November 6, 2024 • 39 mins
Join us for our Empathy & Democracy series, a live podcast and pop-up art series brought to you by the Democracy Center, VC Film Fest and Gratitude Blooming.
Guided by the changing seasons, this fourth and final installment centers on the transformative practice of "Fearless Gratitude" in action as we pause together to feel and share the depths of our emotions as we grapple with the complexities of this election year.
What if acknowledging the unseen fears and biases in our lives could reshape our story and guide how we show up for these times of great human divides?
In this episode, we uncover our shared struggles around vulnerability, courage, humility, and the wild card of life-- themes from Gratitude Blooming's Garden of Fearless Gratitude.
Together, with 35 leaders, facilitators, coaches, and community builders, we experienced how gratitude, as a social emotion, can create spaces where even our most challenging emotions can coexist harmoniously.
Tune in to remember the power of pausing in shared space to inspire collective action. This is the crucial work ahead to nurture our democracy for a thriving future.
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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com.
Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest for Season 4:
Co-host Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers
Co-host Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack
Special Guest Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.
Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
My name is Omar Brownson, and Linda Liu and I
are co-hosts of the GratitudeLiving podcast, and we had Jim
Herr, who will welcome usofficially in a second, who is
the director of the DemocracyCenter here at the Japanese.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
American National.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Museum.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
As Omar said, I was a guest on the podcast a little
over a year ago.
I've known Omar for like 20some years and have followed him
through all of his variousiterations of his life.
I think we're on Omar 2.8 or3.6 or something, but always
fascinating and inspiring.
(00:47):
And he invited me to be on thepodcast and I was catching up on
some of the last few episodesand one of them was with Simon
Sinek, and Simon was talkingabout sort of the world today
and how gratitude shows up andthere were themes of that.
I saw in it themes of democracyand social justice and caring
(01:10):
for one another and how we oftenare willing to leave people
behind, and in a democracy wereally can't do that.
And so I went on the podcastand if and well, some of you
have done this process beforethis and if and some of you have
done this process before this,this sort of like looking at
issues and looking at thingsthrough the gratitude blooming
cards and that, this processthat they've developed.
(01:33):
And I was a curiosity, I thinkwasn't.
It was my card and and justthrough talking I this kind of
light bulb went off in my head.
It was like we need to do thispodcast around empathy and
democracy, and we have to haveit with people here so that they
can share and talk about things, and so that began this first
(01:54):
season four part season, fourpart series in the season that
follows the season.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
We're thrilled that thiscoincided with the VC Film Fest,
which is the Los Angeles AsianPacific Film Festival, and
Visual Communications is hereand many different sites
(02:15):
throughout Little Tokyo and LosAngeles, but have had a lot of
their main events here at themuseum and in the Democracy
Center, including a whole serieson democracy films about
democracy.
I'm grateful for BC, as it'sbeen a part of my life for
almost 25 years now and have andI owe a lot of my career and a
(02:39):
lot of my friendships and a lotof the what I show up as in the
world to the world, to theorganization and to the people
that have been such a big partof it, including its current
executive director, francisCriado.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I'm taking this Dao De Ching class right now and
I've done some work with thisZen master, Norma Wong, where
I'll listen and then reflectback through poetry, and so this
was in the last practice and Ithought it appropriate to share
today.
The name of the poem is calledAnger and Blame.
(03:18):
Never let go of the essentialtruth.
Let go of the flame ofrighteousness.
Correcting an imbalance withoutpeace creates more imbalance.
Blame is caught in duality.
If this, then that, ignoringthe larger causality, the weed
(03:41):
of blame is rooted in the soilof righteousness.
Heal the land and the weedshave no home.
I started the practice ofgratitude about 10 years ago,
and gratitude begins withnoticing good and as a practice,
(04:03):
the brain has a biological biasto focus on the negative, and
we call practice anything thatdisrupts habit.
So if the brain has a habit atlooking at the negative,
gratitude disrupts that bynoticing good.
But as I deepened into mypractice, I came up with this
(04:26):
frame called fearless gratitude.
So if gratitude makes visiblewhat we value, fearless
gratitude is about learningabout all the things that we're
making invisible all the thingsthat we're taking for granted,
and that's usually where ourfear exists.
We don't always want to centerour fear.
(04:47):
We want to sort of ignore it.
We put blinders on sometimes.
Sometimes it's just so we canget through the day, sometimes
it's because the pain is toomuch.
But it's also important toremember that our hearts have to
be open.
We talk oftentimes very muchlike from the head right, and
(05:10):
Lynn and I very much have comeout of that tradition as Asian
Americans and parents thatbelieved in a lot of a certain
type of success, and wecertainly were on those paths.
But the neuroscience,interestingly enough, is that
when we want to change something, it actually doesn't change
(05:32):
with our thoughts.
Our thoughts actually are beingdriven by our feelings and
emotions and our feelings andemotions are actually really
being driven by our body, right.
So if we're tired or stressedout or hungry like hangry, right
, it's a thing.
(05:53):
I was at Lowe's this morningbuying soil and there was a sign
that says plants get hangry too, which I thought was awesome.
But one of the biggest thingsthat shapes our bodies is
actually our environment.
There's a reason why there's ahealthcare foundation here in LA
(06:14):
that says your zip code is agreater determinant of your
health outcomes than your owngenetic code.
So it's our environment thatoften than your own genetic code
right.
So it's our environment thatoften shapes our own physical
health, which shapes ouremotional health, which shapes
our mental health, but thenshapes how we get to show up in
the world.
(06:35):
And the cool thing aboutgratitude as a social emotion is
, when I say thank you, jim,he's going to feel something
very different and that shapesthe environment that we're in.
If we begin with giving ofthanks and we begin with sort of
sharing our environment,recognizing that we're part of
(06:57):
something else, then all of asudden it is a little bit easier
for our bodies to settle down,that our somatic kind of body is
allowed to sort of relax andbreathe, which allows our
emotions to be present.
And when we can be present tothen all of a sudden not just
the good things, but thenpresent for those difficult
(07:18):
things and not get sort ofknocked off by them.
Then we can actually have themental sort of latitude to be
like how do I want to show up inthis moment?
right, there's this line in thepoem, blame is caught in duality
.
If this, then that, ignoringthe larger causality.
If we're stuck in if this, thenthat we're stuck in the world
(07:40):
of just reacting right, andthere's a lot to react to, and
we started this series kind ofrecognizing how do we tell a
different story and not just gofrom crisis to crisis, pain to
pain, and disrupt those cycles.
So we only have threeintentions in this space.
One is that your inner teacheris your best guide.
(08:03):
So therefore, number two,there's no need to fix or save
anyone else in this room.
Linda and I are not gurus.
We love the saying that thenext guru will be a sangha, and
a sangha is a community and thelast silence is a participant
(08:24):
and the last that silence is aparticipant.
