Transcript
Robert Johnston (00:00):
Hey there. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the native wellness Institute, power hour, uh, had a little bit of trouble signing in, um, but uh, figured it out. Unfortunately, you know, what I was trying to do was get on zoom because I want to do some sharing with you. And I was unable to do that. Um, but I just want to get on with all of you just to spend this time with you. Uh, uh, mainly because, you know, right now, as we see there is a lot that’s going on right now and the, the topic today was, uh, the power of positive thinking. But one of the things that I was focusing on today, uh, is what we call the tools of positivity. And that’s what I want to focus on today because here’s the thing that we really have to understand is what’s happening right now.
Robert Johnston (00:53):
We get a little bit, we’re getting distracted right now, right. Uh, and we got to remember, this is that these tools of positivity is their gifts, their gifts for times like this, because what happens is, uh, during times like that is our wellness and, and, and, uh, depends on how we manage times like this, our, our, our, our health depends on how we take care of ourselves and what do we have flowing through our energy, but do we have flowing through our minds at this time? What do we have flowing through our, our, uh, connections right now? And so what we’re going to do is really just kind of talk about that some, and I’m glad that a lot of you are joining me and again, maybe taking a break from everything that’s going on. Uh, but we’ve got to remember no matter what’s going on, we can’t let that distract us from taking care of ourselves.
Robert Johnston (01:43):
And we can’t let that take away from us, empowering ourselves during a time like this, because it’s an impact. It’s a really important, powerful time. And we got to remember how, as much as we see out there in the world, there’s always a counterbalance to things. And what we’re seeing is a reaction to a surge of energy, energy in one way, and what we’re seeing as a reaction to that. Uh, and, and as we see, you know, there’s a way that it counterbalances our sales. Now what happens with us, however, is what we get our attention starts to rise when we get a little bit afraid or uncertain about what the future brings. And that’s why we’re talking about this, these tools of positivity today to help us, you know, find, find some ground, uh, be able to, um, balance ourselves. So that’s why I’m on here with you today.
Robert Johnston (02:29):
And, uh, I, I, you know, I’m glad to be here. I was a little struggling, a little bit with, uh, with the technology to get me on here, but we’re on here and we’re ready to go. And that’s what I’m gonna share with you all today. First of all, we’re gonna do is we’re just going to take a little deep breath, right? And what I want us to do is just take a deep breath. And as we take a deep breath, what I want you to do is just focus on these positive memories that you have. You know, one thing about our memories, what they do is they engage us in a time where we felt strong, where we felt safe, where we felt peaceful. Uh, these memories are gifts because they’re a part of the experience of life that we enjoyed, where they’re a part of the life experience that raised our spirits.
Robert Johnston (03:08):
So we’re going to really engage with these memories today and bring it into the focal point. So what I want you to do is I just want you to close your eyes. And I just want you to just imagine putting your head. Of course, if you’re driving, please don’t do this exercise right now. Well, you can do it while driving with your eyes open, but for those, I just want you to relax right now. And what I want you to just kind of focus on is just those relaxing a relaxing memory, peaceful memory, peaceful memory.
Robert Johnston (03:39):
Of safety.
Robert Johnston (03:42):
Of, gratitude.
Robert Johnston (03:45):
Of love.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Of protection.
Robert Johnston (03:54):
Of service.
Robert Johnston (03:58):
Of togetherness.
Robert Johnston (04:04):
Of family.
Robert Johnston (04:08):
Of accomplishment.
Robert Johnston (04:12):
Of laughter.
Robert Johnston (04:16):
Of song.
