In Gratitude

Have you ever been so consumed by an idea, a thought, an action that energizes you, motivates you and makes you feel alive. That is how I feel about gratitude.

Hi my name is Rachel DesRochers and I am the Chief Gratitude Officer of Grateful Grahams. Grateful Grahams is a company I started 9 1/2 years ago at my house with my daughter strapped to my back. I was at a point in my life where I was so motivated by the message of gratitude, like I had truly uncovered my purpose. Also being woman, mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend, I knew there was more there to be discovered.

In April 2010 I started Grateful Grahams - we are a gratitude company that makes a cookie not a cookie company that just merely talks about gratitude. I have three kids all of them I love so dearly but when my only daughter was born I knew I had to show up in a new way. This idea that I would just tell her that she could do anything in the world that she believed in and I sit idly by and work at a job that I don’t really love. How can I raise a daughter knowing that there was so much more to uncover about really creating my dreams? When we launched Rosalee was just 5 1/2 months old. I knew that these were the first steps in discovering my true passion and biggest driving force for my vision and dreams.

After 3 years of growing Grateful Grahams I realized that there was a huge need in our community for food entrepreneurs and this idea of sharing space and really creating community. In 2013 the Incubator Kitchen Collective was born with the idea that I can share my commercial kitchen space with others. This is where my other passion really comes alive- building community. In 6 years we’ve supported almost 110 companies, 25 of which have opened their own storefronts. We have about 40 current companies. When I talk about the kitchen and give tours I share this, for me and the IKC it’s a space to support the whole person and a bonus of that person is their business. It really allows for community and creatives to come together in a way that truly supports the person, challenging the idea that we have to keep going and running and burn out because we’re so business focused. I believe healthy people grow healthy businesses.

Alongside of all this and for over 10 years I’ve gathered women together in this some way. I’ve had a women's circle, a spiritual book club and most recently that morphed into Grateful Gatherings. I’m constantly leaning into the space of - how do we gather in ways that support, love and encourage. Even though I’ve taken some time off this year from these gatherings due to life, self care and just really enjoying my extra time with my family, they will be coming back in new ways. Grateful Gatherings are gatherings for women where we gather with an activity (think yoga, enneagram, painting) and a meal. It’s so so so important for us to come together and nourish our mind, body and spirit. I remind the women, all they have to do is show up and be together. I’ve witnessed some of the most amazing ah-ha’s, growth, self love in these spaces. I believe this is one of my greatest honors of my life, these women.

Over these last 10 years, what I’ve discovered is that gratitude is the life force that allows me to do so much- it’s the place that I make decisions from, where I go when I’m scared, what I lean on when I feel anxious, where I go when I don’t know what to do. Gratitude always brings me to presence and allows the action that I need to move forward in life.

I guess I am here to just say- if you need a new tool to use GRATITUDE is it. I encourage you to start right here and now at finding 3 things to be grateful for.

If you want to connect you can find me and my podcast In Gratitude at racheldesrochers.com

In Gratitude,

Rachel

P.S Here are a few of my favorite ways to take action and start a gratitude practice today!