We really like to think ofthese as a way to talk to the
plant world, to nature, and soif there's a question that maybe
you've been sort ofcontemplating, struggling with,
(08:45):
or maybe there's an intentionthat you want to sort of grow, a
seed that you want to plant andgrow, I sort of invite you to
just take a moment to thinkabout what that question might
be that you have in your liferight now.
Feel free to share, and I don'tknow if Francis, belinda or Jim
would like to go.
(09:06):
First and just I invite you toshare what that question or
intention might be and then topull a card.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So my intention is, what I would like to see is how
do we continue this work in thisformat or a different format,
or continue the conversation?
And I got Redwood, which isstrength.
Imagine yourself grounded likea great strong tree.
(09:36):
How does it feel yourselfgrounded like a great strong
tree?
How does it feel?
Going back to my wanting tosolve democracy in that first
episode?
Um, and, and coming out of thatepisode like not, I wouldn't
say disappointed, but like youknow, I, you know I kind of want
to get to the end, um, butunderstanding that even a
(09:57):
redwood, you know, started outas something very, very small at
one time, and so patience, Ithink, is something I need with
this process, and that it's notgoing to be a redwood this year
(10:17):
or next year or maybe thefollowing year, but it will
hopefully continue to grow.
And how do we nurture that andhaving the strength to continue
on, even though it may not begrowing fast enough or growing
at the rate that I want?
it to grow but having thestrength to just keep doing the
(10:39):
work so that it can grow.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Beautiful.
Thank you, did anything come upfor you, francis.
Speaker 7 (10:49):
Yeah, just to kind of piggyback with what Jim said.
He said strength.
I actually looked atvulnerability.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
A rose, I actually hate roses it's not that.
Speaker 7 (11:03):
I'm just sort of like I looked at it, somehow again
my allergies are gonna come, buta lot of that it was, you know,
just really thinking aboutgratitude and I just want to say
I've been grateful for Jim,especially the last three days
here and sort of hosting us withthe film festival, but also his
guidance throughout my tenureat Visual Communications.
So a lot of gratitude has beenemanating.
(11:27):
A lot of that is when thatcomes up for me because more
vulnerable, right, you know oneof the things that you think you
were mentioning practice issort of breaking habits and I
think a lot of our habits comefrom our you were mentioning
practice is sort of breakinghabits and I think a lot of our
habits come from our parents,from our previous generation, of
all these different things.
And you know, one of ourtaglines for this film festival
is even generational traumafeels good here and you know,
(11:51):
how do we actually, especiallyhere at the museum, how do we
face this back and uncover someof these things right?
How do we uncover not just losthistories because we're
marginalized in this series ofdemocracy but even our lost
histories and memories, becausewe don't want to deal with that
trauma?
And so when I think aboutgratitude, I'm actually more, I
(12:11):
do try to.
I try not to think about, youknow, sort of a world of
absolutism or kind of binary.
But when I think aboutgratitude, you know, I'm not
sure if I grew up with gratitude.
I think I grew up being toldnot to be ungrateful, right, and
so that's sort of that negativeside that puts it there.
(12:33):
And then I am looking at kind ofgratitude, to be vulnerable
about it.
I think it's just because youdon't want to give it so much in
abundance of it, because theremight be days and times that
it's hard for you to give thatright.
But you know, I think thinkingabout that and that's why I sort
of looked at the rows of beingvulnerable is to just really
(12:57):
it's okay that we don't havethat full power of gratitude
sometimes.
And how do we resourceourselves to think about all
these different things of beingso.
You know, I just touch on therose and I don't want to get
emotional here.
But, like you said, you feelthat softness of it, you feel
(13:19):
the veins of it.
It reminds me of my grandmawhen I last touched her head in
her casket right.
And so it's sort of that feelingof something alive but sort of
have to be part of the earthagain, right, be part of the
earth again, right?
So, and one of the things inthe practice and being
vulnerable and a lot of, I think, generational trauma for me has
(13:43):
been, you know, it's hard forme to live in the present.
They always say carpe diemright.
So live in the present or livein the moment.
I think a lot of that, just thatgenerational trauma of things
can be taken away, or so you'realways looking back what was
good, but also looking back whatcan be bad again, or looking
(14:03):
forward ahead, is not to liveinto the moment but to surrender
to the moment and just let it.
Whatever that be will be Right,and I think a lot of that again
(14:28):
with Jim sharing his story withwe care, right, what does it
mean to kind of really for usface the moment and surrender to
it and be vulnerable to it,right and and?
But also thinking about thatyou know you do have, we're very
optimistic people.
I, I'm very faithful because Ihave a lot of doubts, right, I'm
very this because I have thatand and um, just really, um, the
(14:53):
other thing I was looking at,balance too, is like I'm a libra
, so it's supposed to be abalance scale.
But the way it balanced outbecause this is a very, very
like wide pendulum, you know, atthe end sort of becomes equal,
but it's just very chaotic in away.
But I just want to say I thinkI'm very grateful, especially
for this day, because you knowthere's a lot of things
happening in this neighborhood.
(15:14):
We had a protest, we hadChildren here in the morning.
Part of the radical monarchneighborhood.
We had a protest.
We had children here in themorning.
Part of the Radical Monarchs.
We have Delicious Little Tokyo.
We have our film festival aspart of the neighborhood.
I'm just grateful for ourcommunity members making space
for each other and giving space,so thank you.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
I got courage and and this one felt particularly
timely as it is 2024 and it'selection year I found myself
recently in many conversationswith colleagues and people who
are in other institutions, suchas museums and cultural
(15:54):
institutions, planning on,making plans on how we can
engage community members in themost effective way to have
discussions about civics, voting, our rights, um, the climate in
(16:15):
our society, um, so manydifferent and difficult
conversations, um, and I thinkone of the biggest things I
appreciate with those groups isthat whenever we meet, um, every
now and then we'll do likecheck-ins and sometimes they'll
(16:35):
say our hosts will say, hey, howare you feeling today?
And the room is surprisinglyhonest.
There's not a lot ofcheerfulness when it comes to
looking forward towards the restof the year as it, with the
(17:04):
complications of anotherelection year that is coming.
I'm in a space where I'm oflike minds and I have people who
are in this corner who aretrying to do work to help
nurture and guide our democracyinto better light.
(17:25):
And so not to say that there isno hope, but sometimes it feels
hopeless at moments and it'sdiscouraging at moments and it's
discouraging, but when I'm inconversation with these groups,
it it feels very empowering andit gives me courage to stand up
and also put in the work,because it's hard, it's.
(17:47):
It's not something that is aneasy, easy job, but it's
something that needs to be donein order for our future
generations, for future saplingsand roses alike, to have what
it needs to grow.
Speaker 11 (18:06):
Ryan Fukuda.
