The Tracker’s Guide to Gratitude

What if gratitude were more than a feeling—what if it were a way of seeing? In the January 19, 2025 episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, “An Attitude of Gratitude,” Michael Douglas introduces the Thanksgiving Address not just as a Mohawk tradition, but as a framework for survival awareness.

Starting with people—because separation from each other is the original disconnection—Michael guides listeners outward through the natural world, layer by layer: from body language to bird language, from geology to sky signs. This isn’t poetic musing. It’s structured pattern recognition. It’s primitive skills training for the heart and senses.

With gratitude as our compass, the everyday becomes a training ground. A tree’s uneven limb growth becomes a record of wind and shadow. The pause in bird song signals a predator, or something stranger. Even the moon’s cycle becomes a marker of seasonal readiness. This isn’t abstract spirituality—it’s practical awareness. These are ancestral skills, honed through necessity, now offered through intention.

Michael’s message is clear: Awareness begins with appreciation. Not in a vague or sentimental way, but in a methodical, sensory sequence. This tool, gifted by the Haudenosaunee people and shared through decades of mentorship, becomes a lens for seeing both landscape and legacy. As we practice it, we begin to track not just the wild—but ourselves.

Listen to the full episode and explore how structured gratitude can sharpen your senses and steady your path.
👉 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dear-grandchildren-a-trackers-tale/id1786276274?i=1000684575661