Robert Johnston (04:21):
Of dance
Robert Johnston (04:28):
But Oh, you know, every now and then we can utilize tools like this throughout the day to just help ground us. Even if it’s just for 30 seconds, 30 seconds is all it takes throughout the day at times, just to just put us in a place and let those memories go to work, let those memories. Cause every memory that comes up, it brings with it an emotion and it brings with it what we call physical or biological reaction to each memory. Right. And that’s why we want to keep in store. What are those positive memories and what are those positive outcomes that we’ve had in life? So we can really get to and really, uh, start to, uh, uh, get them to our body, to relive that experience, you know, taking the time to do those things. Of course, there’s a lot when we got the time, we can do it for a little bit longer, but even those 30 seconds helps, you know, different times throughout the day.
Robert Johnston (05:18):
If it’s just even like, if you’re gonna walk into somebody’s office and you know, you have this real serious, uh, discussion ahead of you just doing that, that visualization of all those positive memories and, and, you know, and just feel that a sense of safety as you, as you walk into there, those are important tools. And, um, I’m using the language today from a teacher, uh, from, uh, a mentor, um, who his name is Charlie tail feathers, and a lot of, you know, Charlie. And he talked about that during our time and during our time throughout our life, um, we’re going to things and tools, what tools or positivity means is that by the time we get to elderhood, we’ve had mastered these things. And one of those things is that when there’s high stress going on, that we’re able to meet it with courage and love that we’re able to not see someone as evil or as bad, but out of the circle.
Robert Johnston (06:28):
Right. And why do we need that from our elders? Because the elders are foundations of our circles. They’re our leaders, how we see them react to the world, plays a big part in how each generation after them is going to react, right? That during these times we can do more productive things for our own wellbeing. And those that are directly around us by praying for those that are in distress, by praying for those ones who maybe are protesting right now by praying for those ones who are trying to, uh, cause disruption by praying for them because that’s the counterbalance method. And I know that’s kind of tough to do at times because our society has really taken us away from that belief system. Our society has really taken us away from really focusing on those ancestral tools, a positivity that has been, uh, given through us throughout generation to generation, to generation, right.
Robert Johnston (07:41):
Use tools of positivity. So, you know, and where does this start? This starts at a very young age, and this is where I want to apologize. I was unable to share my screen. And, uh, what I want to share was a PowerPoint. And the PowerPoint was actually put together by, uh, Charles tilt feathers. And it shares some of the teachings that he’s been sharing throughout his lifetime. The, the information that he’s gathered in his travels and his talks, and really talking about this thing, that’s called the cycle of life, uh, in our rights of passages. And why is this important to understand is because we have to understand what we’re going through right now is a rites of passage. We have to understand that we’re going through right now is ceremonial. Why? Because it marks a time in our lives where we had to improve who we are.
Robert Johnston (08:35):
Well, we had to be stronger, wiser and find a way to benefit from whatever is happening because our life cycle depends on us growing, becoming wiser learning, and being able to apply knowledge, right. Apply knowledge. Now, let me give you a good example of that, of what we say is that how we learn from our past, and we apply it from different things. You know, a good example of what we’re seeing in the world today is say, for example, this vaccine, that’s going out there. So the vaccine, what it is, although we’re saying like, well, this is a new, uh, disease, and the vaccine is ready for this. What did this vaccine is based on is the studies that have been done on previous, uh, SARS virus. So the, the, the vaccine, isn’t really a new vaccine. It’s a SARS vaccine that’s been there. Right?
Robert Johnston (09:42):
So to, to able to understand how we deal with what’s happening now, they looked at what has worked in the past, right? And they built on that. They built on that. What, what would work for this particular situation, which is why, you know, they’re able to get this vaccine out pretty quick, uh, get it to the test. So it’s pretty quick because it was already there. They just needed to fine tune it. That’s what we are as people, you know, especially during a time like this. So close to the solstice where they say, this is our time for renewal. One thing I know Charlie had a hard time with is the idea of this, of saying that I’m a new person. And especially how we explore the new years as a new person, this is my opportunity to be a new person, right? And the reason Charlie had struggled with that is because, um, as he said, you can’t be a new person, you’re you, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
Robert Johnston (10:41):
Because what comes with you is everything that you needed to get here, whether it’s good or bad, whether it’s the right decision or the wrong decision, this is what made you, who you are and renewal in the ancestral way. Isn’t about changing who you are and changing the outcomes of your past. It’s about building on it. It’s about being a better you, because how can we improve of ourselves if we don’t acknowledge the hurt, the pain, the bad decisions, uh, the guilt, how can we improve ourselves? If we don’t acknowledge ourselves? You know, we have to be honest with ourselves. We have to ask ourselves some really tough questions. Do I have hatred toward people? If I do, why do I fear people? If I do? Why am I jealous of people? If I do, Y we have to ask ourselves these tough questions, right?