I use pronouns like he, him andI actually work with VC and
flew down from Portland to workon the festival.
Here.
I pulled vulnerability I'vebeen pretty pessimistic lately
and what you were talking about.
It really resonates, and I'm nota very pessimistic person
(18:30):
usually, but I think what itactually I think is getting to
is this idea of exactly that andvulnerability.
I think I'm like I haven't beenvery vulnerable in my life, um
and but I want to help people, Iwant to do good and um, you
know, support community, and um,and so I think there's
(18:52):
something about that energy ofpessimism that's actually
getting to the point of like, oh, I actually want to do
something.
I have emotion about this, I'mangry, I'm yeah, just all the
emotions that I think areconsidered negative, I think,
and I've been feeling themlately, and what I really think
(19:16):
it boils down to is just, I wantto share more, I want to share
with myself more, I want tosupport community and yeah, and
so I think it's timely that thiscard was pulled, and I love
this what's on your all shall bewell, which is I do worry a lot
too, and so it's just nice tosee that on the card because
(19:40):
it's like okay, yeah, I forget Iforget everything's going to be
okay, Even though everythingout there looks like it's not
going to be okay.
but I know it will be because ofall of us.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hello, my name is Vega, my pronouns are she, her,
and I too drew vulnerability asmy card.
The rose name is Vega, mypronouns are she, her, and I too
drew vulnerability as my cardthe rose which is beautiful,
because we do have roses heretoday and my reflection was I
was thinking a lot aboutresources and I've been working
(20:14):
on this idea for myself and mycommunities, of this vision of
what if we were justwell-resourced to do what we're
here to do, because we're soconditioned to doing such
beautiful work and efforts andorganizing on so very little and
we've gotten really good atthat, and my particular focus is
(20:37):
focusing on BIPOC andmarginalized healers, creative
leaders, because the lastsession we had was holding space
for space holders.
Right, like I identify as that,I have a community of that and
especially here in SouthernCalifornia, we're all just
scrambling around to do our bestand then to show up to hold
(20:57):
space and give of our energy, beit healing, be it community
building.
And so my vision is what if wewere just coming from a really
well-resourced, well-taken careof place, and what kind of power
we could hold then?
And so the vulnerability card.
What it made me think about iswhen you have these visions of
(21:21):
projects, ideas.
It takes a lot of vulnerabilityto put it out there and talk to
people about it.
Can you know like can I holdthis vision that my community is
well resourced in every area,and just hold that vision,
believe it to be true, believewe deserve it and believe that
we can make that.
So To hold that and just in theface of everything, right, like
(21:47):
I'm a Pisces and an Aquarius,you know blend.
And so I think our fears ofbeing dreamers and visionaries
is that people will say you aredelusional, like that's not
possible, right, but we have tohold on to that.
No.
Delusional Like that's notpossible, right, but we have to
hold on to that.
No.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I believe there is a reality where our communities
can be well-resourced anddeserve to be.
Hi, I'm Dara, my pronouns areshe, her.
So I pulled the lilac wild cardwhich is create your own theme
word of gratitude.
And I'm not.
I have to be honest, I was alittle resentful when I pulled
it because I was like I'mlooking for answers here and now
(22:25):
.
Now I have to figure outsomething on my own.
But I appreciate that becauseit was like kind of what words
or themes of gratitude?
And I, I guess and it's not a Idon't know how, to's not a very
well-worded question, but thething that I've been thinking
about.
I do a lot of work around griefand kind of holding space for
(22:49):
collective pain and healing, andwhile I find the work
rejuvenating in some ways, Idon't necessarily build in
regular practice for myself.
And so this idea of balance insome way, or just kind of like
honoring all parts of me andbuilding that into a practice of
(23:15):
some sort, and so I don't know,maybe the word is practice or
honor something.
Speaker 12 (23:24):
Hi, I'm janna.
I use she, they pronouns um.
When I walked into here, thiswas not the event format I was
expecting.
So my intention I was reallytrying to tap into like what is
the opposite of I'm so tired, Idon't know how I can source this
sustainably and I landed onlet's just be curious, let's
(23:48):
just because, if we keep an openmind and approach it with
questions and wonder, I feellike it doesn't.
It doesn't kind of ignores thefact that there's something
heavy holding you down.
And then I pulled the cardcourage, which is a great
reminder that holding you down.
And then I pulled the cardcourage, which is a great
reminder that curiosity takescourage.
(24:10):
And that is something I want tokeep reminding myself because
I'm doing a lot of workreparenting the inner child and
that kind of positivity was notsomething I received or modeled.
So saying something as obviousas your curiosity is courageous
(24:32):
is a good start, I feel like,for me.
Speaker 13 (24:36):
Hello folks, my name is Chansey I go by she they
pronouns and when we starteddoing this, I was handpicking
like four different cards and Idid not like any of them, which
I know is not the point and thenI held all of them together in
one hand and one fell out, andit is the dandelion card, which
(25:01):
says tenacity.
Can you appreciate the time andeffort required to nurture the
things you truly love?
And, coincidentally, I had somedandelion root tea last night.
When I first saw this card, thefirst thing I thought about was
how there are so many movingparts to being human, many
(25:30):
moving parts to being human, andit's so hard to kind of juggle
everything or even focus on morethan one thing at a time.
And when I think of dandelions,I think of roots, and a constant
reminder I always have to thinkabout is focusing on my roots,
like a bonsai tree, if you will.
(25:51):
Even though they're really tiny, their root system is really
huge and connected.
And nurturing the things youtruly love is basically focusing
on your roots and reallyunderstanding who you are, what
you want, how your life issupposed to be fulfilling and
(26:14):
satisfying, because you could doboth.
And there's this one dream thatI always think about.
My grandpa passed last year andhe comes to me in dreams as
Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda.
He's a very wise being.
(26:35):
I was raised Buddhist, so but Ihad this dream where he was
that turtle and he was sittingon a bonsai tree and basically
telling me to just focus on myroots and if you do that, then
really nothing can tear you down.
(26:57):
And you just got to reallyfocus on that chakra and move on
with life, even thougheverything's messy, and you
can't focus on one thing at atime.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Thanks, hello, my name's Brandon.
He him, he them, he me Pronouns.
So the card I picked washumility, which I find really
ironic because I am the mosthumble person any of you will
(27:33):
ever meet.
Um, but my thoughts on it areyou so?
So this is so.
We're talking about democracyhere and, like I can't think
about democracy without thinkingabout, like you know, is it on
its way out and is thereanything that any of us can
really do?
And I think where humilityworks here is taking the time to
(27:59):
know that you don't know allthat there is to know and leave
yourself, leaving yourself opento learn from from everybody
around you and see where, seewhere, see where things are
going within your community.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Steven, he, him.
