Quiet yourself. Under the constant static of your everyday existence a whisper is heard. The Universe speaks softly of the infinite possibilities available to you. ~ Creator
8 overlooked survival skills that kept the Native Americans alive in a once thriving culture
I have a lot of respect for Native Americans — those who populated this land before the first European white man set foot on these shores.
History rarely mentions it, but countless thousands of those Indians were killed by disease and carried in the boats of those early traders. But before that, the American Indian had a thriving culture, in tune with nature and appreciative of the beauty around them.
Of all the cultures referred to as “primitive” by supposedly civilized society, this is the culture we know the most about. Yet at the same time, we know very little about them. Sadly, history and Hollywood has not treated the Native Americans fairly, portraying them as a barbaric culture, mostly responsible for attacking white settlers and committing atrocities on them.
There are probably countless things about survival that we can learn from the American Indians. Here are several:
1. Nature Has Everything You Need
The Indians had to get everything they needed from nature, and they did. Whether it was flint to start a fire or animal skins to make clothes, they found everything they needed in the world around them. Few of us would be able to survive if we were just dumped in the wilderness with nothing. But for the Indians, that was just everyday life.
It is important to note here that the Indians were satisfied with what nature provided. While many Indian cultures used gold and silver, they were not seeking to amass wealth to themselves. They were satisfied with the lives they had, and not wanting anything more.
2. Fathers, Teach Your Children
Survival was an all-encompassing task for the Indian. One of a father’s responsibilities was to teach his sons how to survive. There wasn’t a school to which they could send their children; they had to teach them on their own. If a father was negligent in teaching his son, the son would most likely die.
The number of skills the average American Indian needed to learn was actually rather extensive. Since they had no trade centers as we know the term (although they did have trade), they had to make everything they needed. An Indian who needed a canoe had to know how to build it himself. Same for his bow, his arrows and his knife.
If you and I don’t teach our children the survival skills we are learning, we are preparing them for failure. You won’t be there forever to protect them. At some point in time, they will have to make it on their own. That will be the test of whether you’ve trained them well or not.
3. Live in Harmony with Nature
If there were ever a people who lived in harmony with their surroundings, it was the American Indian. They took what they needed from nature, but did so without destroying nature. They learned the sounds and movements of the animals and could read their signs. More than anything, they studied everything around them.
There were always tribes which were friendly to the white man. We all know the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to plant and cultivate. Had it not been for the knowledge of the Indians, and their understanding of nature, the United States would have died aborning. Their knowledge of nature was unsurpassed and became the foundation of many learned works, written by scholars who learned from them.
4. Waste Not
When American Indians killed an animal, they used every bit of it they could. They were not wasteful. You never saw an Indian village with a garbage dump beside it. Everything had its use and the Indians were amazingly clever in finding those uses. Even internal organs from the animals could be used, making containers out of them to carry water or to store medical herbs.
The Indians also understood that what they had today may not be there tomorrow. When they had food to eat, they ate well, banking up extra for the time when they would not have food. Winters were hard on them, but they made do mostly by preserving food in the summer and fall.
We see this in the westward expansion as well. The early pioneers didn’t throw anything away. An old shirt which couldn’t be repaired anymore became a rag. A burlap sack became a towel. People brought their baskets to the General Store to go shopping and they used everything they had. The waste in our modern society, especially the ideas of disposable items and planned obsolescence, simply add to our ultimate downfall.
5. Make it Yourself
Probably one of the worst things that white men did to the Indian was to teach him to be dependent on manufactured goods. While those goods were in many ways superior to what the Indians had, that dependence played a part in their ultimate downfall.
Indians made what they needed; they didn’t buy it or trade for it. If a man needed a knife, he would make one. If he needed a teepee, he had to kill enough animals to have the skins. In a culture where everything is handmade out of materials gleaned from nature, one can survive alone, without the huge infrastructure that we depend on today. We would be better off at surviving if we were able to do more for ourselves, rather than depending on others.
6. Be Aware
The Indians may have been the inventors of situational awareness. They knew when enemies were about by the reactions of the birds and squirrels. They could tell when a storm was coming. Indians would see things in the world around them that you and I would pass over, without a moment’s notice.
Living in harmony with nature requires knowing her moods and truly seeing what is happening around you. Survival makes this a requirement. Often, the only difference between the living and the dead is who sees who first. This is true for animals and it is true for humans, too.
7. Blend In
The Apache Indians were masters of guerrilla warfare. Stories have been told of Apaches who crept up on a man dozing, holding the reigns of his horse, and stealing the horse, while leaving him sitting there sleeping. How could they do this? By blending in with their surroundings and moving slowly.
