In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I go deep into what shelter really means—far beyond the emergency tarp and survival shows. I’m not just talking about staying dry or surviving a storm; I’m talking about crafting a home, whether it’s under oak leaves, in a spruce thicket, or in the structure you return to every night.

You’ll hear how shelter is a mirror, reflecting not just how we live, but who we are. We’ll talk about widow makers, conduction, leaf litter, and cardboard boxes—but also about craftsmanship, legacy, and the quiet power of designing something that lasts.

Drawing from ancestral designs, thermodynamics, and decades of experience living in both wild-built shelters and modern ones, I challenge you to consider: What’s the shelter you're truly building? Is it one worth handing down—or one you’re merely surviving in?

Whether you’re an off-grid homesteader, a forager, an architect, or just someone trying to build a better life—this one’s for you.

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I step into one of the most delicate territories we’ve ever explored—grief. But not grief as a weight. Grief as a tool. Grief as a map. Grief as technology. Together, we walk into the storm not to suffer, but to sharpen—our sight, our voice, our intuition.

From the burial mounds of memory to the tension in our guts, we name 11 symptoms of grief that show up not just in emotion, but in our bodies and behavior. I share raw stories and living practices drawn from ancestral wisdom and nature observation to help you reclaim your senses, clear the "dust of death," and reorient toward gratitude, growth, and empathy.

This episode is not a therapy session. It’s a guidepost for the Intentional Navigators—those who are ready to do the inner tracking that strengthens outer resilience. Whether you’re in the thick of it or mentoring others through loss, this conversation offers clarity, craft, and a call to remember who you were before the pain—and who you can be because of it.

Perfect for nature-lovers, spiritual seekers, and anyone walking a path of healing through connection to the land. Subscribe to hear more wilderness stories, ancestral insight, and field-tested practices for modern life.

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I take you deep into one of the oldest journeys known to humankind — transforming grief into growth. Together, we explore the ancient teachings passed through generations of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation and how the signs of dis-ease — like dwelling in the past, feeling unseen, or losing purpose — are actually powerful trail markers calling us back to our authentic selves.

Through stories of hardship, including personal reflections about my own family, and the tools shared by those who held on to ancestral wisdom through the storms of time, we learn how to turn sorrow into strength. I walk you through eleven sacred symptoms of imbalance — from "blood on the chair" to "clouds on the path" — and share simple but profound ways to recognize them, reclaim your fire, and reconnect with your purpose.

This isn’t just about survival; it's about living fully — with mindfulness, resilience, and gratitude, even when the winds of life threaten to blow us off course. If you seek a deeper connection to nature, to your own inner compass, and to a life rich in meaning, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker's Tale, I pass on the story of Jumping Mouse—a fable born around a fire and carried forward by those who care enough to keep wisdom alive. It’s a tale of transformation, but not the kind sold in self-help books or promised in online courses. This one costs something real: your senses, your comfort, your identity.

As Jumping Mouse trades his eyes, his nose, and his ears to help others, he discovers something deeper—a truth we often run from. You can’t evolve without letting go. But what you gain is vision, perspective, and the ability to soar.

We talk about the enemies of self-doubt and distraction. How they seduce, derail, and haunt those of us who stand at the edge of that rock wall—the boundary between comfort and calling. This episode isn't just a story—it's a reminder. You were meant to fly. You just forgot.

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I speak from a lifetime of immersion in wild places—raising my children in the woods, learning from the animals, the soil, and the wind. I invite you into the fullness of your own awareness, not as a philosophy, but as a survival tool, a joy, and a responsibility. Awareness, I say, isn't just about paying attention—it's about becoming who you already are.

We explore how bird language calms anger, how intuition gains form when grounded in skill, and why understanding the "mood" of a landscape can make the difference between surviving and thriving. I share stories of bears I’ve never seen and deer who’ve shaped my character, all to remind us: tracking is more than prints in the dirt. It’s how we come to know the land, ourselves, and our place within the great turning wheel.

If we truly want peace and resilience, we must earn it—not with fear, but with presence, with kindness rooted in strength. This episode is a call to stop reacting and start noticing, to remember that every muscle, every sense, every plant, and every silence is a thread in the deeper fabric of life. Let’s learn how to read it.

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I walk you through a kind of awareness that can’t be found in a textbook—only through lived experience. This isn’t a list of steps. It’s not about memorizing technique. It’s about learning to listen differently.

We begin on a back deck during a quiet party and end up unraveling decades of human impact, fox trails, garden history, owl routines, and shifting forests—all in under five minutes. Not because of magic, but because of attention.

From there, we travel through stories of skunk spray, broken vertebrae, guerrilla gardening, porcupines, and underwater duck grabs, all to circle back to the real point: that survival—and peace—come from plugging in. Not just to the forest, but to the invisible patterns all around us. Ancestral influence. Modern disruption. Immediate needs. The things we forget to see until life slows us down.

This is the groundwork. Before we grow in awareness, we must root it in place. This is how I do it—and maybe it’s how you’ll start, too.