I pulled the wild card, lilacas well and there's only one
word that really comes to mindthat's kind of been
reverberating for me right now,which is surrender.
And surrender to me is it'ssomething that is not.
(28:46):
It's not easy to do, but if I'mpracticing real and honest
surrendering in my life, there'salways an element of trust that
I'm going to be okay, that I'mgoing to be taken care of.
That's what surrender means tome.
So that's the word I've beenusing.
I'm back in LA after athree-year detour Not a detour,
(29:07):
it was very meaningful andsignificant the last three years
of my life.
But I find myself back in LA,going.
Never thought I would be hereagain and I never thought I
would say that I'm happy to beback.
So my relationship with LA hasbeen sort of a love-hate thing,
but I am glad to be back and I'min surrendering.
(29:34):
You know I take a and thinkingabout gratitude and the practice
of gratitude, I take atrauma-informed approach just
because I know that for those ofus who have, you know,
sustained fairly heavy traumasin their life, gratitude is
something that does not comeeasily to us and there's a lot
(29:54):
of, you know, biological reasonsfor that.
So I also practice inner childreparenting techniques and
identifying what it is that Ididn't receive in childhood and
giving it to my inner child now,and I've found that to make a
huge difference in my life andhas shifted my availability to
(30:17):
be of service to other people.
It's made a profound impact.
So taking a trauma-informedapproach and recognizing that,
like gratitude, is somethingthat has been historically
extremely difficult for me topractice, um, I'm in a really
good position to help others whoalso struggle with the practice
of gratitude and um.
(30:37):
It's becoming much, much easierfor me and the fact that I'm
happy to be here and notexpecting to be back in Los
Angeles after three years is,you know, proof positive that
it's working in my life.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
Welcome back to LA.
Hello, I'm John He-Him.
I'm married to this lovelyhuman.
I came in here thinking aboutjoy and where to find joy.
There's a lot of.
(31:11):
We're all struggling with ourown struggles.
The world is struggling like amofo, and so finding joy that's
yeah, that's what I'm here with,and I'm, and we were just in
traffic on our way here and, andwe were trying to get here, and
you know, we have all of ourstuff to do, and Leah made me
(31:34):
laugh in the car, like a reallaugh.
Micro gratitudes, um.
I was like that those are thoselittle moments in all of this
that I'm, you know, holding onto.
I need to appreciate more.
I pulled the card, uh, humility, um, I put it back because, and
(32:00):
then I was like tenacity, yeah,that's a better card, uh, but
the humility thing I'm Canadian,so I think that I'm humble to a
fault, but in thinking about itI was like I don't think it's
humility.
I'm self-deprecating andsometimes insecure and maybe
fearful, and I don't know thatthat's real humility, and so I'm
(32:24):
going to sit with that andthink about that.
I'm very happy to be here.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
I'm Leah, she her pronouns.
I pulled the card humility andactually so beautiful.
The sentence underneath sayshumility is a quiet yet powerful
gift.
I love this so much and I thinkbecause the word quiet really
(32:52):
jumped out, in addition, ofcourse, to humility, and I was
like, oh, I think I'm reallycraving quiet and so being in
this space together actuallyfeels like it's meeting that
need really deeply, like beingquiet and reflective together.
And then my husband was reallyloud and I jumped five feet in
the air.
All to say, I'm just gratefulto be here, thank you.
Speaker 14 (33:12):
I'm Elaine, she her pronouns.
I also picked humility three ina row.
I also didn't want to talkabout it, so I chose to do trust
.
Yeah, I recently had a birthdayand then it was a lot for me.
I had a lot of self-doubt aboutwhere I was in life and
basically before I feel likewhen I was younger, I really
(33:33):
trusted all of my decisions.
I was very confident, honestly.
But lately, these last fewyears have been like kicking my
butt and now I'm not too sure.
Like yeah, on my birthday I waslike, oh, like do we like where
we are?
And I felt like, oh, I don'treally like it, but I'm just
(33:54):
choosing to trust the process, Iguess, and like going with my
gut.
And then for humility, for thatone, I felt like that was just
a sign to stop thinking aboutmyself so much.
That's what I took it as thankyou everyone for sharing.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I picked card number 23, the cosmos, representing the
theme of balance, and when Ipicked this card it was really
in the space of sacred listeningto you and my name, omar means
(34:28):
he who speaks, speaks.
So sacred listening is apractice, um, and I just there
are a lot of words that resonatedeeply, but I just wanted to
sort of reflect a few that cameup for me, even beginning with
jim and talking about theredwood, and he's like you know,
maybe someday this, the sapling, will become a redwood.
Well, saplingpling is Redwoodand the Redwood is also the seed
(34:50):
, and it just, you know, as Ithink about it, sometimes we
only think of something when itis big, but it, a Redwood, is
also a Redwood, even when it's aseed.
And so, like this is democracytoo, this is the sacred
listening too, and and and Ifeel like three of the words
that came up in thisconversation to me reflect that
(35:12):
Courage we had a guest on ourpodcast, radhika Vakaria, who's
a mantra singer, and she saidthat you don't need to protect
the heart, the heart isprotecting you.
You can't actually break aheart, you can only break
expectations, and expectationsare of the mind, and so just
(35:34):
this powerful reminder that wecan always lead with our hearts.
We don't actually don't need toprotect our hearts, our hearts
are protecting us.
And also, well, how does howdoes that happen?
And I think the two other wordsthat came up are roots and
humility, and part of whyredwood trees can grow as tall
as they grow is because theirroots are actually
(35:58):
interconnected in a grove,they're interconnected in a
community, and redwood treesactually have fairly shallow
roots for being the tallesttrees in the world, and it's
their roots that enable them towithstand wind and rain and fire
and all the sort oftumultuousness that can happen
(36:19):
in life, particularly life thatfor them is over a thousand, two
thousand years.
Right, but what are roots sortof planted in?
Roots are planted in humility.
The root word for humility ishumus, which is soil, and so I
just I think of these practicesas like how do we?
(36:42):
What soil are we rooting in?
Do we?
What soil are we rooting in?
What spaces are we creating tohelp us reparent, heal,
reconnect, so that we have thatsort of courage to face the
mysteries?
Speaker 15 (36:58):
I'm just so grateful to all of you for your stories.
We never know what's going tohappen in these circles, because
we are co-creating them to getthe stories together, and my
wish for all of us is just thatwe are leaving with the sense of
like oh my God, I am not alonein the heaviness, the fear of
the unknown, the transition, thechange, the chaos.
(37:21):
I just hope that we can allfeel a little bit less alone in
this journey because we are hereon this earth together.
And then now I can do the bigreveal.
So we saved the fearlessgratitude garden for the last of
the series, because it isactually the one that has the
(37:41):
most edgy themes.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
So we're just going to close with three breaths and
I just invite you to get in aposition that's comfortable for
you and close your eyes or justgently rest them.
