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AUTHOR ANONYMOUS!
Recovery Stories From You, the Reader
(Please Send More!!)
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| The
100 Eagle Feather Hoop. Eagle Feathers from
all over the world are around the Hoop and
at the Center is a Condor Feather from South
America. |
Welcome
to Autumn, 2004!
Autumn is a time of maturity and
things coming to fruition. All our hard inner work
in recovery, made possible by walking in alignment
with Creator—however we understand Creator
to be for us—starts to show itself in
the fall season of the many Cycles we experience
in our life.
With this Issue of Wellbriety!
Online Magazine we want to begin printing some of
the Wellbriety and recovery stories from you, the
reader who is walking the Red Road. If the Wellbriety
Way is helping you in your recovery from substance
abuse or misuse, please send us a story telling us
how. They don’t have to
be long. Take a look at the two stories in this issue
to get an idea. If you are a drug and alcohol counselor
and people in your Circles or groups want to share
their experiences, strength and hope in writing, please
encourage them and send the stories to us. We will
print them in Wellbriety! Online Magazine anonymously,
just as we did in this issue.
As you might know, White Bison, Inc. is working on
a second book to follow the Indian Big Book, also called
The Red Road to Wellbriety:
In the Native American Way. This new book, The
Red Road to Wellbriety II will
have many personal recovery stories from people who
are finding sobriety and wellness in cultural ways.
The stories you send in for this online magazine can
also be used in the new book. When that happens, your
own hope can be shared with others in the new book
Send your stories on e mail to info@whitebison.org,
or contact White Bison toll-free at 1-877-871-1495.
We send you strength for your individual Wellbriety
journey and for those in your families, communities,
and Nations.
In Wellbriety!
Richard Simonelli
Editor, Wellbriety! Online Magazine
Four
Gifts of the Hoop
The Sacred Hoop, which is at the heart
of the Wellbriety movement, has four gifts within it.
These are: Hope, Unity, Healing and the power to Forgive
the Unforgiveable. Wherever the Hoop has been, it has
had a tremendous positive effect. This will be the
first of a few articles that will provide a deeper
understanding of each of the four gifts. I want to
share in my own way from my own strength, hope and
experience as someone who has been involved with White
Bison since its mission was developed many years ago.
The first gift is Hope and this is a very powerful
one. We all know it is very difficult sometimes when
we are working with our people and our many issues,
including historical trauma, post-traumatic stress
disorder, adult children of alcoholics, substance abuse,
mental health issues and a host of other dysfunctional
behaviors. When we are around these issues we can become
discouraged and disillusioned and may even get to the
point where we feel burned out and we may have thoughts
of giving up.
This is when we need the gift of Hope the most. I
would like to share some thoughts on this gift and
will do so in the form of an acronym, which always
helps me to remember the concepts.
is for being happy. We talk about
being happy, joyous and free once you start following
the Red Road way. Even simple things like having a
smile for everyone you meet and shaking their hand
will let others know that you are sharing the Wellbriety
message in a good way. And when you don't feel like
being happy you must learn to change your state of
mind. As we say in the Wellbriety movement, "You move towards and become like that
which you think about." So if you have happy thoughts
you will spread hope to the people, which they so desperately
need.
is for opportunity. The Chinese word for crisis has
a double meaning, which is danger and opportunity. When
you are negative, and part of the problem, you are in
the crisis mode. However, when you bring hope into the
picture you focus on what you have and not what you don't
have. When you have hope for yourself, your family and
the people, you will be able to identify the opportunities
that will help individuals and the community to become
healthier.
is for the present. Learning to live in the moment
is part of what it means to be in Wellbriety. When
you are aware of everything around you, you radiate
Hope wherever you go. People lose hope when they get
stuck in the past or else they project what is going
to happen in the future. In order to live in the present
you must learn not to have expectations of what is
going to happen. One way to practice this is to block
out all thoughts when you meditate and just start by
focusing on your breathing. Eventually you will be
able to do this when you are fully conscious and learn
to see beauty all around you.
is for energy. We have to be like the energizer
bunny and when you have hope you always are able to do whatever
needs to be done. We talk about resiliency and when
you fall down you always get back up. One of my heroes
is Wiley Coyote because he has this quality. We all
fall down but we don't all get back up. When you feel
like you have nothing left, you can't help another
person, or you are just fed up with all the chaos in
the community, you have to tap into that reserve that
comes from your spiritual source and your ancestors
so that you will be able to continue to carry the message.
