We had another Elder come and speak to my class this week. This Elder is the Director of the Institute of Aboriginal Health. He was fascinating to listen to, and I learned a lot from him. The one thing that stood out for me was when he spoke about circulation in a holistic context. Naturally, for good health you need physical activity (physical circulation) but he expanded upon that and spoke about spiritual/emotional circulation, mental circulation, and social circulation. He mostly emphasized spiritual circulation though, and it was at that moment that I realized that my life has become unbalanced. I've realized this truth for a long time, but was procrastinating getting myself back into circulation. I also realize that what he said was true that the more balance we have in our lives, the more healthy we become.
There's much more to the Medicine Wheel then what I'm about to say so if you'd like to know more I would suggest going to the nearest Aboriginal Friendship Centre and speaking to an Elder. I will use my life as an example. Right now I have mental circulation, that is to say that I am actively engaged in learning at university and elsewhere. I have physical circulation because I aim to get to the gym between 3 - 4 times a week, and I'm active outside my gym time as well. I have social circulation because I have many friends, and I actively meet up with them and socialize. That leaves my neglected spiritual life. I stopped smudging, and attending the sweatlodge because for about a year I was unable to do them. Now, I've gotten out of practice of smudging, praying and taking time to sweat. So, this morning I decided that enough was enough and I smudged for the first time in a long time. I feel great right now.
The Medicine Wheel shows us where our life is not in balance. I have set up my calendar with the medicine wheel in mind. The activities are colour-coded so I can track the balance in my life. I use the colour green for my spiritual/emotional activities and there's not enough green on my calendar right now. Starting today, I'm going to change that and make more time for spiritual life.
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