Youth Leading the Way

Seattle, WA - At the annual meeting of the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) this past week, there were presentations on a variety of topics affecting Indigenous communities.

A few of these sessions touched on youth issues.

But one session was actually led by youth leaders, all of whom are in high school. “Youth Leading the Way to Healthier Indigenous Communities” was presented by Tiana Chino (San Felipe and Acoma Pueblos), Sunny Louis (Acoma Pueblo) and Nizhoni Fleg (Dine’).

 

The session opened with a game that allowed participants to become more familiar with one another, while having fun. “I thought this was an important way to bring us together, building trust amongst those in the room,” said Nizhoni, who led this part of the session.

The youth then shared about their experiences as leaders. Tiana Chino spear-headed a blood drive at Bernalillo High School, organizing the various elements and working with her school’s administration to make it all happen. Sunny Louis created the Auntie Moon project that promotes menstrual equity and educates on bleeding disorders. Nizhoni Fleg shared on her policy work that led to her and other Indigenous youth presenting their ideas to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deborah Haaland and U.S Congressmen Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich.

The session ended with Sunny leading a "web" exercise, asking each adult in the room to share one thing they will do to create more space for youth to lead in their respective programs and communities. One Tribal Leader, for example, shared that they would go back and revisit their Tribe's Youth Council to make sure the youth got to share directly with Tribal Council, as there is not currently a mechanism to do so. Others who are leading youth mentoring programs had "aha" moments from the session, admitting that youth had never been consulted as to the content of their programs. They vowed to change that.

Sunny reflected on her experience: “Attending AAIP was a highly motivating experience for me. I had the opportunity to connect with others, learn new things, gain resources, and find inspiration. Being surrounded by Native physicians and witnessing the impactful work they do for and within Tribal communities filled me with joy and encouraged me to pursue a career in medicine. My most impactful experience was connecting with young Pueblo women aspiring to become medical doctors and conducting pioneering clinical research.  It hits you different when you can connect with people from your own communities doing things you’ve always dreamed of doing.”

Multiple participants in the session commented that it was the best one in the entire conference. 

Having been in the room, I agree wholeheartedly.

When we, as adults, are able to step back, youth step up and do amazing things. When we find ourselves complaining about youth, it is most likely an issue of adults not creating the space for them to lead, as opposed to it being an issue with the youth themselves.

Sunny, Tiana, and Nizhoni - thank you for leading the way. We are proud of you!

 

Transition

This is a moment of transition.

Stop for a moment and see if you can feel it.

Fall has begun, and with it, the first wafts of cool air. The mornings now darker, while sun sets in the evening much earlier.

The fall equinox is a moment where night and dark come into balance, twelve hours of each. Globally, this is a moment where northern and southern hemispheres receive the same amount of light.

Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah, a transition to a new year in the Jewish calendar.

And now, good people, a chance to look inward to our own points of transition.

Yesterday and all of the yesterdays it represents, now a thing of the past. 

All of it serves as the kindling for the fire that we will light today, as we transition to tomorrow and all of the tomorrows it represents.

Those twigs of yesterday provide fuel for the fire. And some things just need to burn, so that we can move forward.

Through the smoke, two questions waft into our vision.

How do you want to be?

Who do you want to be?

These are the simple and quite profound questions that ground all transitions. The caterpillar surely feels the gravity of these questions as they transition to butterfly. The tadpole similarly confronts them as they think of the frog they are meant to be.

And yet, we often skip the How and Who aspects of transition, distracted by the What. As in “What is on my plate for the rest of this week?” and “What is my to-do list for the rest of the month?”

My hope is that we make time and space for the How and Who questions, allowing them to ground and inform the What aspect of our metamorphosis into tomorrow’s version of ourselves.

Take time to write/reflect/draw/pray/move today as you consider How and Who you want to be.

In doing so, you are already transitioning.

It's Okay to Rest

“It’s okay to rest.”

The quote came my way through an unexpected messenger. It was a cup of flavored tea that a co-worker was drinking, and this was the quote hand-written on the side of the cup.

Being one who needs that message, I paused.

Questions started to bubble to the surface:

Is it okay to rest?

What would rest look like for me?

What would it feel like?

How would I benefit from rest?

What ways can I work toward rest today, this week?

 

What questions arise for you when hearing the simple words: It’s okay to rest?

Write them down.

The questions themselves are telling you the answers. But do work on answers for each of the questions.

And find time and space to share those questions and answers with someone close to you today.

My hope is that this upcoming 3-day weekend will give us opportunity to rest. Or more correctly, that we will take and make the opportunity to rest over the weekend. And next week. And the following week.

The Miracle of a Teaspoon of Honey

Imagine for a moment…

A teaspoon of honey

Take a good look at the glistening gold

And now, the anticipation as you bring it to your mouth.

It touches taste buds, setting off something magical in the neurons a few inches above.

Feel, for a moment, the pleasure of that honey as it overwhelms your senses.

Bask in it.

Enjoy the moment.

(If in a meeting as you read this, try not to smile too big, or others may become suspicious and accuse you of not paying attention, or worse yet, may accuse you of having fun while on the clock.)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having just harvested honey from our honeybee hive, taking from these wonderful creatures their most amazing creation, I am inspired to share.

In that one teaspoon we just imagined…

It took 12 honeybee girls their entire 40-day lifetimes to produce that honey.

12 of Creator’s creatures spent their lives making that one teaspoon come to be.

And in their 12 lifetimes, they visited a total of 31,000 flowers and flew 1,000 miles to harvest the nectar.

One each foraging trip, they visit 50-100 flowers, storing the nectar in their honey stomachs where digestive enzymes break down complex sugars into simple sugars (glucose, fructose).

