The Gratitude Project for Change
Over the past five years, a small group of local change-makers have been imagining a shift in our culture where we deliberately take time to think, to talk to each other, to write in our journals, to listen deeply to the sounds of Nature, and to each other as we remind ourselves of all of our reasons to be grateful.
When we convene, we deliberately count our blessings and are inspired by the beauty that surrounds us. We listen and enjoy hearing the words of poets, writers, rivers rushing, wind blowing and thinking about our priorities, relationships, and our emerging conversations.
Whether it’s a poem by Rumi (1207 — 1273) who wrote:
Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn’t make any sense.
… or an insightful reading from the Richard Wagamese (1955 – 2017) Book: Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations
My Spiritual Father once told me, “Nothing in the universe ever grew from the outside in.” I like that. It keeps me grounded. It reminds me to be less concerned with outside answers and more focused on the questions inside. It’s the quest for those answers that will lead me to the highest possible version of myself.
… or a reminder of the timeless Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964) quote from The Sense of Wonder:
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.
or the anecdote attributed to Natasha Weber prompting us to:
”Think of a nurse who, after a gruelling shift, watches the sunrise on her drive home. That fleeting moment of beauty doesn’t erase her exhaustion, but it reminds her why she does the work. Gratitude emerges not as forced optimism, but as a natural response to seeing beyond herself. Awe, in this way, acts as a bridge to a more thankful state of mind.”
We leave the gatherings feeling calmer, energized and more connected to each other and to this place.
Since March 2023, our small working group has been chatting and meeting and thinking and refining our ideas related to this initiative.
Now it’s March 2026 and we are ready to offer you a sneak peek of: The Gratitude Manifesto for Change. It’s early days for us as we advance the agenda and connect the dots to this 2,000 year old human conversation, inspired by the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero (107 BC – 44 BC):
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Gratitude is core to us, as human beings and essential to our work as leaders, change-makers and compassionate, thoughtful, honest thinkers. Gratitude always puts us back on solid ground, a point of recalibration for our moral compass and is the kind of change that is healing and empowering.
The Gratitude Manifesto for Change:
Vision: To practice gratitude as a defining leadership advantage
Solution: To convene conversations that savour the glimmers of gratitude in our life stories, especially in times of challenge.
Slogan: In a world that rushes forward, we pause to pay attention and reflect
With thanks to all who are helping this nascent initiative to keep growing and linking our roots and shoots with others. If you would like to participate in an upcoming morning mixer, or if you are interested in learning more about this, our community based Gratitude Project, please get in touch with Lorraine Widmer-Carson.
I am not interested in weapons, whether words or guns, I want to be part of the rescue team for our tired, overcrowded planet. The rescuers will be those people who help other people to think clearly, to be honest and open-minded. They will be an anti-dote to those people who disconnect us. They will de-objectify, rehumanize and make others more understandable and sympathetic.
Mary Pipher, from Writing to Change the World