The whole idea of camouflage is one that came naturally to the Indian. Their skin color and attire lent itself to hiding in the environment. They knew how to move without attracting attention and had the patience to move slow enough so as not to catch the eye.
Blending in helps us to avoid attracting attention. In a survival situation, that can be invaluable. Just avoiding being seen by others can greatly increase chances for survival. That means learning how to look like the environment around you, as well as moving as part of that environment.
8. Learn the Medicinal Value of Plants
The only medicine that the Indians had was the plants around them. While they had their medicine men who were experts in using those plants, most Indians had at least some rudimentary knowledge of herbal medicine. After all, they would be observing everything the medicine man did.
Modern medicine is an evolution of herbal medicine. In the past, doctors gathered herbs and plants which they used as medicines. Many of today’s modern medicines are merely artificial copies of things found in nature. Many of the medicines we need are there waiting for us. We just need to learn which plants to use and how to prepare them for treating our needs.
Candle Befriending your dark emotions can empower your creative side
http://www.sott.net/article/312630-Befriending-your-dark-emotions-can-empower-your-creative-side
We all know anger, that fiery tornado that stirs up the belly or the base, storming through the heart and throat, demanding a voice… but what do you do with your anger? What is your relationship with anger? Is it the disowned and dishevelled mad relative you lock in the attic; the itinerant toddler you bundle out of sight, or the problematic and difficult person you patronizingly and with lying snow calm, ignore?
Perhaps you are so disconnected from anger, you have no idea the rumbling of the volcano in your tummy is even happening. You may be floating around in a disembodied sea of fake smiles and jittery mental dreaminess.
Anger is either repressed or expressed. Repression is a denial of reality. We shove down the powerful anger flooding our entire body, pretending it’s not there. Anything repressed goes underground where it turns into a poisonous autocrat lurking ominously, waiting for an opportunity to break out.
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than anything on which it is poured – Mark Twain
Are you repressing your anger?
Anger is our Friend
Repressed anger tends to become uncontrollable and explosive. It is unpredictable and a force to be reckoned with. So often inner restlessness is a volcano of repressed emotions. Even more destructive can be the alternative: the raging expression of anger and the dumping of our emotions on someone else like an out of control road train. This can be disastrous for our relationships and our health.
Accepting and acknowledging anger goes a long way to defusing the charge behind it. Too many of us were admonished to stop being angry as young children and teens. As a small child I remember my grandmother standing over my little brother and telling him she’d beat his temper out of him. Indeed a strange but probably not untypical way of dealing with a two or three year olds’ temper tantrums.
So how do we deal with this “rogue” emotion anger?
Anger has been given a bad rap. It is so often maligned as a negative, destructive force that causes huge problems. Certainly when unleashed on others inappropriately it can scar relationships and be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. We would be lying most politically if we claimed to be spiritual and without anger! So how do we express anger not only constructively, but also creatively?
How can we express anger creatively?
Sloth, apathy and despair are the enemy. Anger is not. Anger is our friend. Not a nice Friend. Not a gentle friend. But a very, very loyal friend. It will always tell us when we have been betrayed. It will always tell us when we have betrayed ourselves. It will always tell us that it is time to act in our own best interests. Anger is not the action itself. It is action’s invitation. – Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Acceptance
A willingness to face our subconscious mind with loving compassion and meet ourselves in our “darkest” expression is helpful in taking the sting out of anger. Instead of denying this natural force and fighting a part of ourselves, when we welcome and channel it with awareness, we awaken disowned parts of ourselves. By accepting anger as a natural and necessary force of creation, we can use it wisely and like the rider steering the horse, let it take us somewhere beautiful.
Acceptance is the acknowledgement that we are feeling anger. It is being open and non-judging, aware that anger is energy in motion, and that it is a messenger. The simple action of welcoming anger releases the possibility for anger to open the doorway to vitality, creativity and wisdom.
Anger or hatred is like a fisherman’s hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it. – His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
Learning to accept our shadow side –
Listening to the message
By bringing awareness to the anger we’re feeling, throwing the door open, welcoming and making it a cup of tea, then sitting down in your kitchen together, you significantly alter and defuse the diabolical force of disowned anger. Anger is an emissary. Anger comes as an agent of change with a message for you. It brings letters informing you what’s not working, is broken, needs updating, or is not serving you. If you listen with awareness, it shows you the map to freedom … the pathway to living an authentic life. Anger is a signpost, signaling where you’re off course.
