Confidence Through Connection and Creation
Mother Earth V – Earth (night) by Fabio Issao
“Sovereignty over self composes the building blocks that make up sovereign Indigenous societies.”
Still Life by Fabio Issao
This article isn’t only for our readers – it’s also for those that won’t read it. You are not forgotten. For those that are reading now, may the words shared here inspire action, hope, confidence, and gratitude that radiates into our communities.
Mother Nature I – Day by Fabio Issao
How our days are formed by our actions deserves consideration. Such consideration pushes us closer to a sense of self-reliance. It puts us in a space of responsibility and ownership over the quality of our lives.
Confidence Through Connection and Creation
By Nicole Lefthand
This year has been one of many lessons. Not lessons in learning but rather in un-learning. A time to consider what is truly a necessity and what necessitates require more energy than we have to give. It’s a time to reconsider, reorganize, and reprioritize the way we carry out our lives.
This time also offers an opportunity to edit the rituals or habits that make our lives. To reconsider how we relate to our reality, and to create new rituals that are expressions of the self and identity. This is a time to take nourishing habits forward into the Fall and Winter, where there will no doubt be more challenges and more moments for gratitude.
The reality is that we are living with the stress of COVID-19 and the domino effect of changes it has caused. At the same time, the world is experiencing devastating weather and disasters. People and animals are being displaced, and ecosystems are being destroyed. There is hardly time to absorb the headlines of what’s happening around the world because the bad news doesn’t stop. Yet, what’s missing is the space to mourn the harm being inflicted on our home. Our mother, this beautiful organism called Earth, is hurting, is sick. Many of us are hurting with her.
What can be said to communities that are displaced or to those experiencing homelessness? What can be said to our relatives that are scared and hungry? What can be said to our loved ones who are coping with mental health struggles right now? What can be said to parents who are overwhelmed and just want to make it through the day? What can be said to the children who are witnessing and experiencing situations far beyond their years?
It seems that any feel-good advice that can be offered here pales in comparison to the reality of many people’s lives and ability to meet their basic needs. Perhaps Heart Medicine is for the privileged. For those privileged with access to the internet, with the time and ability to read, with the leisure to enjoy an online article, with the autonomy to reconsider, reorganize, and reprioritize.
This article isn’t only for our readers – it’s also for those that won’t read it. You are not forgotten. For those that are reading now, may the words shared here inspire action, hope, confidence, and gratitude that radiates into our communities. And for our readers, there is one privilege that every person can exercise: to share. We all have the capacity to share an acknowledgment, a smile, a conversation, a meal, an ear, or a joke. We all inherently have the privilege to share our humanity. Humanity is the mortar that holds the bricks of love, family, and community together. Kindness is an unconditional and limitless gift that is not limited by material security. Kindness is an acknowledgment of the most basic component of what it means to be human: we are social creatures and can only survive WITH each other.
This practice of kindness also extends to how we interact with ourselves. It’s important to show ourselves patience, compassion, encouragement, love, and care. In fact, the most important person that we should share kindness with is ourselves. We are complex, living creatures that need many forms of nourishment. No one is better qualified to meet one’s needs than the self.
In the name of kindness to the self, here’s an idea: let go of one ritual or habit that isn’t working. One thing that perhaps we can make do without. One thing that we would be better off without. For example: guilt, shame, a second cup of coffee, compulsive phone checking, complaining, attachment to outcome, other people’s opinions, the negative thought train. The possibilities are endless.
With that, which habits can we keep that are working and are beneficial to us? These habits are likely the most important to our wellbeing. Perhaps these practices deserve more energy and time. Identifying these actions, whether small or large, is an opportunity to recognize and praise our own work and effort. It offers us the chance to celebrate all the ways we are cultivating our own happiness.
Lastly, what new rituals can we integrate into our lives that will bring more peace and happiness? After considering what positive daily actions are already in place, is there anything that is lacking? Is there an area of our lives that could be infused with more energy and abundance? This could be anything, such as time spent with nature, adding in more fun and play, getting more sleep, or adding a healthy snack to the day.
How our days are formed by our actions deserves consideration. Such consideration pushes us closer to a sense of self-reliance. It puts us in a space of responsibility and ownership over the quality of our lives. We curate our lives though the cumulative doings of our days.
It is also a reminder that we cannot control anything other than ourselves, We need to focus on the most important person in each of our lives: the self. Working toward self-sufficiency creates a sense of sovereignty over our lives and, ideally, confidence in our ability to care for at least one person with unconditional love and devotion. After all, sovereignty over self composes the building blocks that make up sovereign Indigenous societies. May we all use our privileges and blessings to uplift our families and communities by uplifting ourselves first.