And for this first breath, justinvite you to breathe in a
(38:08):
moment that may have happened inthe last hour or this today a
micro-gratitude.
Just breathe in thatmicro-gratitude.
And for this second breath, Ijust invite you to name what
(38:44):
might be a challenging emotionor feeling and just give
yourself permission to noticeand name that challenging
emotion or feeling.
And for this last breath what doyou want to take with you from
this circle for the rest of thisweek?
(39:04):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
My name is Omar Brownson, and Linda Liu and I
are co-hosts of the GratitudeLiving podcast, and we had Jim
Herr, who will welcome usofficially in a second, who is
the director of the DemocracyCenter here at the Japanese.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
American National.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Museum.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
As Omar said, I was a guest on the podcast a little
over a year ago.
I've known Omar for like 20some years and have followed him
through all of his variousiterations of his life.
I think we're on Omar 2.8 or3.6 or something, but always
fascinating and inspiring.
(00:47):
And he invited me to be on thepodcast and I was catching up on
some of the last few episodesand one of them was with Simon
Sinek, and Simon was talkingabout sort of the world today
and how gratitude shows up andthere were themes of that.
I saw in it themes of democracyand social justice and caring
(01:10):
for one another and how we oftenare willing to leave people
behind, and in a democracy wereally can't do that.
And so I went on the podcastand if and well, some of you
have done this process beforethis and if and some of you have
done this process before this,this sort of like looking at
issues and looking at thingsthrough the gratitude blooming
cards and that, this processthat they've developed.
(01:33):
And I was a curiosity, I thinkwasn't.
It was my card and and justthrough talking I this kind of
light bulb went off in my head.
It was like we need to do thispodcast around empathy and
democracy, and we have to haveit with people here so that they
can share and talk about things, and so that began this first
(01:54):
season four part season, fourpart series in the season that
follows the season.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
We're thrilled that thiscoincided with the VC Film Fest,
which is the Los Angeles AsianPacific Film Festival, and
Visual Communications is hereand many different sites
(02:15):
throughout Little Tokyo and LosAngeles, but have had a lot of
their main events here at themuseum and in the Democracy
Center, including a whole serieson democracy films about
democracy.
I'm grateful for BC, as it'sbeen a part of my life for
almost 25 years now and have andI owe a lot of my career and a
(02:39):
lot of my friendships and a lotof the what I show up as in the
world to the world, to theorganization and to the people
that have been such a big partof it, including its current
executive director, francisCriado.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I'm taking this Dao De Ching class right now and
I've done some work with thisZen master, Norma Wong, where
I'll listen and then reflectback through poetry, and so this
was in the last practice and Ithought it appropriate to share
today.
The name of the poem is calledAnger and Blame.
(03:18):
Never let go of the essentialtruth.
Let go of the flame ofrighteousness.
Correcting an imbalance withoutpeace creates more imbalance.
Blame is caught in duality.
If this, then that, ignoringthe larger causality, the weed
(03:41):
of blame is rooted in the soilof righteousness.
Heal the land and the weedshave no home.
I started the practice ofgratitude about 10 years ago,
and gratitude begins withnoticing good and as a practice,
(04:03):
the brain has a biological biasto focus on the negative, and
we call practice anything thatdisrupts habit.
So if the brain has a habit atlooking at the negative,
gratitude disrupts that bynoticing good.
But as I deepened into mypractice, I came up with this
(04:26):
frame called fearless gratitude.
So if gratitude makes visiblewhat we value, fearless
gratitude is about learningabout all the things that we're
making invisible all the thingsthat we're taking for granted,
and that's usually where ourfear exists.
We don't always want to centerour fear.
(04:47):
We want to sort of ignore it.
We put blinders on sometimes.
Sometimes it's just so we canget through the day, sometimes
it's because the pain is toomuch.
But it's also important toremember that our hearts have to
be open.
We talk oftentimes very muchlike from the head right, and
(05:10):
Lynn and I very much have comeout of that tradition as Asian
Americans and parents thatbelieved in a lot of a certain
type of success, and wecertainly were on those paths.
But the neuroscience,interestingly enough, is that
when we want to change something, it actually doesn't change
(05:32):
with our thoughts.
Our thoughts actually are beingdriven by our feelings and
emotions and our feelings andemotions are actually really
being driven by our body, right.
So if we're tired or stressedout or hungry like hangry, right
, it's a thing.
(05:53):
I was at Lowe's this morningbuying soil and there was a sign
that says plants get hangry too, which I thought was awesome.
But one of the biggest thingsthat shapes our bodies is
actually our environment.
There's a reason why there's ahealthcare foundation here in LA
(06:14):
that says your zip code is agreater determinant of your
health outcomes than your owngenetic code.
So it's our environment thatoften than your own genetic code
right.
So it's our environment thatoften shapes our own physical
health, which shapes ouremotional health, which shapes
our mental health, but thenshapes how we get to show up in
the world.
(06:35):
And the cool thing aboutgratitude as a social emotion is
, when I say thank you, jim,he's going to feel something
very different and that shapesthe environment that we're in.
If we begin with giving ofthanks and we begin with sort of
sharing our environment,recognizing that we're part of
(06:57):
something else, then all of asudden it is a little bit easier
for our bodies to settle down,that our somatic kind of body is
allowed to sort of relax andbreathe, which allows our
emotions to be present.
And when we can be present tothen all of a sudden not just
the good things, but thenpresent for those difficult
(07:18):
things and not get sort ofknocked off by them.
Then we can actually have themental sort of latitude to be
like how do I want to show up inthis moment?
right, there's this line in thepoem, blame is caught in duality
.
If this, then that, ignoringthe larger causality.
If we're stuck in if this, thenthat we're stuck in the world
(07:40):
of just reacting right, andthere's a lot to react to, and
we started this series kind ofrecognizing how do we tell a
different story and not just gofrom crisis to crisis, pain to
pain, and disrupt those cycles.
So we only have threeintentions in this space.
One is that your inner teacheris your best guide.
(08:03):
So therefore, number two,there's no need to fix or save
anyone else in this room.
Linda and I are not gurus.
We love the saying that thenext guru will be a sangha, and
a sangha is a community and thelast silence is a participant
(08:24):
and the last that silence is aparticipant.
We really like to think ofthese as a way to talk to the
plant world, to nature, and soif there's a question that maybe
you've been sort ofcontemplating, struggling with,
(08:45):
or maybe there's an intentionthat you want to sort of grow, a
seed that you want to plant andgrow, I sort of invite you to
just take a moment to thinkabout what that question might
be that you have in your liferight now.
Feel free to share, and I don'tknow if Francis, belinda or Jim
would like to go.
(09:06):
First and just I invite you toshare what that question or
intention might be and then topull a card.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So my intention is, what I would like to see is how
do we continue this work in thisformat or a different format,
or continue the conversation?