Owning your anger leads to power
As you give yourself permission to freely express anger masterfully, you begin to unlock your power. You become potent, expressive, passionate and alive. Anger is life flowing through you telling you what you need. So many young girls were given the message that anger is not feminine, and is ugly. Today so many women carry a legacy of repressed, disowned anger, which renders them impotent and saps the potential of their power and leadership.
So many women carry a legacy of repressed, disowned anger
Unlocking anger and expressing it masterfully is one of the keys to your power. As you let this force live within you, you open the potential of the universe to flow through you unhindered in wonderful ways. A real boon for creative expression.
Expressing emotions through art is not something new, it’s as old as creativity itself. But I think there can be an upgrade to the quality of expression, moving from the violence of Van Gogh’s ear episode or other tortured artists, to the channeling of anger as impersonal energy, a force in and of itself, Kali-esque burning through the undergrowth. A journey of discovery, an acceptance of what is present and a fiercely authentic expression of this energy.
By journeying with and through anger, we discover a deeper, richer place within us, a wellspring of creative potential. Much like the process of Gabrielle Roth’s Five Rhythms, surrendering to anger in a soulful, intimate dance practice of being with ourselves, leads to lyrical beauty and inner peace. I’ve had times where I’ve turned to my keyboard in desperate anger, not hammering out Beethoven, but releasing a vibrant passion through my arms and fingers that always becomes a delightful and surprising intimacy with my inner world. We can use the energy of anger itself, to burn the anger out and find compassion and peace.
Channeling anger into creative expression
When we give anger permission and freedom to be there, and listen to its message, we can transform what is holding us back, make the changes that get us back on track and serve our higher purpose, and also become aware of the deep pain that is often living beneath anger.
Anger and Passion
Atira Tan, the Founder and Executive Director of the Art2Healing Project, working to save and support children who have been the victims of sex trafficking in Asia, shares how she deals with anger at the tremendous abuse she witnesses:
“I used to be angry with the sex traffickers for what they did to the children, then the more I worked to stop this terrible industry, the more I developed compassion for them too. The anger became an intense determination to work harder to break the cycle and change lives.”
Learning how to turn anger into creativity that can change the world
Anger and passion stem from the same source in the body. Anger is really passionate life force trying to express itself through you. Anger can be suppressed creativity wanting an outlet, but shoved aside due to the responsibilities of daily life. Next time you’re angry, meet yourself, with acceptance, awareness, feel the energy of the anger and use this energy to create something. Aware anger can change the world.
Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi, Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela, all used the inner message of anger to create transformation. In their mastery of anger walking the path with it as an ally, they unleashed tremendous creativity to achieve their ends, mobilizing others and ultimately making an incredible mark on humanity. Their artistry of anger changed the lives of many forever.
Trust in the Universe
Dear Friends, today I asked my Mom (who passed away 2 years ago and with whom I have ongoing conversations), for some direction in my life. She told me there are three things that are the key to my life right now. This helped immensely and I thought I would share it with you. Love, Goldenlight ~:~
Aimee Rebekah Shea – Understanding Ascension – 5 Tips to Help Your Journey into the New Earth
*
Aimee Rebekah Shea – Understanding Ascension – 5 Tips to Help Your Journey into the New Earth – – 11-1-12
http://indigointernational.org/fifth-dimension-ascension/
*
Imagine that instead of creating a life shaped by the expectations of others, or from your own unconscious thoughts, you begin to create from a heart centered place, with thoughts, words and actions that fill you with joy and make your heart sing!
In the 4th dimension we open more than ever before to our intuition and our ability to perceive and interact with other planes of existence. It is where we are more able to connect to our angels, spirit guides, ascended masters and light-beings.
The 5th dimension is our next destination. it is the place of light, the birthplace of heaven. In the 5th dimension we are able to fully let go of any fears that we have been holding and we can soar upon angels wings into the arms of our Creator.
These dimensions do not exist in finite realities, they are not black and white. We can simultaneously participate in all dimensions as we make this shift together. This is why is is so important during this time to connect to our communities of light all over the world to stay connected to high vibrational energies that will allow us to transition
*through these dimensions with ease and grace.
*
What Is Ascension?
Ascension is the process that accompanies man\’s shift in consciousness from the 3rd dimension of living in union with physical reality to the next dimensions of living in union with love and total surrender to your higher spiritual self. In this place you live in a moment by moment awareness of the bliss and Eden that exist already here on Earth. As we transition into the next dimension of living we are less and less connected to who we were in our old realities, but are not yet fully grounded in the new. Ascension is not something that happens overnight. Although you can have a powerful experience overnight that can catapult you into awareness of the next dimension, ascension occurs over the course of your lifetime and never stops as you pass through this life into your next. We each hold our own ability to ascend into the New Earth at a time that is right for us.
