Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) delivers a short YouTube teaching on authenticity. Drawing from a professional training and her personal daybook, she asks viewers to compare how they describe themselves (writer, parent, athlete, speaker) with their actual calendar and activities, urging them to schedule time to live as the person they claim to be. The talk is encouraging and non-judgmental, using metaphors like online dating profiles and a long-used daybook to illustrate the point.
Chapters
Foreign. Hi, everybody. Mishko Paganankwe Nidishna Kasmangdodem. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan and a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Northern Ontario. And I'm thrilled to be here today with you for this week's Tunnel Tuesday teaching. Now, if you remember, I mentioned in previous videos that I do this because my mom literally taught me that there's a teaching in absolutely everything, that we are never alone. That creator, God, higher power, whoever you believe in, sends us clues and hints every single day to help us on our journey. And all we have to do is get better at seeing and receiving the teachings. So me personally, I love it when I receive a teaching that gives something I've had for ages a deeper, more meaningful, meaningful meaning. And that's what happened this week. So what I'm going to share with you today is what I think is a very personal teaching. But I got the teaching from a very professional training session. So I don't know about you, but to me, authenticity is absolutely everything. The Sandy you see in these videos are the sand. Is the Sandy you would meet in the coffee shop, is the Sandy that would email you, is the Sandy that writes a blog post every single day, no matter who you are. I used to freak out my colleagues and co workers in that I would talk to one of my staff in the exact same way that I would talk to my boss or even a funder. I wasn't about, you know, getting all prim and proper. I'm always respectful. So to me, that applied to whoever I'm talking to, whether it's a family member or someone I've just met, that's important to me. And that's kind of what this training was talking about. And I want to share an example or a metaphor with you that maybe you're familiar with, maybe you're not. No judgments here. But it's a running joke that if you've ever experienced online dating, and I'm not naming names, I'm not pointing out any particular site, but it's been a joke for a long time that people, when they write their profiles, that it doesn't necessarily authentically represent who they are. And there's a lot of jokes and a lot of discussions specifically around found the word athletic. It is amazing. The men and women who describe themselves as athletic and then you look at the pictures and you're wondering what sport they're into. We'll just leave it at that. That's kind of what this training was talking about. But this week's teachings are actually found and I'm totally showing my age here. The teachings are found in a daybook. Yes. I actually still use a daybook even though I'm a total, what I call an Apple head. And I love my I, my iPhone and my iPads on the way and my Mac and. But I still have the daybook with, you know, my things to do list inside. My ex husband bought me this day book and I was thinking about it this morning. It would have to be back in 1994. 4 Do the math on this. This is easily my longest relationship and I'm very proud of that. It's still in great shape. But as far as the teachings concerned, what the trainer was saying is for one, how would you describe yourself? Would you just like for me, I'm a motivational speaker. I'm an author, I'm an activist. I'm definitely an entrepreneur. Once you answer that question, the next part, which is where the teaching was located, was he invited you to go back to your daybook or your calendar, your phone, whatever you use and look at what you've been doing for the last week or the last month. Does that reflect how you just described yourself? If you described yourself as a writer, for example, could I see in your daybook that you set aside time to write? If you described yourself as a mom, I'd be willing to bet I could look at your calendar, mom or dad. And I'd be willing to bet I could look at your calendar and see activities for your children that would be being authentic. But are you describing yourself as an athlete? And there's no exercise slated in here? Are you describing yourself as a motivational speaker but you're not doing releasing anything online? You're silent now, as always. This is not about beating yourself up. This is not about finding some new, horrible way to describe yourself. It's a reminder to remind you to live the life of the person you want to be. The person you describe yourself as you are amazing. I know that. I'm not even questioning that. But make sure you're living the life that you say you're living. The life that you want to live. Make time for you. That's this week's teaching and I hope it makes sense to you. I am thrilled because as I said, authenticity is everything to me. I am thrilled that you can look at my day book agenda and see exactly who I am. Until next week. I love you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.