And I got Redwood, which isstrength.
Imagine yourself grounded likea great strong tree.
(09:36):
How does it feel yourselfgrounded like a great strong
tree?
How does it feel?
Going back to my wanting tosolve democracy in that first
episode?
Um, and, and coming out of thatepisode like not, I wouldn't
say disappointed, but like youknow, I, you know I kind of want
to get to the end, um, butunderstanding that even a
(09:57):
redwood, you know, started outas something very, very small at
one time, and so patience, Ithink, is something I need with
this process, and that it's notgoing to be a redwood this year
(10:17):
or next year or maybe thefollowing year, but it will
hopefully continue to grow.
And how do we nurture that andhaving the strength to continue
on, even though it may not begrowing fast enough or growing
at the rate that I want?
it to grow but having thestrength to just keep doing the
(10:39):
work so that it can grow.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Beautiful.
Thank you, did anything come upfor you, francis.
Speaker 7 (10:49):
Yeah, just to kind of piggyback with what Jim said.
He said strength.
I actually looked atvulnerability.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
A rose, I actually hate roses it's not that.
Speaker 7 (11:03):
I'm just sort of like I looked at it, somehow again
my allergies are gonna come, buta lot of that it was, you know,
just really thinking aboutgratitude and I just want to say
I've been grateful for Jim,especially the last three days
here and sort of hosting us withthe film festival, but also his
guidance throughout my tenureat Visual Communications.
So a lot of gratitude has beenemanating.
(11:27):
A lot of that is when thatcomes up for me because more
vulnerable, right, you know oneof the things that you think you
were mentioning practice issort of breaking habits and I
think a lot of our habits comefrom our you were mentioning
practice is sort of breakinghabits and I think a lot of our
habits come from our parents,from our previous generation, of
all these different things.
And you know, one of ourtaglines for this film festival
is even generational traumafeels good here and you know,
(11:51):
how do we actually, especiallyhere at the museum, how do we
face this back and uncover someof these things right?
How do we uncover not just losthistories because we're
marginalized in this series ofdemocracy but even our lost
histories and memories, becausewe don't want to deal with that
trauma?
And so when I think aboutgratitude, I'm actually more, I
(12:11):
do try to.
I try not to think about, youknow, sort of a world of
absolutism or kind of binary.
But when I think aboutgratitude, you know, I'm not
sure if I grew up with gratitude.
I think I grew up being toldnot to be ungrateful, right, and
so that's sort of that negativeside that puts it there.
(12:33):
And then I am looking at kind ofgratitude, to be vulnerable
about it.
I think it's just because youdon't want to give it so much in
abundance of it, because theremight be days and times that
it's hard for you to give thatright.
But you know, I think thinkingabout that and that's why I sort
of looked at the rows of beingvulnerable is to just really
(12:57):
it's okay that we don't havethat full power of gratitude
sometimes.
And how do we resourceourselves to think about all
these different things of beingso.
You know, I just touch on therose and I don't want to get
emotional here.
But, like you said, you feelthat softness of it, you feel
(13:19):
the veins of it.
It reminds me of my grandmawhen I last touched her head in
her casket right.
And so it's sort of that feelingof something alive but sort of
have to be part of the earthagain, right, be part of the
earth again, right?
So, and one of the things inthe practice and being
vulnerable and a lot of, I think, generational trauma for me has
(13:43):
been, you know, it's hard forme to live in the present.
They always say carpe diemright.
So live in the present or livein the moment.
I think a lot of that, just thatgenerational trauma of things
can be taken away, or so you'realways looking back what was
good, but also looking back whatcan be bad again, or looking
(14:03):
forward ahead, is not to liveinto the moment but to surrender
to the moment and just let it.
Whatever that be will be Right,and I think a lot of that again
(14:28):
with Jim sharing his story withwe care, right, what does it
mean to kind of really for usface the moment and surrender to
it and be vulnerable to it,right and and?
But also thinking about thatyou know you do have, we're very
optimistic people.
I, I'm very faithful because Ihave a lot of doubts, right, I'm
very this because I have thatand and um, just really, um, the
(14:53):
other thing I was looking at,balance too, is like I'm a libra
, so it's supposed to be abalance scale.
But the way it balanced outbecause this is a very, very
like wide pendulum, you know, atthe end sort of becomes equal,
but it's just very chaotic in away.
But I just want to say I thinkI'm very grateful, especially
for this day, because you knowthere's a lot of things
happening in this neighborhood.
(15:14):
We had a protest, we hadChildren here in the morning.
Part of the radical monarchneighborhood.
We had a protest.
We had children here in themorning.
Part of the Radical Monarchs.
We have Delicious Little Tokyo.
We have our film festival aspart of the neighborhood.
I'm just grateful for ourcommunity members making space
for each other and giving space,so thank you.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
I got courage and and this one felt particularly
timely as it is 2024 and it'selection year I found myself
recently in many conversationswith colleagues and people who
are in other institutions, suchas museums and cultural
(15:54):
institutions, planning on,making plans on how we can
engage community members in themost effective way to have
discussions about civics, voting, our rights, um, the climate in
(16:15):
our society, um, so manydifferent and difficult
conversations, um, and I thinkone of the biggest things I
appreciate with those groups isthat whenever we meet, um, every
now and then we'll do likecheck-ins and sometimes they'll
(16:35):
say our hosts will say, hey, howare you feeling today?
And the room is surprisinglyhonest.
There's not a lot ofcheerfulness when it comes to
looking forward towards the restof the year as it, with the
(17:04):
complications of anotherelection year that is coming.
I'm in a space where I'm oflike minds and I have people who
are in this corner who aretrying to do work to help
nurture and guide our democracyinto better light.
(17:25):
And so not to say that there isno hope, but sometimes it feels
hopeless at moments and it'sdiscouraging at moments and it's
discouraging, but when I'm inconversation with these groups,
it it feels very empowering andit gives me courage to stand up
and also put in the work,because it's hard, it's.
(17:47):
It's not something that is aneasy, easy job, but it's
something that needs to be donein order for our future
generations, for future saplingsand roses alike, to have what
it needs to grow.
Speaker 11 (18:06):
Ryan Fukuda.
I use pronouns like he, him andI actually work with VC and
flew down from Portland to workon the festival.
Here.
I pulled vulnerability I'vebeen pretty pessimistic lately
and what you were talking about.
It really resonates, and I'm nota very pessimistic person
(18:30):
usually, but I think what itactually I think is getting to
is this idea of exactly that andvulnerability.
I think I'm like I haven't beenvery vulnerable in my life, um
and but I want to help people, Iwant to do good and um, you
know, support community, and um,and so I think there's
(18:52):
something about that energy ofpessimism that's actually
getting to the point of like, oh, I actually want to do
something.