*
Ascending into the New Earth begins in your heart and in your mind, a place where only love is real and hope and faith guide your every thought and action.
Ascending is a word that describes transformation into a higher place in life. Google describes it in two ways 
Ascension into the New Earth is both the rising to a higher level of consciousness and a process that involves the death of many different aspects of your life and the resurrection of your highest self. Ascension occurs in an infinite number of layers, you can be ascending into a new relationship, into a new career, into a new perspective or way of seeing your current world, or into new physical surroundings. These times are often disorienting. You can feel out of it and disconnected. You may find yourself disconnecting in your physical life to things that you once took comfort in. You may find yourself angry or very irritated at conditions and behaviors that you previously accepted. These are all symptoms of being in this gap in between dimensions.
This gap is one that takes time and energy to cross, but your journey through it is an experience like no other. If approached with open-hearted curiosity, it can be a time full of excitement and hope, exhilarating as you surrender at each twist and turn, trusting in the magnetic pull of spirit to guide you through to the other side.
*
Understanding the New Earth
The New Earth is a place that you can imagine as a lighter and better feeling place than where you are right now. This place will feel more like love and less like fear. It is a place to which we are all headed, and what the Mayans and other famous prophets described as the end of the world as they knew it. Nostradamus described an explosion of energy taking place at precisely this moment in time. This energetic explosion is a destructive force in place to tear down the old fear based structures that have been holding our thoughts together and creating our lives since the beginning of time here on earth.
*
This is a time that we have all been waiting for, and you are sure to feel some excitement for the process, as we have all chosen for one reason or another to incarnate during this very magical time.
As the fear is slowly released over time we begin to vibrate into higher and higher dimensions of living, and through a combination of our own focused intention and the natural tendency of our beings, we will naturally move into lives that are more filled with a love for ourselves and all others beings on this planet.
Here are the strategies that my spiritual guides have shared and continue to share with me. I feel that living in full awareness of the bliss of existence on Earth will occur collectively over lifetimes. These are tips I return to over and over again every day of my journey
*
Ascension Tip #1
Surrender the Limiting Beliefs of the Past
The primary shift that needs to occur in order to fully let go of all that is no longer serving you is to release two central beliefs.
The first belief to surrender is that gaining recognition, status and external things will bring happiness.
The second belief to surrender is that you are less than a perfect and innocent creation of God.
These thoughts are part of the old structures that are no longer serving humanity as a whole. When you seek love, status, recognition within a job, or thanks and appreciation in order to feel good, it puts you in a place of seeking your happiness in the outside world. There will never be enough on the outside to totally fulfill you without a deep connection to the depth of your soul that is your highest self that lies deep within you. When you seek for life to provide for you on the outside, you will always be left seeking. Any discomfort or struggle you experience will most likely be tied to holding thoughts connected to the 3rd dimension.
As you release a need to seek anything in life on the outside, you will naturally move inward, where the true love, riches and reputation lie. The key to releasing these beliefs is to develop a relationship with God and your higher self and to practice self-love. A deep relationship to God is cultivated through religion, spiritual practice, and solitude in nature. A deep relationship with God will guide you through every relationship in life, everyone and everything else is secondary.
God has the ability to share a love that is there for you at all times, a love that forgives you for your worst choices and loves you through your darkest moments. This love is so great and is embodied by so many different parts of your life, it can be overwhelming once you first start to really pay attention to it.
When your goal is to move into alignment with your highest self and gain a deep sense of self-love, all else in life will come from this place with ease. Living this way is a lighter feeling, a higher feeling, a feeling that we can seek to cultivate in our own hearts. Residing in these high vibrational energies for longer periods of time will allow us to more fully come into connection with the highest parts of ourselves. This process is one that we will be observing over our entire lifetime, patience with ourselves and all others as we move through this process is of the utmost importance.
*
Ascension Tip #2
Living in the Void and Accepting the Now
Trying to know everything and control your surroundings are strategies that calm the fearful mind. As we move into higher vibrational realities it will become much easier to stay in a state of appreciation for the present moment. As we begin to manifest at faster frequencies in these higher dimensions, the fruits of our labor are coming to us in less time than any that have come before us have experienced. This is truly a magical time in history, when we can disconnect from the fear that dictates much of societal structures today, we can more easily allow our own actions to be guided by love and not fear. This is a gradual process and not one we should expect to achieve overnight or to judge anyone else for. The greatest challenge and reward of these times is to open ourselves up to the truth of who we are and what we are here to do.
The void is a time to till the soil, fertilize it and to plant the seeds for the first harvest. It is a time that will require patience and grace as the unexpected forces of universal love pulls the rug out from underneath our feet, only to be replaced by something far greater, far richer, a far more beautiful life to live.