The nectar was carefully transported to the hive, regurgitated to other bees who add enzymes and place it in the hexagon combs in the hive.

Nectar comes in as 80% water, and was then dehydrated through fanning from the bees’ wings over a course of days until it is 15-18% water. Finally, they cover it with beeswax, also made from nectar, preserving it for the months ahead. If they make a mistake and make honey that is 21% water, it will ferment. (Capped honey thousands of years old has been found, and once uncapped, the honey is still good!)

Our bees are now in the mode of preparing for winter, as the nectar flow usually ends at the end of July in New Mexico. They will now survive on their stored honey through mid-April when nectar starts flowing again.

May this reflection on life and nature, via these wonderful creatures, sit with you and enhance your day’s journey.

May it make the taste of honey that much sweeter.

May it give us pause when we see a bee today visiting a flower.

May gratitude and awe overwhelm us when the next teaspoon of honey finds its way to our mouth.

First Day of School

The sweet, waxy scent of a new 64-set of Crayolas

The crisp feel to notebooks not yet worn and weary

Perfectly sharpened pencils

Students in their new shoes and clothes

Teachers there to welcome in the new crop to their classroom

Everyone with a clean slate as the new chapter of learning begins

 

For those without children, today is the mid-point of summer, 6 weeks from the beginning of fall. But for those with kids, today is the beginning of fall as we send our children to school today to begin another school year.

I want you to push back from work and life for a moment, and take yourself back to the first day of school. Let’s go together to 3^rd grade, first day of school. You didn’t have middle school drama or high school love triangles just yet. Life was simple.

You are on the way to school, first day of 3^rd grade.

How did you get there? Who took you?

Picture the front of the school building as you entered. Was there a special friend by your side?

You are entering your 3^rd grade classroom for the first time. Your teacher there to greet you and the other students. Picture this as vividly as you can. Smells. Sights. Sounds. Feelings.

Have fun with it – draw it out, write about it, and play like a 3^rd grader at recess!

What if we we mix that nostalgia of our own journey with the energy of the students and teachers today?

The fresh Crayolas, crisp notebooks, and perfectly sharpened pencils waft the air of renewal our way today, my friends. Breathe it in!

Carolynn, our beloved niece, as she begins kindergarten today.

2 AM in the hospital

Eerie silence + stillness

Patients weary, needing their rest

The machines rumble a low hum while their alarms scream for no apparent reason.

(I often wonder if maybe the alarms are there solely to keep the night nurses and techs awake)

(and annoyed)

 

There is a sacredness to 2 AM in the hospital

You feel the deep sighs of patients trying to heal

Their dreams must revolve around how they will talk their way to a discharge the next morning.

Freedom to return to their own beds and kitchens and bathrooms and routines

 

In the calm of 2 AM in the hospital

The broken healthcare system even seems okay for a moment

 

I stand at a window, staring out at the darkness beyond.

I ask for strength as eyelids have become heavy.

I give thanks for this moment, 2 AM in the hospital

 

[Selfish Stanza]

I am soooo tired.

I see that ER room #7 is empty. Would anyone notice if I snuck in and just laid down for a few?

I wish I were a coffee drinker right now.

Where did I go wrong in life 

that here I am at 

2 AM in the hospital?

Yerba Mansa Wonderland

as I scuttle along the Bosque trail,

east of the river,

south of the city,

the noise and distraction of life and Cesar Chavez Blvd recede.

 

my          bigness becomes smallness

               beneath

               grandmother and grandfather Cottonwoods.

the           river hums away

    carrying away all that does not serve

    a constant in a world of chaos.

 

suddenly, the landscape

    abruptly

    amazingly

    beautifully

    becomes a meadow of our medicinal relative, Yerba Mansa.

 

it is the Disneyland of the Bosque.

it is paradise.

it is heaven.

it is stillness.

it is abundance

it is healing.

we give thanks.

 

Yerba Mansa moves earth and takes care of stagnation, aerating the soil for other plants to grow roots.

in our bodies, it also addresses stagnation, acting as diuretic for the kidneys, as expectorant for the lungs.

Acting as energetic diuretic and spiritual expectorant as well

coaxing into motion

things that need to move on

places that need to move again

 

How and why this patch is abruptly, amazingly, beautifully there, I am not sure.

The historian’s theory: As Yerba Mansa tea was a mainstay of the Tuberculosis treatments in this desert climate that promised to heal those with the disease, maybe it was planted by hands human.

The biologist’s theory: Water table below is quite shallow at this spot, with enough shade from Cottonwoods above.

My response: I have no idea “how” it came to be, and am not too worried about finding the answer. I am very much excited by the question of “how” this Yerba Mansa patch brings me and all who visit its embrace to a place beautiful.

It lovingly reminds us to care for the earth that it (and all of us) need to grow, to protect the water that feeds it and all of us.

we give thanks.

scuttling further south after basking in Yerba Mansa,

suddenly, the landscape

abruptly

amazingly

beautifully

returns to the Bosque normal, not a single Yerba Mansa plant to be found.

here, I find that my heart gives thanks the loudest.

 

Directions for those who wish to visit for themselves: Park at National Hispanic Cultural Center and enter the Bosque, heading south. The Yerba Mansa patch is 0.75 miles south of Cesar Chavez Blvd. You cannot miss it. Peak bloom (early to middle of June), but like Disneyland, it is magical 365 days a year. Pro tip #1 – bring friends/family, as it will enhance the experience. Pro tip #2 - rub your hands in the soil right at the stalk of the plant to get the oils from the plant. Pro tip #3 - let gratitude overwhelm you.