![gratitudeblooming-banner-simple.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58d20d66b8a79b902b36efa2/1651674060613-TEPIRMKC72KZO14G90VP/gratitudeblooming-banner-simple.png)
The threads that matter, no matter what
Revisiting this card brings a big smile to my face even though when I made it I felt a little sad. I was on Day 82 of my drawing project and was really feeling the distance apart from close friends. I vaguely remember a friend from college going through a difficult year and I felt a bit helpless because she lived so far away and we had lost touch over the years so it was hard to feel like I could be there for her.
So as I was drawing this nasturtium plant, I started by sketching in each of the leaves and flowers in a way where they almost felt like solitary islands floating apart from each other...but then, as I started drawing the stems, I realized that no matter how much we may grow apart from each other, friendship is like that stem that keeps us connected. And that connection between friends is truly like a lifeline that is able to transcend distance and time.
Since I made this drawing, the nasturtium has become like a friend to me. I started noticing it growing wildly all over the city where I live. I see it in my backyard, on roadsides and pathways along my favorite walks. When I get lost or discover a new hike, I often spot it like it is this constant companion and guide that makes a new place feel familiar.
I even noticed it in the poetry and drawings of a San Francisco beat poet, Philip Whelan, whose poetry I was reading that summer. His own notebooks are filled with sketches of nasturtiums and it made me wonder if he had the same experience I did noticing them growing all over the city. In that way, I started to feel like he was a friend of a friend. The connection is a bit imagined, but it makes me smile to this day to be able to feel connected to someone I’ve never met before through this plant and flower.
TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE THEME
EPISODE 23 - SEASON 1
The root word for friendship is related to love, the kind that takes you on an adventure. With friends, you share a thread that needs no explanation.
EPISODE 05 - SEASON 2
Emotional freedom is learning you can’t control the world, but you can control how you react to it. We explore in this wide-ranging conversation with stoic-inspired NFT leader @Zeneca_33 how he overcame his depression, his relationship to alcohol, dropping out of law school to become one the driving forces in the world of NFTs and web3.
For this episode, we released a new limited-edition digital art.
You can support our podcast and activity by collecting an NFT or by ordering a set of cards.
![2-simple.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58d20d66b8a79b902b36efa2/1661265005217-AEZL3ANTIEAEX63FFU9V/2-simple.png)
Friendship is one of the 39 Gratitude Blooming themes that we explore to help our community keep gratitude front of mind.
Explore all themes
![gratitudeblooming-banner-simple.png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58d20d66b8a79b902b36efa2/1651674083138-P22RA98MNDFX9SZB5GHU/gratitudeblooming-banner-simple.png)