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When standing in Centennial Square on September 30th for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, a presenter mentioned that the rain was tears related to the sadness of the ceremony. It struck me. Non-indigenous people will mostly see the rain as a bad thing for an outdoor event. Not there. The sun, the wind, and the clouds were acknowledged and thanked throughout the day. “The gifts of the Earth” as author Kimmerer (2014) called them. At that moment, I felt that call for reciprocity that we have read about: with others and with the planet.<\/p>\n
I agree with the author that gratitude is powerful medicine. Every speech I heard that day was about gratitude and hope. An elder talked about her fear during the last drought in BC and that she prayed for her cat: it made most of us reflect on climate changes. It is hard to deny the facts when someone shares its truth in front of a crowd with such vulnerability and empowerment. It comes back to the author and the elders’ call to remember to remember. If gratitude can change our human experience there are good chances that it can change our relationship with the planet. Gratitude could be a remedy to the disconnection humans seem to experience with nature for a few generations now. As per Kimmerer, practicing gratitude also helps manage overconsumption. This notion of taking only what you need and giving back to mother earth should be a life-changing vision. This reciprocity should allow us to connect more with the elements and to let go of the disposable material. Then – when living in gratitude- the public is ready to listen to climate communicators and to make changes because when we care, we act<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I see an interesting link between gratitude and accepting others. As Zuroski (2020) beautifully described about the learning process : “the real, unquestionable presence of knowledge and intellectual agency in every person in the room”. I had to read that sentence 10 times to understand it. To me, it means that our way of being and learning needs to be adapted to create room for everyone. There is not a single accepted unique way, and there is no single better way. What if we practice gratitude with everyone around us? We can let go of judgment and create opportunity for cooperation.<\/p>\n I was surprised to experience that day in the middle of downtown Victoria, the same calm and feeling of wholeness that I have experienced at my sit spot so far. The grounding effect that I call it. At my sit spot, gratitude taught me to get in the space with a different approach. I went twice so far, and both times, I started by thanking the space (the water, the leaves, the wind, the blue sky, the birds flying). I disassociated from my own self and felt more part of the space. All my senses worked when I was there allowing me to relax and to simply be.<\/p>\n My question to all of us is: are we scared to listen?<\/p>\n Resources<\/strong> Zuroski, E. (2020, January 27). Where do you know from? An exercise in placing ourselves together in the classroom. MAI feminism and visual culture<\/em>. https:\/\/maifeminism.com\/where-do-you-know-from-an-exercise-in-placing-ourselves-together-in-the-classroom\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When standing in Centennial Square on September 30th for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, a presenter mentioned that the rain was tears related to the sadness of the ceremony. It struck me. Non-indigenous people will mostly see the… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":958,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cals502"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/n1prevostmaurice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKimmerer, R. (2014). Returning the gift. Minding Nature<\/em>, 7(2). https:\/\/www.humansandnature.org\/returning-the-gift-article-177.php<\/a><\/p>\n