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The Basics of the Medicine Wheel.

Lots of people have been asking me to return to the basics with the Medicine Wheel and Indigenous Dreaming.  I’ve been quoted a few times in the last month and each time it’s been about “concentrating on the foundation, in order to solidify the house.” 

One lady said: “I often feel anxious, scared and unsafe; but if I return to the basics and simplify my thoughts and expectations I already realize I can handle anything.” 

We live in a society where everything is about performance, competition, and earning our place / and our salary.  There’s no doubt that having to prove ourselves is a constant source of stress; but it’s more then that…  Who doesn’t want to belong; to be loved; to be “enough”.  Having to fit in a World; which constantly questions who we are; what we can do; and how fast we can do makes it difficult to cultivate the attitudes necessary to feel whole and be happy.  How can we even begin to reach the heights of our dreams if we are constantly and inevitably working against them?

Last winter we discovered that our senior Beagle, Murfle had an aggressive kind of bladder cancer.   Since she was diagnosed is a specialized clinic we were seen immediately by an oncologist who quickly suggested a few treatment options.  At first glance we didn’t think of the money it would cost us.  Love and the fear of loosing her kind-of lead the way.  Fear, moral values and practical thinking were constantly debated during the months; which followed the surgery and then the chemotherapy. 

We constantly asked ourselves the question: “How do we make the decision to stop treatments; to accept cancer; and to choose euthanasia?”

What was incredible about this journey was how our family and friends rallied together and promised one other to be clear and honest about our feelings, our thoughts, and our deep down beliefs. 

The three first elements of the Medicine Wheel: Clarity, knowledge and illumination.

From the very beginning I made up a rule: “It doesn’t matter if we don’t see the same things, the same way and want the same results.  The idea is not to agree but to open up trails and trails of possibilities.” 

On a few occasions when emotions flared some people questioned my “genius”:  “How can it possibly help to have more perspectives then actual solutions and one clear choice?” 

The Medicine Wheel tells us that it’s not the outcome that is important but the journey.  The learning, the healing, the abundance, the beauty, the inter-relations, and the attitudes; which lead to gratitude these are the reasons why we are incarnated.  If we focus on how to manifest our basic desires they inevitably dominate us; but if we “circle around them” like animals do -- we uncover the secret of stepping into them.

If you have ever had a pet, you know that these animals often mirror their owners / masters / or human Alpha.  Contrary to humans animals are rarely selfish and self-indulged.  They please the people they trust and they grow into their basic desires of being loved; belonging; and feeling safe.  What makes them different than humans is that they surrender; and allow themselves to change.  

The second trio of elements on the Medicine Wheel:  Growth, trust and love.

Through watching Murfle in the last year, I realized we (humans) over complicate our lives.  We want to be heard, we want to fit, and we want most of all to be loved but we spend so much time “working at making it happen” that we don’t trust life to actually deliver it.  In the last little while I’ve had too many people tell me that they are giving up and that love, peace, and feeling whole doesn’t exist. 

Murfle was a wounded adult dog when we rescued her.  She was a work dog for a few years; and was abandoned into the dog adoption system moving from one foster home to another because of unfortunate human, life circumstances.  By the time we got her, she was 10 pounds over weight and didn’t trust humans. 

Everyone questioned why I picked her over some of our other options… 

Ironically it was all about Bella then…  We were looking for a companion for our over zealous puppy. The two dogs immediately bonded and in less than a year, something as simple as “playing and running” had skimmed 10 pounds off of Murfle and given her back hope. 

Through the last year, G repeated often the words: “Lets just make Murfle and ourselves HAPPY.”

Here, I was worried about money and about fearing the end.

·      How would she die?
·      Could I make the final decision?
·      How much would she suffer etc…? 

From the very beginning she told me through a dream: “Don’t worry.  I’ll die when it’s my time.  You won’t make the final decision and you’ve already taken away the suffering.” 

It took living the journey all the way to the end to believe in the dream.  Murfle brought me back to the basics and reminded me to listen to myself; to listen to the Universe; and to listen to the Wheel.  She taught me to “let go of fears, worries, anxieties.”  She gave me a glance into the Sacred Circle and showed me that through change there’s always renewal. 

The last elements of the Medicine Wheel: Renewal, purification and wisdom.

Murfle died September 26th, 2015.  She didn’t die of bladder cancer.  The surgery and the treatments actually worked; and she was in complete remission.  Instead, she died of internal bleeding due to a vulva cancer nobody saw until it was too late.  She didn’t suffer.  None of us had to make any tough decisions and she passed at the happiest point of her life.  It was one of those bittersweet moments where “you’re glad and your pissed all at once! LOL


Our minds create all kinds of stories and scenarios with the assistance of our aching and wanting hearts; but what if our hearts were synchronized to the rhythm of the Wheel and feeding our minds an infinite amount of possibilities?  The journey literally brings all the pieces together and if we can get the mind to listen to the heart; and the heart to listen to the Wheel / the dreaming / the Cosmos we inevitably grow, and mature allowing our basic desires to find HOME. 

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