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Willie Wolf
Author
Anonymous!
Readers’ Recovery Stories
A
CALL TO ALL NATIVE WOMEN
I’ve been meaning to write
this for way too long. For many years I have thought
about the grief and sorrow our Native families
experience. How can this go on? How can we possibly
heal all these wounds? The deaths, the crippling
accidents, the suicides—how will it
ever stop? When will we learn that it is our women
who now have to be the strong ones? There was a
time in my life where I was the weak one. I would
party and think I was having fun. When life was
hard, I would turn to the bottle to help curb the
stress. When I awoke, the stress was still there
and I would be sick and still had to deal with
it. Finally, after a knock down, drag out fight
with my daughter, I decided that this was it. I
was going to quit drinking. I finally realized
that the spirit of alcohol was the reason why my
family life was so chaotic. I broke the news to
my husband and his reply was, “Well don’t
think that I’m going to quit too.” I
told him that he could do whatever he wanted. He
could continue to drink if he wanted to. But I
did ask him not to start running around on me,
since that was what happens to couples on the reservation
that went their separate ways.
Well, it was two weeks into my sobriety
when all hell broke loose in my life. I was away
at a conference for my job and my husband showed
up with my boys. He told me he wasn’t happy.
He left my boys with me at the conference and left
out of our lives. Now any other time in my life
this would have been easy. But not anymore. I would
normally just take off to a bar and drink my problems
away. I made a promise to myself and to my family
that I would not walk that path again. I truly
believe that the Creator was testing me to see
if this was truly the path I wanted to walk. During
this time, I cried to the Creator to make the pain
in my heart stop. I would sit with my children
at dinner and look to the empty chair at the head
of the table. I would go to bed at night and pray
for the strength to stay strong for my family.
When I thought I was at my wits end, a friend of
mine took me to see a spiritual man. I gave him
tobacco and cried some more. I told him it was
too hard and I couldn’t do this on my own.
He smoked my tobacco and told me I was on a path
and pointed to where I was on the path. He also
pointed to the path behind me and told me my husband
was also there but behind me and was stuck. He
said I had to be strong and keep walking my path.
He said, “I can’t tell you if your
husband will ever continue walking that path with
you, but you need to continue on, no
matter what,
to stay on that path.” I did what he had
told me. Everyday I prayed with my family to give
us strength. I put my tobacco down and thanked
the Great Spirit for my life. We survived.
Three months went by and to my surprise
my husband showed up at our door. He wanted back
in our lives. I took him to see the spiritual man
I went to see and they talked for a while. My husband
came by me and asked if I would let him back in
our lives. I knew I had to be strong and I had
to have strength not to make this easy on him.
So I told him I would let him back in our lives
but not the alcohol. I told him if he wanted to
drink then we would not be part of his life. He
accepted my ultimatum, and our relationship has
been strengthened. This experience had been a very
hard lesson in my life but a very fulfilling one.
My family is together and strong. The chaotic life
that we once led is now very peaceful at home.
The hollering and fighting has stopped.
My wish is for all Native Women to
stay strong and live a life without drugs and alcohol.
We have to show our men how to live. If we begin,
they will follow. Just think—if all
the Native women stayed out of the bars, our men
would be looking at themselves “alone.” Our
children would look to us as if looking in a mirror
and want to be as strong as their mothers. They
would also follow in our footsteps on that path
the Creator has made for us. Stay strong.
Author Anonymous |
Author
Anonymous!
Readers’ Recovery Stories
My
First Eagle Feather Or Things Happen
for a Reason!!
I am counselor
in our treatment facility on our reservation.
One of the daily groups is to read a story
from the Big Book. I found that our clients
weren’t really
connecting with the stories in that book, so
I switched from the Big Book and started to have
the clients read the Personal Recovery Stories
from The Red Road to Wellbriety. The young lady
who wrote this story suddenly perked up while
reading and told this story to her peers during
one of these groups. It appeared this moment
was a powerful one for her.
