Giving thanks for all those things that are good in our lives is basic to indigenous ways of being in the world. We are wired to pay more attention to that which does not work, to that which is dangerous to life. You are here because your ancestors were on the look-out for snakes and tigers. Nowadays that translates as the only news is bad news. Good news does not get reported. It translates into the apocalyptic narrative that human activity will soon end life as we know it. And it ignores good news, such as the vast numbers of people currently coming out of poverty, or the ongoing net reforestation of the world, or that we are now overall giving land back to nature instead of taking it.
The ability to see these good things can take place when we give thanks. Indigenous people understand our human propensity to dwell on that which is not working, and to take that which is working for granted. It is urgent that we remember the hopeful trends today, when often all we can see is the apocalyptic narrative.
We all know the bad things, I am not denying them. But we do not generally know, or even have space for, the good things, so consuming is the bad news, the apocalyptic story. Here is an interview about some of the good things, based on publicly available data. It's a bit materialistic, but it makes the point. Give thanks for all these good things that modern humanity is doing. I think we're gonna make it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIANLddo-ec
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