I've always believed that grief is more than just loss—it's an invitation to transformation. In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker's Tale, I share my own story of navigating a world that never quite fit, from a childhood of ADHD and Ritalin to forging my own wild path. We dive into an ancient Mohawk story about the origins of death and the power of thankfulness, exploring how neglect—of self, of nature, of each other—creates imbalance. But here’s the thing: grief isn’t just an end. It’s a tool. A message. A forge for resilience. If you've ever felt stuck in the past or disconnected from the present, this episode will give you the mindset shifts and practical steps to turn loss into learning and hardship into healing.

Step off the trail with me—let’s turn grief into growth and reclaim our wild selves.

Welcome to Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale. I’m Michael Douglas, and today we’re peeling back the layers of what it means to truly awaken your primal self.

What if everything you needed to thrive was already inside you? What if your instincts, your awareness, and your resilience were not lost to time, but just waiting to be reactivated? In this episode, I explore what it means to unlock the skills coded into your DNA—tracking, foraging, survival, and the deep-rooted intuition that connects us to the natural world.

We’ll talk about the Triune Brain and how it shapes the way we move through the world. I’ll show you how to manage the "crocodile brain"—that primal, reactive part of you—and how to cultivate real strength, not just in the body, but in mind and spirit.

This isn’t just about survival. It’s about how to live in a way that honors your wild heart. Whether it’s tending your sacred fire, challenging yourself to grow, or rewilding your modern life, the path is there. You just have to step onto it.

Join me as we break it down. Because once you start living like this, everything changes.

In this unscripted episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I dive into breaking survival patterns and redefining what it really means to live. Too often, we think of survival as just enduring hardship, but that’s not the whole story. Survival is a temporary state, and if you find yourself stuck in it for more than a year, something needs to change.

I talk about awareness as the foundation of survival—not just situational awareness, but a deeper, intuitive understanding of the world around you. Awareness isn’t about projecting outward; it’s about receiving information before your logical mind can even process it. Whether you’re tracking in the wilderness or navigating daily life, this skill is essential.

I also explore the four pillars of survival: shelter, water, fire, and mindset—and how each one is deeply connected. Plus, I share personal stories of how embracing the natural world, learning from elders, and choosing the right attitude can shift your entire perspective on survival and success.

Awareness is everything. True survival isn’t just about skills—it’s about tuning in to the world in a way that most people don’t. Your mindset defines your reality. Are you living in a battlefield or a playground? Your attitude determines how you experience life.

Master the core elements of survival. Shelter, water, fire, and food aren’t just physical needsthey shape how we thrive. Comfort is the enemy of growth. If you never push your limits, you’ll never know what you’re truly capable of.

Trust your intuition. Your gut feeling is real. Learn to listen to it before your logical mind even catches up.

Dancing Through the Minefield – Navigating Life’s Hidden Traps

In this episode of Dear Grandchildren: A Tracker’s Tale, I take you on a journey through the seven stages of human development, using the medicine wheel as a guide to understanding where we stand in our own lives. Life is full of unseen pitfalls—emotional traps, societal conditioning, and personal struggles that can throw us off course. But like any skilled tracker, we can learn to read the signs, avoid the hazards, and move with awareness and intention.

I share insights from Tom Brown Jr. and lessons from elders who noticed something striking in the late 1800s and early 1900s—indigenous children who were taken from their communities to be educated in boarding schools often returned as young adults without the characteristics of a well-adjusted person. They had lost something essential, something that connected them to the land, their people, and themselves. This episode explores those missing pieces and how we can reclaim them in our own lives.

I walk through the eight directions of the compass rose, each representing a different stage of life. From the explosive curiosity of childhood in the east to the wisdom and stillness of old age in the north, every direction teaches us something about how we grow, struggle, and evolve. I also break down the difference between a healthy, whole life and one that is fragmented and disconnected. Without balance, we end up stuck in a broken wheel—caught in cycles of anger, fear, or isolation. But when we can recognize where we are on the path, we can make conscious choices to move toward wholeness.

Some key takeaways from this episode:

The cycle of life and how it mirrors the natural world, moving through seasons of birth, growth, challenge, and wisdom.

The signs of a whole human being—joy, stillness, connection, and resilience—and the symptoms of imbalance that keep us from thriving.

How trauma, disconnection, and self-doubt can keep us trapped in a broken wheel, and what we can do to step out of it.

The transition from an us vs. them mindset to a life of service, peace, and deeper understanding.

How to track our own patterns, emotions, and choices the same way we track the movements of animals in the wild.

We’re all moving through minefields in life, but if we know where to step, we don’t have to live in fear of them. By developing awareness, we can learn to dance through the challenges instead of being paralyzed by them.

Are you moving through life with intention, or are you caught in a loop of reaction and struggle? Are you following a healthy path, or are you stuck in a broken cycle?

Join me in this episode as we explore how to navigate the complex terrain of life with the awareness and adaptability of a seasoned tracker. Let’s walk this path together.