Sandi L Boucher, Red Thunderbolt Woman of the Loon clan, explains Zoongide'ewin, an Anishinaabe teaching on courage. It means living with a solid, strong heart, loving fully, and facing challenges with integrity. She draws on her own survival of domestic abuse to show what courage looks like in practice.
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Hello again, you amazing person, you. I am hoping that you are enjoying the Seven Grandfather Teachings. These are everything to the people who practice them. It is our checks and balance. It's, you know, did I practice that today? When we do the reflection back on a conversation or some action we took or didn't take, we can look at the Seven Grandfather Teachings as a guide to how to do better in the future. And that is our goal. It's not to compete with anyone else. It's to be better than who we were yesterday. So we've looked at five of the seven. Today we're going to look at courage or bravery. In other words, zoom, zoom. Let's talk about it. Sam. Hi, everybody. My name is Andy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And as I pointed out in the opening, we are looking at the Seven Grandfather teachings. Christians have the Ten Commandments. Anishinaabe Ojibwe people have the Seven Grandfather teachings. And I believe there are other nations that, that follow them as well. As I mentioned, these are our guides. This is how we live a good and strong life, how we attain Minob, which is a good life. We do that by following the Seven Grandfather teachings. Today we are talking about Zungad, which is courage or bravery. Once again, just like in all the other videos, I'm sharing two different interpretations. The first one from Seven Generations Educational Institute in Treaty 3, which is the treaty area I'm from. And the second one is from the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship center, which is in the 1850 Robinson Superior Treaty Area. That's the city I happen to live in. So we've joked around about the fact that Treaty 3 is very concise. Like one sentence, this is what it means, which probably explains the way I am. It also, as I mentioned in a previous video, every single time I go to Treaty 3, for one, when I cross the border and see the sign, it's like my spirit size. I know I'm home. And even if I'm meeting people for the first time, I swear, everyone in Treaty three, all the indigenous people in Treaty three, every single one of them sound like my mom. And that is so heartwarming. So according to Seven Generations Educational Institution in Treaty 3, Zungadaya win. Courage or bravery means to live with a solid, strong heart. This means to be brave, to be courageous, not to be fearful of being hurt, to love with your whole heart, to dare to say you care, to dare to be vulnerable all of these things take courage and bravery. Not easy. I don't think any of the seven grandfather teachings are easy. I just happen to believe they are the key ingredients to minim Bamadswin, that good life that we want. Now, according to the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship center, they focus in on bravery. Here's their interpretation. Bravery is to face the foe with integrity. To deal with challenges positively without worrying about the outcome. To work through and give all aspects of your life your best effort. Being able to accept responsibility for your behavior. Be willing to be a role model by standing up for your values and beliefs, accepting challenges, conflicts and learning from them. Now there's a lot in that one. I just want to unpack some of it. So the first one to deal with challenges positively without worrying about the outcome. I'm actually going to do a separate video on this. But if there's one thing that's integral to the integral, you know what I mean? To the Anishinaabe experience, it is being totally comfy with the fact that we control nothing. That a challenge that comes up in life is just a rock in the river of life. We have our canoe. We choose to paddle around it. It's not personal if a challenge happens. It's life. We don't control when winter is coming, but we can prepare for it knowing that it's going to come. We can't act like we were sur. Not if you're past, I don't know, the age of 10. Right. Like you know what's coming. So just owning that and being brave enough to face that right to work through and give all aspects of your life your best effort. This is just my personal opinion, but way too many people are out there on autopilot and they're going to tell you, I tried and it didn't get me anywhere. Every baby that has ever learned to walk, can you imagine if they only tried two or three times and then gave up and said meh, I tried it. It didn't work. Most of us know how to walk. That's because we kept going. Ever seen a baby try to get the remote off a coffee table? Nothing is going to stop them. That's what this is talking about. Just because you're an adult now again, if you say no, but I've been hurt and I'm scared of being hurt again, then you're not living with whole heart, a strong whole heart. Right? You're letting fear drive the bus. Now I'm a 10 year domestic abuse survivor. Do not tell me about being nervous to get into A new relationship. But I promised myself the people in my past were not getting my present or my future. You can do the same thing. My mom would be the first to say. You make sure the right person is carrying that burden, Carrying that garbage. Don't put it on someone new. Let the person in the past carry what they brought to the table. Being able to accept responsibility for your behavior. That's the one that really sparked for me. Because way too many people are out there. And again, I'm not talking indigenous, non. Indigenous hair people. In this case, way too many people feel helpless. The antidote to helplessness is responsibility. Take responsibility for what you can change. Serenity Prayer for anyone who recognize that. Be willing to be a role model by standing up for your values and beliefs. I heard my mom speaking when I said that part. You are a role model. My mom would be the first to say. The ancestors and the children are watching. You're an example. You get to choose of what. And I can admit some days I'm an example of a compassionate person. And in my younger days, there were a lot of days where I was in the example of an idiot or an example of a woman that didn't have a voice. I was teaching other people to do that. The people that were watching me. So be careful what you're teaching other people to do. Don't be a jerk. We have enough jerks in the world. Just saying. Finally accepting challenges and conflicts and learning from them. What is the lesson here? Nobody's out to get you. What can you learn from that experience? Take it as a puzzle piece and use it to complete the puzzle that is you. I hope that made sense. We have one more to do. And then you will have all of the seven grandfather teachings to take into 2024 with you. The understanding of them so you know what's important to us. I'm not saying adopt them. Let's not culturally appropriate here. But if you know it's important to us and maybe some of those values are important to you too. You don't need to name them the seven Grandfather Teachings. Just say honesty is important to me. It's a really good way to build a bridge. I'll see you tomorrow for the last of the seven Grandfather Teachings. Take care. I love you. Bye bye.