Robert Johnston (12:01):
Cause we have to examine what’s there. That needs to be looked at because this time of year, what renewal is, it really is a time of reflection. It really is to say, am I at the top of my game? Or do I need more? Do I feel safe? Or do I need to increase my courage? Do I have what I need right now? Do I know what I need right now? Or do I need to learn more? Right. That’s what that is. But the other idea too, with renewal is that if we look at our life, you know, if you look at the seasons, we know the seasons goes like this, and this is what our calendar is based on. It’s these one year, you know, months, 12 months, boom. And we just don’t work like that. As people, we have one cycle that life cycle, right?
Robert Johnston (12:53):
We have that one cycle. And because we had that one cycle, what we can do is examining. We can use the seasonal cycle as a measurement, meaning within the next season, this is what I need to learn. This is what I need to do better because our last cycle depends on us. Moving forward. Our life cycle depends on us to learn and to balance. And again, to help us get stronger, we really had to examine what is it that we need to redo? Or what is it that our weaknesses are? Um, one thing that, um, and it’s a challenge for us. I know one of the things that Charlie called was, uh, what he used to say about the society is all in our history. It’s unreasonable for us to think that as an indigenous person who comes from tribal, people could be 100% on track.
Robert Johnston (14:00):
It’s unreasonable. And why is because so many things went into, uh, destroying that lifecycle for us, interrupting, I should say, not destroying, but interrupting that lifecycle, that derailing us from that track. But we also got to remember this too, in that, that idea that what that cycle is, what that circle is. I should say that circle is where everything is counterbalance, right? And what’s different between what we see, say in dominant and what happens within our people. We think of prevention is this, that once somebody does a bad behavior, then they’re a bad person. Once they engage in some type of bad behavior, then they’re a bad person. And we see a lot of time with our young folk, right? When they’re raising up and we think prevention is keeping them from ever, you know, picking up alcohol and drinking it. And then once they use, it’s no longer prevention, it becomes intervention.
Robert Johnston (15:08):
Right. And when that happens, we start to feel this sense of like, Oh, we lost this kid. We lost them to alcohol, uh, alcohol one. And I never thought this kid would get involved with that. Now look at them. They went down the wrong road or they’re on the wrong path or on the wrong way. So really we have this judgment, this, uh, uh, this judgment that follows our behaviors, ready to boom, bad person, bad person on any decision or action that we do. And a lot of times what that does, it pushes away further from who we really are. Uh, people within that who, uh, start to judge, Oh, you know, this is only for non-drinkers, you’re a drinker, you know, get away from this is for non-smokers, you’re a smoker. You don’t belong here. You don’t have it in you, you know, you’ve been tainted, you know, this type of talk.
Robert Johnston (16:08):
And again, this isn’t our talk. This is what’s happened throughout. This is the disruption or the derailment of our culture. You know, coming from a culture that has, you know, burned people for having a different, uh, way of life destroyed civilizations that people who have had a different way of life, but for ours, ours is always about this, bringing them back to the circle. How do we get in, come back to that circle? Cause no matter what we do that circle is always there. No matter what our decisions are, that circle will always remain. And that’s what true prevention is, is because I might make mistakes. But if I know that circle is right there for me, it gives me a place to return. It gives me a place to go and it also gives me a place to learn. It also gives me a place of focus and guidance.
