A short YouTube talk by Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, loon clan, Seine River First Nation) expanding on Personal Power Principle #10: "Celebrate every single success by yourself, for yourself." Drawing on Anishinaabe teachings and her own survival of domestic violence and poverty, she urges listeners—both Indigenous people reclaiming pride and non-Indigenous Canadians involved in reconciliation—to acknowledge and self-celebrate small, concrete victories (e.g., paying for groceries, waking without fear, sleeping without nightmares). The piece uses a back-to-back perspective anecdote to show why others may not recognize these wins and closes with repeated exhortations to practice self-applause.
Chapters
Foreign. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the loon clan, a proud member of Seine river first nation in Northern Ontario. And I'm here today to explain expand one more time on personal power principle number 10. So if you are an indigenous person who enjoys the pride that is part of our heritage, or you're just rediscovering your bloodline and all the reasons why you should be proud, then you're in the right place. And if you're a non indigenous Canadian who wants to be part of reconciliation, was trying to figure out what happened, how we got here, and most importantly, how do we fix this, well, then you're definitely in the right place. These personal power principles that I'm talking about are based in Anishinaabe teachings. They help me overcome domestic violence, poverty and cripplingly low self esteem. See, I can even trip over a word nowadays and I'm not even embarrassed about it. And I hope you can say same. So this month we're talking about personal power principle number 10 to remind you what we're talking about. Here it is. One more time. Celebrate every single success by yourself, for yourself. High five. The air stream with glee. You earn the applause, so learn to give it to yourself freely. Now, why is this so important? Well, I'm going to use an example my mom used to use with me and my brothers to illustrate why this is so important. Imagine standing back to back with your partner or sibling, your best friend, whomever, a colleague, a co worker. If you were to look around the room, you could see see so much of that room, but there'd be a section of the room you can't see that happens to be right in front of the person you're standing back to back with. And if they looked around the room, they would notice the same thing. They can see so much from their perspective, but they can't see what is obvious to you. Now how does that tie into this principle? Well, you know what? For many years, every single time I paid for my groceries in the grocery store lineup, that was a success that deserved a high five because I knew I wasn't living in poverty anymore. Every single time I wake up and I'm not in fear, I know that I've moved past the domestic violence. Any night that I sleep, sleep soundly without nightmares and night terrors, that's a success. So maybe that person in your world doesn't see why it's a success. That doesn't make it any less important. That's why it's so important that we stop looking for other people to celebrate with us and we start celebrating all those little successes that we know are a huge step in the right direction. I hope that resonated with you. And even more importantly, whether you're indigenous or not, that's not the important part. I hope that this week you celebrate every little success you have. The getting out of the bed, the eating properly, the getting in some exercise, whatever it is. Because those successes deserve to be celebrated. Here one more time is personal power principle number 10. Just so you can remember it and practice it. This week, celebrate every single success by yourself, for yourself. High five. The air scream with glee. You earn the applause. So learn to give it to yourself freely. Until next week, my friend. I know that you're gonna succeed this week. I know there's gonna be a hundred little successes. I just hope you remember not to minimize them, but instead to celebrate them. Until next week. I love you. Take care. Bye, Sa.
