The Native American Code Of Ethics

Note: I found another version of the Code of Ethics, supposed to be the Traditional one, and would like to highlight one point that I feel is really important but somehow is left out of the new version...

All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.


1. Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen, if you only speak.

2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor.

5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. If it was not earned or given, it is not yours.

6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant.

7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression.

8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you.

9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven.

10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body and spirit. Practice optimism.

11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family.

12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow.

13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you.

14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of ones will within this universe.

15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails.

16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions.

17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden.

18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first.

19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others.

20. Share your good fortune with others. Participate in charity.

Author Unknown

When we dance...

Yes, I am a party animal... hardcore. There been times when I sat quietly b y myself, wondering what am I doing, being thrifty to save this amount of money, just to travel to another part of the world to party. The answer is simple, we party because it makes us happy. We dance as it makes us happy and for relaxation. Simple explanation!

Now think about this... What if we combine meditation and dancing together? If meditation alone is effective, then meditating when you are really enjoying yourself must be 1 million times more effective, isn't it?

Dancing IS meditation. Through dancing, it is possible to gain direct access to our own enlightened qualities: peace, love, openness, understanding, energy and joy.

The popular notion of meditation is to withdraw from the senses and suppress our thoughts. This is hard to do and doesn't last very long because it is an artificial state. It is also rather dull.

Real meditation is being completely awake and open to what is happening right now. We recognize thoughts as just thoughts and return to openness again and again. This moment of recognition is effortless and natural and can become completely stable.

Vivid dance experiences are the ideal time to practice real meditation. Real meditation is effortless and sparky. Effortless because we are simply opening up to what is already there, our natural awareness. Sparky because vividness is fun!

Dance and meditation come together in the experience of absolute spontaneity! When we are completely in tune with the music, not a thought in our mind, and no idea where the next beat will take us, then we are in touch with our own spontaneous perfection. This is dance as a spiritual path to enlightenment.

Next time you dance, think about the beautiful things in life, or send love to the world. I'm sure it will make your party experience not only more meaningful, and perhaps you will find yourself dancing for longer hours than before too!

Boom...

With Smiles and Love,

Halcyon

Learning to Love Yourself

By Sarah Leah Blum
Original article from http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/life_topics/article/6713/489/Learning+To+Love+Yourself

Most of you have probably heard Whitney Houston sing the words "learning to love yourself, it is the greatest love of all," and so it is. I believe it is what all of us need, yet it's what so few of us truly have. How is it that we don’t love ourselves--and how do we learn to love ourselves?

We begin by experiencing ourselves through our biological mother. We receive messages from her while we are present in the womb. What are these messages? Are we wanted? Are we told we are loved? How are we treated? When mother feels angry, sad, or terrified, what happens to us and what are the effects? From all our experiences in the womb, what decisions do we make about ourselves and about the world? Do we decide that we are wanted and lovable, or unwanted and unlovable? That decision will affect the rest of our lives. We make these decisions as infants and then forget, and yet we live our lives out of those initial decisions.

If mother takes good care of herself during the pregnancy and she talks to us and tells us we are important and loved, then we will know that we are wanted. Once born, if we are raised in a loving, protective environment and are told and shown by our parents that our feelings and needs are important and respected, then we feel supported for being who we are. When we are delighted in and loved warmly, when we’re encouraged to explore, be inquisitive, and to experiment--and our parents are not threatened by our individuality--then we know we are OK exactly as we are. As we grow and more fully express our feelings, and are given the words and tools to do that and encouraged to use our talents and skills in our own ways and think for ourselves, then we again get the message that we are not only loved but that we can love ourselves.

Unfortunately, many of us did not consistently have the kinds of positive and supportive experiences I’ve just detailed. As we grew and developed, we entered our teen years and adulthood believing we felt misunderstood, unwanted, and unloved, and believed our feelings and needs were not important or valued. As a result, our self-esteem and sense of OK-ness about who we are is very low. Many have experienced abandonment, rejection, abuse, chaos, and were raised by parents who were themselves unhealthy, immature, abused and unable to demonstrate love, acceptance and respect to us. Instead of seeing joy, delight, and love reflected in the eyes of our parents we saw anger, fear, sadness, depression, apathy, contempt, disinterest, disgust, rage, etc.

Our parents are our early mirrors and provide us with information about who we are and what we are like. If they themselves are still hurt children with little or no positive sense of themselves, then what they reflect back to us can be very distorted. We carry all these distortions with us as we grow and continue to add to those messages when our parents yell at us using hurtful words like "You clumsy oaf!” “You are so stupid!” “Can¹t you do anything right?” “Why aren¹t you like your sister?”

Our parents may also have given us invalidating messages like: "You¹re not hungry, you¹re just tired and need a nap," or "Don¹t be silly, there¹s nothing to be afraid of." Such messages take us away from our own inner experience and our inner wisdom, and we learn that there is something wrong with us, that we’re not OK. Then we start to look outside ourselves for what is right or OK and adapt to that. We begin to work at pleasing others in order to feel loved and accepted. The more we do that, the more we give up ourselves and the further we get from loving ourselves for who we really are.

Here is a list of what can interfere with us loving ourselves:

• Parental messages



• Parental reflections



• Parental abuse



• Our decisions based on the previous 3 factors



• Disowning our own experience



• Pleasing others/seeking external approval



• Belief that loving ourselves is not OK



• Shame and guilt

Loving yourself is the greatest love of all and we all need to love ourselves to have a full healthy balanced life. But when early experiences have shaped your core beliefs about yourself otherwise, can you learn to love yourself? Yes--although it’s easy to tell someone how and not as easy to do.

Love is a decision. Make the decision to love yourself in every moment--unconditionally--no matter what. Act and speak only in loving ways to yourself. If you have a child or a very dear friend then use your relationship to them as an example and never say or do anything to yourself that you wouldn’t also say or do to them! Love yourself for being who you are, doing what you do, saying what you say, thinking what you think, and feeling what you feel. When you do that, you make space for yourself to be, do, think, feel, express, and accept yourself as you are.

What you are unwilling to love in yourself becomes like a hard spot and is walled off, difficult to touch or reach--and when you love those harder to accept aspects of yourself, it becomes soft and easier to reach. When you find a therapist who is well suited to you and your particular needs, you will begin to soften the hard spots in you, to heal the wounds and traumas that have hurt you, and you will be able to take in the love you have always deserved.

Some people have been so hurt that they need an experience of someone else being able to love them unconditionally before they can love themselves. Therapy is based on a relationship of trust—mutual trust--and can help support and guide your efforts to examining and then letting go of self deprecating beliefs. And in that regard, therapy can be thought of as the means to giving yourself the greatest gift of all: Learning to love yourself!