We are all one

We are all one
Jennifer Varenchik

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Supersize This!

I know I haven’t written in quite some time. I’ve been trudging through life lately, but now there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Let’s see here, I still have lame people in my life that want to take the wind out of my sails. It wasn’t until I spoke with one of the wisest young women that I know, Miss Leya Hale, that I realized that it’s all just in your mind. I already knew that, but knowing something and acting on something are two completely different things. While at the Stanford pow wow I had a chance to talk to Leya, and she reminded me that once you have control over your mind, then you have control over everything. As my mentor Jeri Brunoe Samson says, “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it”. And so, I choose to keep my wind blowing. Funny thing is that as soon as I made that decision, and let go of the drama, a serious weight was lifted off my shoulders. And no sooner did the phone ring and it was Jeri with good news about all kinds of trainings coming up for the summer.

Recently I saw an amazing documentary called Super Size Me http://www.supersizeme.com/. It’s basically about this guy who eats nothing but Mc Donald’s for a month. The movie covers a bunch of other issues, like junk food in schools, advertisement and of course, diet and exercise. It really made me think about fast food. I’m already boycotting Mc Donald’s because they don’t give scholarships to American Indians on account that we are all sooooo rich from the casinos. (visit their website for details http://www.rmhc.org/mission/scholarships/index.html )Yeah, right! I only wish! This ndn girl is going to have to get rich the old fashion way, and it’s called hard work. But I digress. In the Super Size Me movie, the guy almost dies from all the fat and toxins that he is taking in from eating Mc Donald’s.

Which brings me to my point (‘cuz I usually do have one ). With all the negative stuff that has been going on in my life, I feel like I have been on a toxic diet. No, I wasn’t eating fast food everyday- but I wasn’t taking take of myself the best that I could. It was already hard enough for me with these toxic people, but then to not counter that attack with exercise, drinking water and time for me….well, no wonder I was feeling a weight on my shoulders. I do pray every morning when I get up, and through out the course of the day I have my own conversations with my ancestors. But I am now seeing that I wasn’t taking care of the “body” part of the “mind, body, spirit, environment” way, I was actually trying to over compensate in the spirit category, but with no luck.

So, that being said, I am now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have a lot of work ahead of me for the summer and I am so excited! I love work, because to me, it’s not work, it more like fun.

~J