The Gratitude Project

Tending the Dream of Gratitude

The Sacred Grove holds an image for going within to heal. It’s a container for the inner work of our individual and collective growth. This Substack is a personal exploration of my inner work through dream tending, literary art, and understanding relational dynamics that wound. It’s semi-private for when I need to retreat deeper into the grove where I wish to preserve personal space while sharing dreams, trauma insight, and recovery (of Self) narratives.

The Gratitude Project, however, is freely offered to anyone with access to reach this Sacred Grove. I’m teaching/developing a free online course for veterans and their staunchest allies—caregivers, and for lack of a better title, I simply call it the Gratitude Project. From September through May, we meet every other week on Zoom to strengthen a gratitude practice by facing our hardships together, reclaiming joy, sharing grief, and celebrating love.

Like Dream Tending, the Gratitude Project is meant to be expansive community circles. The Sacred Grove will now be a part of the expansion through a free monthly offering: On the second Monday of every month, I’ll post something from our course, share resources, and open comments for anyone who wants to interact.

NOTE: this is not space for sharing deeper issues; to keep it free this space will remain public. I want to clarify this point since one purpose of paid subscriptions is to provide private space for the discussion of trauma/abuse/caregiving-for-brain-degeneration topics. The other is to generate income from my writing since my caregiving responsibilities and personal recovery of wholeness limit my options.

Why launch today, February 10, 2025? It might seem arbitrary but I’ve been aiming for this particular date. It’s a “small gain” to meet a deadline after losing that ability. It’s a step toward re-launching my beloved Carrot Ranch for the community, characters, and collective 99-word stories I have missed deeply since attempting to sort out the migration of my 12-year-old literary website. Today marks the tenth anniversary of 1,000 Voices for Compassion.

In 2015, I never imagined that 2025 would look like this. But in the shadows, our lights shine brightest. We cannot kill what we perceive as the nightmare. We exist in a world that is both good/bad, loving/hateful, jealous/compassionate, resentful/grateful. We learn to be both muddy messes and enlightened souls. We embrace our shadow selves to learn from those parts. My hypervigilance teaches me to recognize patterns. My desire for stability teaches me how to cook tasty and healthful meals. My loneliness teaches me how to build community. My fear teaches me to speak up and advocate for my Self and others.

This is where we begin to authentically feel Gratitude. The Jungians call this the tension between opposites. If you build a Gratitude Practice based on understanding that a third option will emerge from between the conflicting emotions/experiences/thoughts/dreams, then you will get it. If you remain stuck in rigid thinking (that something has to be annihilated), your gratitudes will merely become platitudes. To truly experience the gift of Gratitude you have to tend the conflict in your life.

On this Tenth Anniversary of a thousand-plus writers, artists, and healers around the world, I welcome you to the Sacred Grove to cultivate a lifelong Gratitude Practice that will cost you nothing but time and reflection well spent.

The first step in the Gratitude Project is awareness. Over the next month, I want you to become more aware of your sense of gratitude. Sit with gratitude and feel it in your bones, let it course through your blood. Let Soma (body) tell Psyche (soul) where you feel gratitude, how you feel gratitude, and what gratitude is to YOU. Then ask what is gratitude’s opposite. We want to find the point of tension.

Negative gratitude might be jealousy or resentment. Maybe it’s more complicated. Maybe you feel sad and you live in a situation that is isolating. You want to write but can’t find the energy to share your ideas or stories. Then someone who is happy and connected comes along with a brilliant essay in your feed and you notice they have what you want. And it brings out a growler in you, a raging (or maybe just a mumbling) monster. Wait…don’t kill it. Invite the monster to talk to you. Understand this figure is your opposite of what embodies Gratitude.

Be able to sit with each. Feel the negative and the positive sides of Gratitude. Hold both and feel the shift that takes place. A little give or softness. A little empathy for your Self. Compassion. Love. Let that space expand and understand it happens when you can hold space for both your shadow and light. Joy likes to indwell in this space. In fact, joy can open up this space.

Here’s a meditation to practice feeling the opposite from Do Yoga With Me: Yoga Nidra With Jennifer Piercy. Select “4. Mini Practice for Emotions.” This meditation is free, but you need to sign up for the free version of Do Yoga With Me. If Yoga Nidra blows your mind, there are longer practices and more free options on YouTube.

Heavy emotional lifting or any kind of inner work at depths can make you feel discombobulated. To ground and feel safe in your body, do Somatic Movement! If you are a Dreamer like me, and music moves you internally, your Soma might love a playlist of MOVE songs. I have a playlist made up of all the songs that come to me through dreams or make me feel. When I need Somatic Movement, I light a candle (open the ritual) and shuffle the playlist to let three songs play while I move according to what my body needs.

Did you know an upstairs room can become a drum? That your body once to repeat a movement from one side to the other? Soma can sway, drop to knees, roll around, run in circles, or dance. The point is to move energy out of your body to release discomfort. Yes, going for a walk, bike ride, or paddle counts. The added layer of music helps connect body and soul.

What next? Track three things every day. You decide. How can you bring Gratitude to a fender bender? To unexpected snow to shovel? To a spilled cup of coffee? Remember, you’ll find authentic Gratitude in exploring the tension each situation, relationship, or experience offers you. You will discover compassion for your Self and others with this practice.

For now, that’s enough. Practice your awareness and track three things from your day to find Gratitude in unlikely places. Do some Yoga Nidra and move your body. Thank your soul for its effort. It’s not an easy time, but it is the best time to start a Gratitude practice. Until next time (March 10, 2025), feel free to share any experiences, ask questions, or introduce yourself.