Resist

It took me a minute to process. I was driving her home. She blurted out, they told me not to be friends with you. They said you are no good. I told them, that’s a lie, you are good. I turned and smiled at her.

Sometimes we are around friends and sometimes we are not. Sometimes people don’t like us. That’s ok. Your language and response to a situation is a choice. I never speak badly of others. That’s not how I want to behave. It’s not my thing. I can’t associate with abusive people. I won’t become one. It’s ok if people don’t like you. When people show you who they are, it’s an alignment. They are not your people.

If I have nothing in common with others, I don’t associate. I choose to be around friends and family who are loving. They are people oriented, friendly, polite, social, welcoming. They are giving and share with others. If anyone needs help, they are ride or die. It’s my choice to associate with people like this. It is my choice to be this type of person.

I’ve had unpleasant life experiences. People have not always been good to me. I have been called names, gossiped about, had rumours spread about me, excluded, threatened, discriminated against, hit, accused, looked down upon, sexually harassed, laughed at, denied.

When I talk to my husband about things that happen, he will say, you know what your dealing with right. It’s a reminder that these things are not about us. People who feel good about themselves, make others feel good. The opposite is also true. How we manage our response is about us.

Learn to sit with it. Take time to process feelings and thoughts. You do this so your emotions are not in charge, your thinking is. Never let anyone abuse you or dump on you. Walk away. Close the door to that relationship. If your physical well-being is also in danger, call for help, get assistance immediately, 911.

Language is a tool to uplift and inspire, express love or oppress and degrade. People learn language within their environment. What people talk about is who they are. Their words come from their hearts. You see people’s hearts when you hear what they talk about. Abusive language is not entertainment, it is the sign of an individual that is out of balance.

Don’t let anyone change your character. Be joyful. Pray and keep your spiritual self strong. Balance keeps your perspective healthy. Associate with people whose language reflects a good heart.

There are many indigenous prophecies about these times. I am sharing the following Hopi wisdom from Chief White Eagle to help you to know that it’s important to care for yourself and for other people. Don’t get distracted by what others do or how they behave. Set boundries.

Carolyn Nones Vazquez

From Chief White Eagle:

“This moment that mankind is experiencing now can be considered a door or a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or walk through the door is yours. If you consume the information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, with pessimism, then you fall into this hole.
But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, to reconsider life and death, to care for yourself and others, you are walking through the gate.

Take care of your home, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself you take care of everyone else.

Don’t underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader eye. There is a social question in this crisis, but also a spiritual question. Both go hand in hand.
Without the social dimension, we fall into bigotry. Without the spiritual dimension we perish in pessimism and meaninglessness.
You are ready to endure this crisis. Pack your toolbox and use all the tools available.

Learn the resistance from the example of the Indian and African peoples: we are and still are being extinct. But we never stopped singing, dancing, building a fire and having joy.

Don’t feel guilty for feeling happy in these difficult times. Being sad or angry doesn’t help at all. Resistance is resistance through joy!
You have every right to be strong and positive. And there is no other way to do this than by adopting a beautiful, cheerful and radiant attitude.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world). This is a resistance strategy.

When we walk through the door, we have a new worldview because we have faced our fears and hardships. That’s all you can do now:

• Calm in the storm
• Keep calm, pray daily
• Make it a habit to encounter the sacred every day.

Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.

~Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle