Pt 1; GRATITUDE + Ancestral Responsibility

How do we hold the responsibility of being good Ancestors? How do we walk as the living face of our lineages? How can gratitude be a twofold act?

Yesterday, I could not ignore the depth of complexity, so dense in the air of this ‘National American Holiday’. Honestly, that complicated feeling is on my heart every year, but this year it was especially loud. It seems we are being asked to not turn away, from anything, on a whole new level of truth. And it had me considering the ways that I show up, in my completely mundane day-to-day reality, that can be oriented towards healing & repair on multiple layers of being.

It also had me thinking a lot about GRATITUDE. What a complex & beautiful notion. And yet I recognize deeply the irony of a day so full of gratitude and oriented towards celebration of life, when there has been so much sacrifice to facilitate where we’re at. In more ways than one — not only the sacrifice and pain enacted towards the native peoples of what is now known as the USA, but ALSO the sacrifice of our own ancestors, to allow us to be here today. I am still holding both the tension and gift that is within the fold of its complexity.

This got me thinking about how Gratitude, when engaged with properly, is an ACTIVE force in the world. It is not something simply meant to keep us complacent and passive to the state of things — but something that can be used to RESOURCE and mobilize us, into using our own vital energies towards real change.

In a capitalist society that has ingrained the belief in us that we will never have enough, that we will never be enough — Gratitude is a radical act. it directly acknowledges that in fact we DO have something. And that something has provided us with enough support, that we can recognize the gift of having it in our lives. That is the force of gratitude that can change our perspectives, that can change our stories about our own life & path, and propel us forward into deeper action. So how do we use Gratitude as an active force or agent of change in the world, rather than allow us to become complacent?

Without an object of focus, or a directive for our gratitude to be pointed towards, it doesn’t really do anything. When we post an image on instagram and hashtag ‘grateful’, the generality of that statement kind of renders it somewhat empty. I’m not trying to be critical — it’s BEAUTIFUL to be grateful. It’s gorgeous to appreciate your life. And, as an active force, what does that gratitude ignite in you? When you have a full cup, where or what can your pour into with that excess abundance?

I believe there’s something transformative that happens when we recognize what we’re grateful for, AND simultaneously recognize the sacrifice that was required for us to have what we have, right now. THAT is alchemical. That says — “yes, I have this, and it’s such a beautiful gift; but I also hold the tension of what was lost or sacrificed, to allow things to be as they are today.”

To recognize what had to be sacrificed to allow us to have what we’re so grateful for in this present moment. That, I think, is an Ancestral Responsibility. That is how our gratitude becomes a transformative force. That allows us to hold both the darkness and the light, simultaneously. And that is where something can begin to move, to change.

I am grateful to have the life and community that I have today. I also recognize the sacrifices made by each of the lineages that have suffered and survived, SO that I can be here today. I am the prayer of my ancestors, returned and answered. I hold that responsibility with deep preciousness and reverence.

I am grateful to be safe, and have a place to call home. I also recognize that the home that I live in was built on Native Land, and that its existence was at the sacrifice of the Haudenosaunee peoples territory, their own homeland. I hold the tension of this with presence and a recognition of incomplete repair. The Land Back movement is ongoing and I choose to support in the ways that I can — it is an act of restorative justice and reciprocity to what was stolen. AND — what can I do in this moment, as the Land Back movement will not happen overnight? How can I wake each day under the privilege of this home and its roof, and orient myself towards a form of repair that can be a part of my daily practice?

So how can I do right by my own ancestors, AND bring forward some level of recognition and accountability of how my ancestors have also enacted or perpetuated white settler-colonizer activity on the land & peoples of North America? How do I hold that tension with care & intentionality? What can I do in this moment, as the threshold where both of these realities meet?

This is where Ancestral Accountability & Responsibility takes precedence for me, in how I move through the world on a daily basis. This is where the tension meets in my own body, and how I walk through the world. This is how my gratitude propels me into an active participation, a form of repair I can engage with every day, embedded into my own personal practice. Because what is all this spirituality for, if I’m not moving towards repair and change in the world itself?

The practice of Ancestral Lineage work and repair is perhaps more subtle than you’d expect, but it’s something that can be engaged with anywhere, anytime and moment of your day. And I personally experience it as something deeply personal, a way to engage with the repair needed between YOU and the ancestors of land & place. It brings many layers and thresholds to the experience of your life on Earth, especially if you’re living on stolen land. Again, the Land Back movement is tangible mobilization and repair work in action, and so this is my own answer to “what can I do about this personally, every day?” — I believe the larger movements are a sum of all the smaller parts that make it up, and this is a portion of that.

In Part 2 of this piece, I’ll share with you the main practice of Ancestral Repair & accountability work! <3

Thank you for reading & for BEING HERE. All my love!

Slán agus beannacht!

xx, Teagan