Think Indigenous: Native American Spirituality for a Modern World

by Doug Good Feather

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Things don’t happen to us, they happen for us.” Gratitude is the foundation of that adage. It means that our mindset has to be that the universe is generally conspiring and working in our favor. Frequently, when something that we perceive as “bad” happens to us, we let it affect us in a highly negative way. But if we interact with the world from a place of gratitude, when something happens that others may perceive as “bad,” we just see that experience as “interesting.” We are curious about why something happens the way it does, and in expressing that curiosity, we’re actively seeking the part of the experience that we’re grateful for. That experience was our destiny, part of the choice we made when we came into this life. Once we recognize the lesson, the natural laws of the universe will stop these types of experiences from happening.