Sandi L Boucher (who identifies as Red Thunderbolt of the Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) delivers a Facebook Live titled “You are AWESOME,” using the acronym AWESOME to remind viewers: A = Amazing; W = Woman/Warrior; E = Embarking on a journey; S = Specific to you; O = One that will; M = Motivate; E = Empower. She offers a printable handout available via her website (sandybouchet.com) and invites viewers to join her mailing list. Near the end she asks non-Indigenous followers whether they would be interested in an allyship course grounded in Indigenous perspectives and practical guidance. She also notes she will post these Lives to her YouTube channel.
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Hi, everybody. It's Sandy Boucher here once again. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Northern Ontario. And I'm here once again to do my daily Facebook Live. I don't know about you guys, but I was really looking, looking forward to. I was really excited to do this. Can you tell I'm tripping over my own words? I'm so excited. I'm having such an amazing week, and I just want to take a second to acknowledge that it is no longer 9,000 degrees, so I'm no longer melting today. I don't even have fans on in my home. It's just beautiful and wonderful, and I'm totally enjoying that. And I'm doing Facebook Lives again, which I totally enjoy doing as well. So there you have it. Now, today, I have two things for you. I wanted to share an acronym with you. Now, keep in mind, you know, for the those of you who may not understand that term, an acronym is one of those words where every letter stands for a word. It's just kind of like a short form. That's a very modern Western thing to do. But of course, everything I share with you is based in my traditional teachings. I may just use some modern tips and tricks to help you remember it. So that's feather dancing to the finest. Right? I can see. People are showing up. Hello. How are you? So what I wanted you to do today, if you happen to have a pen and paper handy, that would be awesome. If not, you can just do this mentally. But I want you to think of the word awesome. I said you were awesome, and I'm going to prove it to you. So, because we're going to look at every letter of that word and I'm going to explain, explain what it stands for so that the next time someone asks you how you are, you can say, I'm awesome, like I always do. And it's a mental reminder again, just like yesterday's mantra, it just reminds you of how amazing you are. Okay, so let's think of the letters of awesome. A, W, E, S, O, M, E. Wouldn't that be embarrassing if I spelled it wrong? But I didn't. The A stands for amazing. You are amazing, and amazing. By amazing, I mean you're unique. You're one of a kind. That combination of DNA that's running through your veins has never, never existed before. DNA doesn't run through your veins. I don't think. Can you tell I don't have a medical degree? You know what I mean, your DNA is unique. It has never existed before. It's never going to exist again. So the best gift you can give yourself is just learning who you are, what you need, feeding the best cells of self of you, the best parts of you. So you become your best self. You are amazing. So a amazing W stands for woman or warrior, depending on who you are and which one you prefer. So you're an amazing warrior, the E embarking on a journey. An amazing warrior embarking on a journey. Why is that important to remember? Because you're not meant to know it all. Today you're on a journey. Hopefully you know more than you did yesterday, but nothing compared to what you're going to know at the end of your journey. So please, give yourself a break. You're on a journey. There's Tammy. Hello, you. So embark our amazing warrior. Embarking on a journey. Now the next part is even more important. The s you are embarking on a journey specific to you and only you. Your journey is different than your siblings. It's different than your parents. It's a different journey than your children. Why? Because you're unique. And you need to build your unique wisdom and knowledge. So creators sending you on your own unique journey, you're going to have things in common with other people, but you're also going to be able to add to their experience because of your unique experiences. You're a unique puzzle piece, right? Amazing warrior embarking on a journey specific to you and only you. One the o. One that will m motivate you and e empower you to be everything you were meant to be. There's the word awesome. Hi, Shauna. Okay, you are an amazing warrior embarking on a journey specific to you and only you. One that will motivate you and empower you to be everything you're meant to be. So the next time someone asks, you really got to try this. I do this. I've been doing it for years. By the way, there's quite a few people who think of me as the awesome woman, meaning I taught them that they were awesome. And honestly, if after my time here is done, that's how people