Gratitude Blooming Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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This week, we are joined by beloved movement creatrix adrienne maree brown in a conversation about talking with trees, finding your murmuration, and holding complexity (and each other). With wisdom from Gratitude Blooming’s rose card representing choice, the celebrated author of Emergent Strategy joins co-hosts Belinda Liu and Omar Brownson for an insightful conversation on building right relationships, the power of proximity and her new book Loving Corrections.

We unravel the threads of how capitalism and colonization pull us away from our local communities and the urgent need for spiritual technologies to navigate global crises. Listen in as adrienne shares her wisdom on staying present and connected with our surroundings and the people closest to us, drawing from personal experiences and collective actions like passing a ceasefire resolution with her community in Durham, NC.

How does a budding spring rosebud symbolize the myriad of decisions we face in life? 

In an illustration rich with metaphor, we explore the intricate paths of personal growth and choices, inspired by the branching paths of a rose drawing. From enchanting writing retreats in Ireland to the meditative act of planting rose bushes, we reflect on the lessons nature teaches us about balance, protection, and growth. Each choice, whether familiar or uncharted, blossoms with its own potential and beauty, mirroring our life's journey.

Art and activism intertwine beautifully as we celebrate the power of creativity in times of political and emotional upheaval. Drawing from a spring equinox excerpt from her new book, adrienne maree brown shares how poetry, song, and spells can transform overwhelming emotions into life-affirming art. 

By turning chaos into creative expressions, we find ways to embrace joy, authenticity, and a positive outlook.  We hope the heartfelt stories and actionable insights shared in this episode inspire you to turn tough emotions into meaningful actions and cultivate beauty and resilience even in the most challenging times.

Deepen your exploration of Gratitude Blooming's Card #3 CHOICE / SPRING ROSE by tuning into our song and other episodes on choice here:

https://www.gratitudeblooming.com/choice

Explore adrienne's work here:
adrienne maree brown is growing a garden of healing ideas through her multi-genre writing, her collaborations and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

What shapes our identity and fuels our courage to challenge societal norms? Today, we revisit an inspiring conversation with Jim Herr, director of the Democracy Center at the Japanese American National Museum. Jim opens up about his experiences as a Hapa kid in rural Pennsylvania, where he faced exclusion and was told he couldn't be president because of his skin color. His journey from feeling marginalized to leading critical discussions on democracy and empathy offers a compelling narrative of personal growth and resilience. We also touch upon artist Arlene Kim Suda's reflections on cultural identity and the unique pressures mixed-race individuals navigate, emphasizing the crucial role of community in embracing our differences and moving towards a more inclusive society.

Curiosity can be a powerful tool against fear. We explore how engaging with what makes us uncomfortable can lead to deeper understanding and diminish fear's hold on our lives. By taking small, intentional steps, we can conquer our anxieties and live more fulfilling lives. To help keep curiosity alive, we introduce practical tools like the Garden of Curiosity note cards and candles from the Gratitude Blooming shop. These simple reminders encourage us to end each day with a moment of pause and curiosity, fostering peace and a sense of renewal regardless of the day's challenges. Join us for this uplifting episode that showcases the transformative potential of curiosity and empathy.

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

How do you find hope and personal empowerment in the face of war and political unrest? 

According to Lea Endres, the CEO of NationBuilder, democracy is the least violent form of government currently known to humans.  It's a system. It's also an idea. And it lives in our imaginations. 

Research shows that when citizens are actively engaged in showing up for their community,  it can actually turn the tide in countries that have slid into authoritarianism.  Human beings will not endorse or advocate for violence against another group until they have dehumanized that group.  Dehumanization is a prerequisite for violence.

Lea reminds us that we each have personal power and agency.  When institutions fail, it's actually civil society that can bring us back into a healthy balance.

For our second live podcast series, we reimagine democracy as an everyday practice of listening, speaking, and asking questions in a new way to humanize one another and build our muscle of empathy.

Tune into this raw, inquisitive conversation with our live audience, the Gratitude Blooming team, Jim Herr from the Democracy Center, and Lea Endres from NationBuilder.

Enjoy the captivating intro and closing beats of the Taiko drummers from On Ensemble to notice more fully with your heart.   

Share your perspective as you experience this practice with us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com!   

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Strength is represented by the redwood, Card #13. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and interconnected by a unique root system. The etymology of the word strength means to string together. The roots of redwoods are strung together so the trees are stronger together. Leave us a message or text our new Gratitude Hotline: 510-866-9648. 
We want to hear from you. 

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Gentleness is represented by the gardenia, Card #31. The roots of gratitude can be found in gentleness and kindness. Being kind creates the conditions for gratitude to flourish. Leave us a message or text our new Gratitude Hotline: 510-866-9648. We want to hear from you. 

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Remembrance is represented by the poppy, Card #26. It’s the state flower of California and grows wild. Showing up each year, it helps us to remember each season the changes in life. It stirred memories of our grandparents. Who do you want to honor? Send us your Gratitude Blooming message or text at 510-866-9648. We want to hear your stories of appreciation. 

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Hope is symbolized by the azalea, Gratitude Blooming Card #15. Our youth often represent our hope. This week we were inspired by the school writing program Get Lit. This episode is a great one to share with children (and their parents!) There is a special guest meditation teacher too.

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Mystery is an invitation to embrace the unknown. Gratitude Blooming Card #25 is represented by the orchid, which goes back more than 100 million years. It transcends the day-to-day time that can limit your imagination of what is possible. To be in touch with mystery is to create space for both the miraculous and the mundane. 

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

The name agapanthus is derived from the Greek word agapē which means brotherly love. When we pause to notice, we are creating space for what we value. As the poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” We have a choice as to what we pay attention to and pausing is a powerful way to reset our perspective with love and kindness.

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!

Send us a text

Imperfect self-care is better than none at all. Self-care takes courage. It’s easy to put off. Some people, like healthcare workers who we hear from in this episode, aren’t given a choice. They are only being asked to take care of others. However, everyone needs self-care and it rarely happens in isolation. Sometimes we have to face conflict to practice radical love and embrace the messy beautiful. The Gratitude Blooming card #10 is inspired by the allium triquetrum, a simple but edible weed. 

Visit www.GratitudeBlooming.com to join a gratitude circle or get yourself a deck of cards!

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Create an intentional practice with your own Gratitude Blooming card deck, notecards, candle and much much more at our shop at www.gratitudeblooming.com. Your purchase helps us sustain this podcast, or you can also sponsor us here.

Learn more about our co-hosts and special guest:

Belinda Liu | Hestia Retreat Centers

Omar Brownson | Trickster's Guide to Immortality on Substack

Dr. Paul Wang | The Dao Center

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave us a 5-star rating and review. Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us grow.

Share your thoughts and comments by emailing us at hello@gratitudeblooming.com. We love hearing from our listeners!