Love, Pride, Honesty & Loyalty

Some days are packed with growth spurts.

My mentor/father-figure told me that he read how if you live near crime & violence, at first you are repelled by it, then you become desensitized until finally, you join in.  That is, if you are not a person of strong character.

Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres.

Roughly translated that means:  Tell me who you spend time with and I'll tell you who you are.

Who are you?  Who do you wanna be?

Who you give your time and energy to, what you listen to, what you read, what you watch, what you spend your time thinking about, what you believe...it all matters.  Eventually, it makes up who you become.  And who you draw to your life because water seeks it's own level.

We can choose a different direction at any time - a 180 degree turn, a 45 degree turn, a 10 degree shift...The point is to actively choose and accept the consequences of our choices.  I don't wanna passively allow people or information to seep in and have an influence on my life that I do not choose.  I am not a victim.

At a pipe ceremony I learned about praying to the four directions - North for Unconditional Love, East for Pride, South for Honesty, and West for Loyalty.  Men and women, young and old, came together to pray for our communities, families, and ourselves.  Sitting on the living room floor in the dark with the smell and wafting smoke of cleansing tobacco in the air, we all revealed our stories.  No one held back.  The courage of one inspired all to reveal more.  Disclosure, confrontation, confession, and storytelling is the way we understand, make sense of things, find meaning and ultimately find resolution.  It always has been how we heal, it always will be.  There were tears and pain.  That part is inevitable.  There was also laughter, lots of it. 

This year, I choose love, pride, honesty and loyalty - to God, the Creator, my ancestors, myself, my daughter, my family and inner circle of friends.

Some days are like that.  Thank you, Yesus.