Gratitude

Gratitude is represented as a powerful shaper of worldview, according to Kimmerer. More than any other concept, Kimmerer views gratitude as having the power to change individual outlooks, making humans feel happier and more contented with what they have; collective outlooks, making communities feel obligated to give back to the people and things that provide for them; and entire economies, making humans less likely to seek emotional fulfillment through the consumption of material goods and thus undermining the market and consumer economy.

For Kimmerer, the most paradigmatic way in which gratitude can be observed and practiced is through the concept of gifts. When one learns to view the berries on a bush as a gift, or the rain after a drought as a gift, one realizes how much the earth provides and how lucky humans are to receive these things. Sustenance becomes attainable through the simplest of means...