I have emotion about this, I'mangry, I'm yeah, just all the
emotions that I think areconsidered negative, I think,
and I've been feeling themlately, and what I really think
(19:16):
it boils down to is just, I wantto share more, I want to share
with myself more, I want tosupport community and yeah, and
so I think it's timely that thiscard was pulled, and I love
this what's on your all shall bewell, which is I do worry a lot
too, and so it's just nice tosee that on the card because
(19:40):
it's like okay, yeah, I forget Iforget everything's going to be
okay, Even though everythingout there looks like it's not
going to be okay.
but I know it will be because ofall of us.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hello, my name is Vega, my pronouns are she, her,
and I too drew vulnerability asmy card.
The rose name is Vega, mypronouns are she, her, and I too
drew vulnerability as my cardthe rose which is beautiful,
because we do have roses heretoday and my reflection was I
was thinking a lot aboutresources and I've been working
(20:14):
on this idea for myself and mycommunities, of this vision of
what if we were justwell-resourced to do what we're
here to do, because we're soconditioned to doing such
beautiful work and efforts andorganizing on so very little and
we've gotten really good atthat, and my particular focus is
(20:37):
focusing on BIPOC andmarginalized healers, creative
leaders, because the lastsession we had was holding space
for space holders.
Right, like I identify as that,I have a community of that and
especially here in SouthernCalifornia, we're all just
scrambling around to do our bestand then to show up to hold
(20:57):
space and give of our energy, beit healing, be it community
building.
And so my vision is what if wewere just coming from a really
well-resourced, well-taken careof place, and what kind of power
we could hold then?
And so the vulnerability card.
What it made me think about iswhen you have these visions of
(21:21):
projects, ideas.
It takes a lot of vulnerabilityto put it out there and talk to
people about it.
Can you know like can I holdthis vision that my community is
well resourced in every area,and just hold that vision,
believe it to be true, believewe deserve it and believe that
we can make that.
So To hold that and just in theface of everything, right, like
(21:47):
I'm a Pisces and an Aquarius,you know blend.
And so I think our fears ofbeing dreamers and visionaries
is that people will say you aredelusional, like that's not
possible, right, but we have tohold on to that.
No.
Delusional Like that's notpossible, right, but we have to
hold on to that.
No.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I believe there is a reality where our communities
can be well-resourced anddeserve to be.
Hi, I'm Dara, my pronouns areshe, her.
So I pulled the lilac wild cardwhich is create your own theme
word of gratitude.
And I'm not.
I have to be honest, I was alittle resentful when I pulled
it because I was like I'mlooking for answers here and now
(22:25):
.
Now I have to figure outsomething on my own.
But I appreciate that becauseit was like kind of what words
or themes of gratitude?
And I, I guess and it's not a Idon't know how, to's not a very
well-worded question, but thething that I've been thinking
about.
I do a lot of work around griefand kind of holding space for
(22:49):
collective pain and healing, andwhile I find the work
rejuvenating in some ways, Idon't necessarily build in
regular practice for myself.
And so this idea of balance insome way, or just kind of like
honoring all parts of me andbuilding that into a practice of
(23:15):
some sort, and so I don't know,maybe the word is practice or
honor something.
Speaker 12 (23:24):
Hi, I'm janna.
I use she, they pronouns um.
When I walked into here, thiswas not the event format I was
expecting.
So my intention I was reallytrying to tap into like what is
the opposite of I'm so tired, Idon't know how I can source this
sustainably and I landed onlet's just be curious, let's
(23:48):
just because, if we keep an openmind and approach it with
questions and wonder, I feellike it doesn't.
It doesn't kind of ignores thefact that there's something
heavy holding you down.
And then I pulled the cardcourage, which is a great
reminder that holding you down.
And then I pulled the cardcourage, which is a great
reminder that curiosity takescourage.
(24:10):
And that is something I want tokeep reminding myself because
I'm doing a lot of workreparenting the inner child and
that kind of positivity was notsomething I received or modeled.
So saying something as obviousas your curiosity is courageous
(24:32):
is a good start, I feel like,for me.
Speaker 13 (24:36):
Hello folks, my name is Chansey I go by she they
pronouns and when we starteddoing this, I was handpicking
like four different cards and Idid not like any of them, which
I know is not the point and thenI held all of them together in
one hand and one fell out, andit is the dandelion card, which
(25:01):
says tenacity.
Can you appreciate the time andeffort required to nurture the
things you truly love?
And, coincidentally, I had somedandelion root tea last night.
When I first saw this card, thefirst thing I thought about was
how there are so many movingparts to being human, many
(25:30):
moving parts to being human, andit's so hard to kind of juggle
everything or even focus on morethan one thing at a time.
And when I think of dandelions,I think of roots, and a constant
reminder I always have to thinkabout is focusing on my roots,
like a bonsai tree, if you will.
(25:51):
Even though they're really tiny, their root system is really
huge and connected.
And nurturing the things youtruly love is basically focusing
on your roots and reallyunderstanding who you are, what
you want, how your life issupposed to be fulfilling and
(26:14):
satisfying, because you could doboth.
And there's this one dream thatI always think about.
My grandpa passed last year andhe comes to me in dreams as
Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda.
He's a very wise being.
(26:35):
I was raised Buddhist, so but Ihad this dream where he was
that turtle and he was sittingon a bonsai tree and basically
telling me to just focus on myroots and if you do that, then
really nothing can tear you down.
(26:57):
And you just got to reallyfocus on that chakra and move on
with life, even thougheverything's messy, and you
can't focus on one thing at atime.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Thanks, hello, my name's Brandon.
He him, he them, he me Pronouns.
So the card I picked washumility, which I find really
ironic because I am the mosthumble person any of you will
(27:33):
ever meet.
Um, but my thoughts on it areyou so?
So this is so.
We're talking about democracyhere and, like I can't think
about democracy without thinkingabout, like you know, is it on
its way out and is thereanything that any of us can
really do?
And I think where humilityworks here is taking the time to
(27:59):
know that you don't know allthat there is to know and leave
yourself, leaving yourself opento learn from from everybody
around you and see where, seewhere, see where things are
going within your community.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Steven, he, him.
I pulled the wild card, lilacas well and there's only one
word that really comes to mindthat's kind of been
reverberating for me right now,which is surrender.
And surrender to me is it'ssomething that is not.
(28:46):
It's not easy to do, but if I'mpracticing real and honest
surrendering in my life, there'salways an element of trust that
I'm going to be okay, that I'mgoing to be taken care of.
That's what surrender means tome.
So that's the word I've beenusing.
I'm back in LA after athree-year detour Not a detour,
(29:07):
it was very meaningful andsignificant the last three years
of my life.
But I find myself back in LA,going.
Never thought I would be hereagain and I never thought I
would say that I'm happy to beback.
