how i get in touch

I haven’t always thought of how the earth is in danger. I wasn’t aware of the ways I was participating in the ever-growing pollution of our own planet that does so much. And I own the harm I have done. I am aware of the different ways I have impacted pollution. Owning what you have done is the most essential and also difficult thing to do to start regenerating. Regenerating isn’t something you learn in a class and come out knowing everything, it’s a learning process, you’ll have failures and successes, trial and error.

During my time here at the center I had “Becoming kin: An indigenous call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining our future. Krawec, P., & Estes, N. (2022)”, recommended by Hannah Filizola-Ruiz, our cohorts Community Engaged and Research Fellow. In the book, it uses the word Nii’kinaaganaa and gave the meaning, “Nii “I am” or “my” Kinaa: “all of them” Ganaa: “relatives, my relatives” The phrase could mean any of these things: I am my relatives, all of them. I am related to everything. All my relations… From our earliest creation stories, the Anishinaabeg (plural of Anishinaabe) understood themselves to be related not only to each other but to all of creation.” Krawec, Patty. (2022, p.1). We are related to the Earth.

Mother nature provides us with everything we need, that be basic needs like food, water, shelter, and also things we will need like herbs to use as medicine, love from other animals, and the patterns the earth has to make us curious and learn how to nurture it. With that nurturing of the earth brings us peace, peace that we need during stressful times. We go walk/ hike, take care of our loved animals, care for our plants that provide us clean air, and fruiting plants that give us nutrients for helping them bloom.

The way I rejuvenate from the taxing time and energy I put into social change is enjoying what the earth has provided us. That be physically, mentally, and spiritually. I have recently started gardening, finding joy in starting my small garden from seeds and then working my bit of earth to be balanced to grow my fruits and vegetables to share with family and friends through making food or giving the fruits to them. One way I connect with the Earth mentally is reading and learning what things the Earth provides us to maintain homeostasis. I like to see this as a way to connect with my indigenous ancestry and how they would deal with mental health. It brings me into connection with the Earth and the mind. For example, Yolloxochitl was used by the Mesoamericans for people who had the “scared disease” (anxiety/schizophrenia) and other illness. Mental stupor was equally believed to be due to an excess of phlegm in the chest and could be treated with herbs to induce vomiting. Yolloxochitl, one particular herbal medicine applied locally to the head, helps the frenetic and crazy, removes fear (anxiety/ schizophrenia), returns to consciousness those who have lost consciousness for any reason. These symptoms would not be viewed as physical conditions, but rather psychological or spiritual. Hearts being eaten (by bad spirits), squeezed, congested, and crushed, causes symptoms like spinning around, being skidish, and wanting to die.

Yolloxochitl: Which translates to heart-shaped Flower; Mexicana Magnolia is a southern magnolia tree that is native to parts of Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.