HOW DO YOU RECONNECT? TELL ME YOUR STORIES
You’re probably thinking to yourself “reconnect to what?”
That’s a fair question!
If you are familiar with the Reconnection Vision (RV) I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Reconnection is Climate Action.” Doing this work, trying to find the root cause of climate change, we realized it was disconnection from self, spirit, culture, community, and the Land. We were a bunch of young disconnected people who needed to heal ourselves and work on being whole people.
“We have normalized living, learning, and working in disconnected relation with all parts of ourselves (spiritual, emotional, mental and physical), each other (community, colleagues, and partners) and the Land (all life, energy, and spirit)”
-from Reconnection Vision Publication, Page 22
Recently, my fellow RV Ambassador Skaydu.û Jules and I presented a workshop at Yukon First Nations Health & Wellness Summit. The workshop was called “Environment as a Determinant of Health: Reconnection Vision“.
We asked the participants to split up into partners and talk to each other about what they do to reconnect. Everyone had different answers:
Hikes with pup
Gardening
Having a campfire
Spending time with grandchildren
Language learning
Crafting and sewing
Being in the water
Look at the sky
Walking through the forest
Then we asked everyone what some barriers are to reconnecting. No surprise, but a lot of answers were about the weather.
The imbalance of the Land reflects the imbalance within ourselves
For myself, I think I was so disconnected largely because I went to Catholic Schools that had zero of my culture, I wasn’t around many other Indigenous youth that had similar upbringings. A big cause of THAT is residential institutions (I refuse to call them schools because going to school is supposed to be a positive experience for ALL), and inter-generational trauma. I hold my hands up to my parents for navigating themselves and their children through a world that wasn’t built for them, especially when they didn’t really have the tools to be doing so.
A big part of my reconnection journey was being able to connect with other youth who were also beginning their own journeys. I wasn’t alone.
“If we continue to focus on climate actions built from the same worldview that created the climate crisis, we cannot expect society to change. We are making mind-dominated decisions and have numbed our heart and spirit. In turn, we are living and making decisions with only half our true human potential.”
-from Reconnection Vision Publication, Page 22
What do I do to reconnect?
Whenever I am missing home during my travels, I always try to find my way to the water. The sound of the running water brings me back to the shore of my family’s camp on the Yukon River. I close my eyes and I can picture everything around me, the river, Croucher Creek, the big hill across the river, and the sun on my face. The sound of crashing waves brings me back to the shore of Fish Lake, a place I spent a lot of my childhood.
I’m home.
Just the sound of water in nature brings me right back home, no matter how far away I am.
During the winter, this may not be so easy. I am usually home beading (lately it’s also been me playing Sims 4 but that needs to slow down because it is taking up too much of my time!). How do I reconnect while beading? There are so many teachings and traditions, one of my favorites was taught to me by my mom: the energy you have while beading is going into that work so you need to be aware of that. I don’t bead when I am angry or feeling some type of way. It’s helped me become more aware of my energy and emotions. I’ve taken time away from beading when I wasn't well, and it’s always waiting so patiently for me.
Reconnecting looks different for everyone, but will always have the same outcome - a deeper sense of self. I encourage you to check out our Reconnection Seeds, we don’t have all the answers or tools for you but it is a start!
So again, I ask you… What do you do to Reconnect? How are you working on making yourself a Whole Person?