So my relationship with LA hasbeen sort of a love-hate thing,
but I am glad to be back and I'min surrendering.
(29:34):
You know I take a and thinkingabout gratitude and the practice
of gratitude, I take atrauma-informed approach just
because I know that for those ofus who have, you know,
sustained fairly heavy traumasin their life, gratitude is
something that does not comeeasily to us and there's a lot
(29:54):
of, you know, biological reasonsfor that.
So I also practice inner childreparenting techniques and
identifying what it is that Ididn't receive in childhood and
giving it to my inner child now,and I've found that to make a
huge difference in my life andhas shifted my availability to
(30:17):
be of service to other people.
It's made a profound impact.
So taking a trauma-informedapproach and recognizing that,
like gratitude, is somethingthat has been historically
extremely difficult for me topractice, um, I'm in a really
good position to help others whoalso struggle with the practice
of gratitude and um.
(30:37):
It's becoming much, much easierfor me and the fact that I'm
happy to be here and notexpecting to be back in Los
Angeles after three years is,you know, proof positive that
it's working in my life.
Speaker 10 (30:51):
Welcome back to LA.
Hello, I'm John He-Him.
I'm married to this lovelyhuman.
I came in here thinking aboutjoy and where to find joy.
There's a lot of.
(31:11):
We're all struggling with ourown struggles.
The world is struggling like amofo, and so finding joy that's
yeah, that's what I'm here with,and I'm, and we were just in
traffic on our way here and, andwe were trying to get here, and
you know, we have all of ourstuff to do, and Leah made me
(31:34):
laugh in the car, like a reallaugh.
Micro gratitudes, um.
I was like that those are thoselittle moments in all of this
that I'm, you know, holding onto.
I need to appreciate more.
I pulled the card, uh, humility, um, I put it back because, and
(32:00):
then I was like tenacity, yeah,that's a better card, uh, but
the humility thing I'm Canadian,so I think that I'm humble to a
fault, but in thinking about itI was like I don't think it's
humility.
I'm self-deprecating andsometimes insecure and maybe
fearful, and I don't know thatthat's real humility, and so I'm
(32:24):
going to sit with that andthink about that.
I'm very happy to be here.
Speaker 8 (32:30):
I'm Leah, she her pronouns.
I pulled the card humility andactually so beautiful.
The sentence underneath sayshumility is a quiet yet powerful
gift.
I love this so much and I thinkbecause the word quiet really
(32:52):
jumped out, in addition, ofcourse, to humility, and I was
like, oh, I think I'm reallycraving quiet and so being in
this space together actuallyfeels like it's meeting that
need really deeply, like beingquiet and reflective together.
And then my husband was reallyloud and I jumped five feet in
the air.
All to say, I'm just gratefulto be here, thank you.
Speaker 14 (33:12):
I'm Elaine, she her pronouns.
I also picked humility three ina row.
I also didn't want to talkabout it, so I chose to do trust
.
Yeah, I recently had a birthdayand then it was a lot for me.
I had a lot of self-doubt aboutwhere I was in life and
basically before I feel likewhen I was younger, I really
(33:33):
trusted all of my decisions.
I was very confident, honestly.
But lately, these last fewyears have been like kicking my
butt and now I'm not too sure.
Like yeah, on my birthday I waslike, oh, like do we like where
we are?
And I felt like, oh, I don'treally like it, but I'm just
(33:54):
choosing to trust the process, Iguess, and like going with my
gut.
And then for humility, for thatone, I felt like that was just
a sign to stop thinking aboutmyself so much.
That's what I took it as thankyou everyone for sharing.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
I picked card number 23, the cosmos, representing the
theme of balance, and when Ipicked this card it was really
in the space of sacred listeningto you and my name, omar means
(34:28):
he who speaks, speaks.
So sacred listening is apractice, um, and I just there
are a lot of words that resonatedeeply, but I just wanted to
sort of reflect a few that cameup for me, even beginning with
jim and talking about theredwood, and he's like you know,
maybe someday this, the sapling, will become a redwood.
Well, saplingpling is Redwoodand the Redwood is also the seed
(34:50):
, and it just, you know, as Ithink about it, sometimes we
only think of something when itis big, but it, a Redwood, is
also a Redwood, even when it's aseed.
And so, like this is democracytoo, this is the sacred
listening too, and and and Ifeel like three of the words
that came up in thisconversation to me reflect that
(35:12):
Courage we had a guest on ourpodcast, radhika Vakaria, who's
a mantra singer, and she saidthat you don't need to protect
the heart, the heart isprotecting you.
You can't actually break aheart, you can only break
expectations, and expectationsare of the mind, and so just
(35:34):
this powerful reminder that wecan always lead with our hearts.
We don't actually don't need toprotect our hearts, our hearts
are protecting us.
And also, well, how does howdoes that happen?
And I think the two other wordsthat came up are roots and
humility, and part of whyredwood trees can grow as tall
as they grow is because theirroots are actually
(35:58):
interconnected in a grove,they're interconnected in a
community, and redwood treesactually have fairly shallow
roots for being the tallesttrees in the world, and it's
their roots that enable them towithstand wind and rain and fire
and all the sort oftumultuousness that can happen
(36:19):
in life, particularly life thatfor them is over a thousand, two
thousand years.
Right, but what are roots sortof planted in?
Roots are planted in humility.
The root word for humility ishumus, which is soil, and so I
just I think of these practicesas like how do we?
(36:42):
What soil are we rooting in?
Do we?
What soil are we rooting in?
What spaces are we creating tohelp us reparent, heal,
reconnect, so that we have thatsort of courage to face the
mysteries?
Speaker 15 (36:58):
I'm just so grateful to all of you for your stories.
We never know what's going tohappen in these circles, because
we are co-creating them to getthe stories together, and my
wish for all of us is just thatwe are leaving with the sense of
like oh my God, I am not alonein the heaviness, the fear of
the unknown, the transition, thechange, the chaos.
(37:21):
I just hope that we can allfeel a little bit less alone in
this journey because we are hereon this earth together.
And then now I can do the bigreveal.
So we saved the fearlessgratitude garden for the last of
the series, because it isactually the one that has the
(37:41):
most edgy themes.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
So we're just going to close with three breaths and
I just invite you to get in aposition that's comfortable for
you and close your eyes or justgently rest them.
And for this first breath, justinvite you to breathe in a
(38:08):
moment that may have happened inthe last hour or this today a
micro-gratitude.
Just breathe in thatmicro-gratitude.
And for this second breath, Ijust invite you to name what
(38:44):
might be a challenging emotionor feeling and just give
yourself permission to noticeand name that challenging
emotion or feeling.
And for this last breath what doyou want to take with you from
this circle for the rest of thisweek?
(39:04):
Thank you so much for joiningus.
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