I first learned to say thank you when picking something from the wild from my mother, Julie, when I was a child. She would take us to find cota flowers, spring water, staurolites, and many other things. 

As I grow older my analytical brain kicks in more and I realize a part of the beauty of saying thank you is that it is a seed for yourself. Each time in that small, quiet, moment of reverence you are structuring your own mindset to be thankful for more things. 

Each time I pit fire my clay I start the firing in reverence. I offer dead juniper branches to call the good spirits, ground blue corn to say thank you, mezcal for us and our ancestors. I kneel by the fire as the juniper branches catch fire, close my eyes and offer a quiet prayer. 

"Thank you mother earth for all the magic you provide. Please help me in firing these vessels made of you, so that I may share your beauties with the world. ...