2 January 2015

LAKOTA CODE OF ETHICS
1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.
2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy - and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.
3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.
5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours.
6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant.
7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.
8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.
9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.
10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.
11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.
12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow.
13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.
14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of ones will within this universe.
15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.
16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions.
17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden.
18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.
19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.
20. Share your good fortune with others.

1 January 2015

Hope

[E]verything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. - Viktor Frankl

Sometimes, ok ... many times, in the course of my work to protect water or speak out for the earth, I feel overwhelmed with bad news: climate change, disappearing forests, biodiversity loss, great stinkin piles of plastic garbage in the ocean, the list goes on forever.  


It's hard to see light and hope in all that dark, so when I find gems like Viktor Frankl's writing or find about organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, I get the courage again to continue the fight. 

Today, again, I chose light. I chose hope.

From: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/26/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning/

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how.”

Frankl argues that presence comes from leaning into suffering, not from tensing against it:
When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden. 








Childhood

sitting under my tree skirt of dappled light dancing on the forest floor
I could believe I was invisible, ethereal, controlling my universe of pine needles
that I could speak to the faeries and spirits of the wind, that they heard me
when no one else would sit still to listen.

Lonely free my world became that space in my head
Between phrases ink spills onto pages


23aug2014


Breezes

Listening to the wind pulling at branches and tapping
At my window tempting to dance like drunken dervishes
At least in my muddled mind.
Two years soon since I gave up illusion for truth at times
Hard. Cold.
At others stunningly bright, beautiful.
my days marked by fires and feathers
Sunrise and weather like this trickster breeze
That makes me believe you're there
 the other side of the screen
Same as you've always been