remember me, there's a whole bunch of worse ways they could remember me. I'm pretty cool with that. So next time someone asks you, a sales clerk asks you, how you doing? Answer with awesome. I guarantee you they're going to stop and go, oh, okay, I'm feeling pretty good, too. If you say you're lousy, they're going to come down to your level. If you Say you're awesome, they try to go up to your level. What an amazing gift to give people, right? Very comforting, Sandy. Good morning and have a good day. Hi Brenda. I miss your beautiful face. I hope we see each other soon, Tammy. Thank you. I like to consider myself awesome as well. And you are awesome too. Amazing warrior. Embarking on a journey specific to you and only you. One that will motivate you and empower you to be everything you're meant to be. And I have this cute little handy dandy handout that says that. That if you'd be interested in a copy of this, it looks kind of icky because it printed in black and white. I don't have my color printer here. If you would like a copy of that free for you to download and print, all you got to do is send me an email. And actually the easiest way to do that, the easiest way to find out anything about anything I'm ever doing is go to my website, sandybouchet.com Sandy Sandy with an I sandybouchet.com There is a contact form there. Use that. Just send me a quick email and say I would love a copy of the awesome printout. And while you're there get on my mailing list because I send out an amazing email to everyone on my list every single Monday. And you deserve to be on the list. You deserve to have someone encouraging and supporting you and I would love to be that person. It doesn't cost you anything, Kathy. Just go to my website like I said. Send me the contact information or fill in the contact contact form and I'll be happy to send you one. Absolutely. So there you have it. Now I promised you, or I promised in the lead up to this event that I would share that you were awesome. Already did that, that I have a question for you and this is all kidding aside now this is a serious question for a while now and this is more to the non indigenous followers on my page and people who follow my work. I have been thinking for some time now of designing an allyship course like how to be a great ally that truly supports indigenous people. Like from our perspective. What we need from you, what would really super help and guidance on how to do that. Not just please do this and leave you standing up in the cold but actually information on how to do that. If yeah please do Kathy, because busy day. If you send me an email then it becomes my to do list and I'll be fine, but please do so would you be interested in something like that? Do you think it's a good idea even if you personally wouldn't purchase it. Maybe you already know how to be an amazing ally or maybe you're indigenous. But do you think that's a good idea? It takes a lot of work and I'm happy to do it if it would be a benefit to people. So I'm wondering what your opinion is. So there you have it for today, my friends. By the way, I've also decided today that hopefully every day, not really committing to that, but in a reasonable amount of time, I'm going to take these Facebook lives, master them a little bit and put them on my YouTube channel as well. So if you missed one or you wanted to share with a friend a Facebook Live that I've done a while ago because I'm going to be doing these every single day, you'll be able to find them on my Facebook page, but you're now also going to be able to find them on my YouTube channel. So just trying to make it easier for you, as always. Oh, Shannon. Oh, your enthusiasm. I absolutely love your enthusiasm. Seriously, I. That's the reason I do my job. I don't want to leave anyone out in the cold. And if I can support and encourage and give people advice and help you along the way, why wouldn't I do that? So thank you so much, Shannon. I absolutely appreciate that. Tammy, I'm assuming you think that's a good idea too. So awesome. So there you have it, guys. You are awesome. One more time, an amazing warrior embarking on a journey specific to you and only you. One that will motivate you and empower you to be everything you're meant to be. You are awesome and I love that our paths crossed and we're on this journey together. I am already looking forward to tomorrow's Facebook Live and I don't even know what I'm going to talk about yet, but that's okay. Creator will give me the inspiration. And as always, if you have an idea, something you would like me to share, send me an email, go to my website, use the contact form, post it in the group and hopefully I see it, send me a private message. Whatever works. Don't. I won't identify you, so don't be embarrassed. If you want me to speak to something specifically, I will be happy to do it. I am here to support you now. You're an awesome person and I hope you have an awesome day because that's what you deserve. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
