that has everything? Other than a piece of yourself, a homemade ceremony

Greetings and thanks to the Natural world:

We are thankful for our Mother Earth, for she gives us everything we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has done since the beginning of time.

We give thanks to all of the waters of the world for quenching our thirst, for providing strength and nurturing life for all beings. We know it’s power in many forms. We are grateful that the waters are still here and meeting their responsibility for the rest of creation.

We bring our minds together to send greetings and thanks to the water. Now our minds are one.

And so on to thank The Fish, The Plants, The Animals, and more. The full version is long and wording varies from speaker to speaker but you can read well-known version by John Stokes and Kanawahientun here: https://americanindian.si.edu/environment/pdf/01_02_thanksgiving_address.pdf

(The Potawatomi tribe is from the Great Lakes Region of the current U.S.)

I know the Mono and Owens Valley Paiute Tribe used to make their summer dwelling up here in the modern day Kings canyon, Rae lakes area for gathering for edible shrubs and basket making, or hunting. I wonder what specific thanks they gave here to the mountains and the daring high attitude wildlife.

Update: Friday 6/26

I did the thanks to Mother Earth today, and not saying it’s exactly correlated, or could be a major coincidence, but it’s been my biggest wildlife morning on trail! I saw a brown bear cub down by Woods Creek (still flowing strong like a river), a family of quail darting and squaking across the trail into the underbrush, and so many butterflies (yellow swallowtail, and the orange one) on wildflowers to plentiful to count. Is it the thanks-giving manifesting these beings into my life, or is it my gratitude that helps me to notice them!?