*
Ascension Tip #3
Crises of the Earth
The crises that arise in our life are being reflected in our earth right now. As these little earthquakes of fear occur collectively within our psyches and physically within our earth\’s crust, let it be a reminder to us of where we are right now. Each crises brings with it an opportunity to make a new choice, one more grounded in self-love, integrity and a sincere desire to achieve the greatest good for all people that are in our lives.
As we move through this dimensional experience, we will always have security in this world if we can find a deep love for ourselves. Practice seeing deeply into the life of another and choosing to focus only on the love that is present for we are all reflections of one another, and the country and world we live in today are filled with an infinite number of reflexive connections.
*
As we journey through the void into the next dimension
our greatest asset is love.
As the world shifts into higher and higher dimensional frequencies it can no longer hold the lower vibrating frequencies of fear as they now exist. The future as it has been predicted is here, we can choose to fight it, or we can choose to surrender and help each other along the way.
*
Ascension Tip #4
Choosing to Surrender
Ascension comes with many conflicting energies. So many things are up in the air. You can see the glimpse of some great opportunity ahead. You have changed so much, you have had time to find a newer center, one filled with a little more harmony and balance. This is a time of shifting. You have realized new ways of living and interacting with others. You are releasing old thoughts and ways of being, and moving forward fully into living in alignment with your soul\’s purpose. However, your physical world is in many ways still reflecting your old energy. Your soul has reached a point of moving forward, but your physical body, environment and relationships have not yet caught up.
*
You must first accept where you are now in order to move forward with grace and ease.
The first step in acceptance is being honest about where you are and what you are doing in your life right now. Look honestly at what you are doing that is serving your highest self and the highest selves of those who surround you.
*
Ask yourself, \”What do I envision my highest self doing or giving in the world?\” Then move in that direction with small action steps everyday. When increasing percentages of the population begin to think this way, we will all organically move into a society dominated more by thoughts of self-love and love for others; this is not a shift that will happen in one day, but it is a shift that will take time, and it is the journey that we need to learn to accept and enjoy.
It is a time like no other to surrender. Our greatest opportunities for surrender lie in our uncomfortable feelings. These feelings are only signals that we are leaving the old and moving into new levels of existence. If you have been living out of alignment in any way, now is the time to surrender these habits and ways of being.
Our challenge is to see the lessons and the love and leave everything else behind.
*
Ascension Tip #5
Downtime and the Final Frontier
This period of downtime we have all been witnessing was and is a necessary tool to ensure that we have time to nurture ourselves throughout these changes. Right now we need only to bow our heads to God, surrender our imperfections, and know everyday universal energy is flowing through us. We are being led and are only directing the small details of our journey. Once we can relax into the flow we are currently in, whatever that may be, true peace will come. It is the always struggling to be somewhere else that creates the struggle in our lives.
The final frontier in accepting the now is surrendering to the truth that every experience you have in life is a reflection of the energy of your soul. When you choose to live in total love of yourself and in realization that all those you come into contact with are only reflections of a piece of you, understanding blossoms, and from here, peace is inevitable. You bring about every experience in your life through vibrational attraction. Therefore, judging, blaming, or pointing fingers at ourselves or at another\’s behaviors are connected to lower dimensions and have no place in our next dimensional reality. When we can truly live from a place of love within our own hearts, and learn to live in appreciation of being able to give that love to others, we open ourselves to the grace and security that will come from living in a very new world.
*
Love yourself with unconditional compassion, no matter what the outward circumstances may be.
Challenge yourself to love all of humanity, no matter what is happening on the outside.
We are all in this together, one infinite grid of energy, vibrating together. This kindness of the heart towards ourselves and others is what will help us to ascend with grace and find peace in our everyday lives.
From my open heart to yours,
sending blessings for transcendent love, harmony and peace in your body, mind, soul and home
Aimee
*
Want to Learn More?
Fifth dimension ascension is a journey into higher dimensional living. We all need practice inhabiting this higher dimension of being. Indigo International has developed some practical programs to help you inhabit this new way of living. Crystalline Lightbody DNA Activations and Attunements are healing experiences that can awaken your body energetically to the truth that you are a master being of love and light. Explore our Crystal Healing Certification Program to raise your vibration with the loving energy of the crystals of the earth. Just want to read more? Explore our posts on the Buddha\’s guidance for transcendent living and join Aimee as she shares the teachings of A Course in Miracles, a series of lessons that can help you to remember that only love is real.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- …
- 296
- Next Page »
You must be logged in to post a comment.