I have been checking out
White Bison’s
website and saw the call for more personal recovery
stories, so asked her if she wanted to write
this story and share it with others in your book.
She was more than happy to write it. I wasn’t
sure if she would write it at first, but on the
next day she brought me her written story. This
confirmed what her Grandma told her, “Things
happen for a reason.”
Counselor
Anonymous
-------------------------------------------
My
first Eagle Feather gave me the best inspiration
of my life. It all started when some of my
friends and I were partying one day. We were
at a place called Crow’s Nest on the Wolf River. My friends
were drinking, but I wasn’t. I really didn’t
get into drinking that much, but I was using
a lot of drugs. I was using so much and I was
getting depressed with myself.
I have five children and
every time I get any money I would usually
buy drugs instead of doing something with my
kids. I wanted desperately to change my life,
but I couldn’t. I couldn’t
until I found this Eagle Feather.
My life didn’t change right on that day,
but it did a couple of weeks later. I ended up
losing my children because of one stupid night
of drinking at the lake. I was drinking with
my niece and a cousin. We got into a fight and
my niece ended up beating me up. I was really
drunk, so I really don’t remember what
happened, or what it was all about. I remember
she was hitting me and I was trying to get out
of the car when she reached over and locked the
door so I couldn’t get out. She pulled
out from the lake parking lot and took me to
my sister’s house. I don’t know why
she took me there, because she knew I would call
the cops from there and press charges on her.
Well that is how I got my
kids taken away from me. The cops arrived and
I asked the cop for a statement form. He told
me he didn’t
have any and the next thing I know is that he
was informing me that I am being arrested for
child neglect. I asked, “What for?” and
he replied, “For leaving your kids at the
lake lot.” I told him I didn’t leave
then there alone. My cousin was there! I was
then taken to jail.
I stayed in jail for 48 hours.
When I got out I went to my brother’s house and my sister
in law told me to call a particular number. I
called and was informed that I wouldn’t
get my kids back until I went to treatment. So
I went to the treatment center on my reservation.
One day during my treatment we were reading
a personal recovery story from The Red Road to
Wellbriety. During this reading, the story made
me think about the Eagle Feather I found that
day on the river. On the day I found it, I put
down tobacco and prayed to the Creator to help
me change my life. On that day I came to believe
the Creator answered my prayers. I am making
changes in my life. I am in treatment at the
time I am writing this and I am finding it hard
to be away from my kids. I have been sober for
two weeks now, but I have experienced a good
feeling in my mind, heart, body and soul. I never
believed in myself like this before, but I am
so happy at this time.
When I was a little girl
my Grandma used to tell me that things
happen for a reason. Maybe this is what it took for
me to wake up and realize what I was doing
to myself, my family, and most important to
my kids. I don’t want my kids
to grow to hate me for being a drunk and a druggie.
I want them to think highly of their mother.
I love them very much. I hope every mother who
reads this will think really hard about what
drinking and drugging will do to them and their
family.
Author Anonymous |
Celebration
Meeting in Massachussets!
The Red-Road would like to invite you to join us
to celebrate our 3rd year Red Road Anniversary for
Native Americans in Recovery.
Whether it is alcohol and/or
drugs. Native Americans and all others involved
in their own, and their family’s healing
journey from alcohol and/or drugs are cordially
invited to attend. All races from the 4 directions
are welcome to join us.
| When |
Novemeber 20th |
| Time: |
1:00 PM |
| Where: |
North American Indian Center - 105 South
Huntington Ave. Jamaica Plain, MA. |
| Contact Information: |
Don S. H: (508) 880-6887 evenings, W: (617)
232- 0343 |
| Directions: |
www.mapquest.com or just call |
| Events: |
potluck, so bring your favorite dish to share.
Native American singing, drum, and flute. Guest
speakers and raffle. |
| Who We Are: |
The Red-Road is a group of Native Americans
and others that meet once a week at the Tecumseh
House-107 Fisher St W. Roxbury, MA. We meet
to share their experience, strength and hope.
So that together we learn to deal with life’s
difficulties without alcohol or drugs. |
Miigwech (thank you)
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