Robert Johnston (17:01):
So what I want to go through is just some highlights of what that circle is, even when we start to, and I want you to imagine this too, of how our cultures are. You know, Charlie always talked about the preparation of the body and what he means is the preparation of our body, uh, coming to this earth because prior to that, uh, upon conception and when we were carried in our mother’s moon, there’s preparation for us to walk the earth, right? And in that preparation, uh, often there are some prayers already being set for us. There are songs already being sung for us. There’s, uh, ceremonies already be doing already being done for us,
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right? There’s stories
Robert Johnston (17:50):
Already being told about us before we even walked this earth. And when we enter this earth, we were given a name and that name identifies us. That name gives us intent. That name, you know, is the name that resonates because that name describes a spirit. It’s just not something to be called. It describes the spirit and the intent of that spirit with the family, with the community, with the village, with the world, right? And during those first years, the most important thing is your bonding time. The bonding time with the mother, the first teacher, the bonding time with the caregivers. And this is really important because it’s during that bonding time where we learned our communication process and our first communication process, isn’t this is what I want. Our first communication process is this is what I need. This is what I need, right? When we cry, we’re telling mother, this is what I need, right? And the mother can tell from our cries what those needs are and address those needs. That’s significant. That’s significant because what’s that telling us is that upon our arrival on earth, the first thing we learned to do Is to ask for help.
Robert Johnston (19:29):
The first thing we learned to do in our communication process is to say, help me. I need your help. I need this to survive. That’s important. Right? That’s important. Make sure that stays right there because we’re going to come back to it. Okay? So it’s through this, uh, time or learning this bonding and how important that bonding is, how important it is understand is that there’s trust out there. There’s trust out there. And the energy that you give is reflective and the energy they give you is reflected. When you feel loved, you give love back. That’s the reflective energy that we start to learn, that the world can respond to us. The world can respond to us how important that time is. And then it comes as we got get older. And Charlie identifies this as our years of our, about three years to about 10 years.
Robert Johnston (20:30):
This is when our teachers come into play and they teach us everything that we need as far as tools of survival. Right? And we learn it at a young age. We’re already a part of it, right? We’re not just watching mom prepared a food. We’re helping mom prepare. We’re not just watching dad walk off and then come back with this hunt. We’re helping dad hunt, right? We’re not just watching mom and dad pick medicine and prepare the medicine we’re participating in that we’re participating in that it’s our learning years. It’s an important learning or it’s, it’s our bonding years where we gain this and we gain how to be a part of it. And we gained this knowledge is because these are the tools of positivity. Cause one of the, these things are what we’re going to use as adults to take care of people, to provide for people, right?
Robert Johnston (21:28):
We’re learning how to share love. We’re learning how to share love. We’re being taught, how to share, you know, we’re being taught how to ask for help. We’re being taught to bring people into us when we need it. And we’re being taught how to serve others and how to take care of others. And it’s done in so many ways. It’s done by modeling. We see mom and dad do it. And we’re so proud. I say, I want to do that. We see older brother and sister do is, they’re so proud. I want to be like that. Right? We follow this. And just like anything else. When we see someone who is good at basketball, we say, I want to be like Mike. Right? But the same thing is when we see someone who’s a good singer. I want to be like that person. When we see someone who’s a good drummer, I want to be like that person.
Robert Johnston (22:24):
We see someone who’s a good Hunter. I want to be like that person with the same goals. And we see a generous person. I want to be like them. When we see a prayerful person, I want to be like them. When we see a person who is strong, it’s just courteous to so many other people. I want to be like that person. Right? So the tools of positivity start at a young age by observation, right by observation, and is the responsibility of the adult to put the child in situations where they can observe these things. So they can be surrounded by things because those are the first stories that a child hears. Those are the first stories that a child starts to get in, in their mind and replay those stories over and over and over. Those are the first stories, right? The stories are the visual stories around them.
Robert Johnston (23:21):
And these stories can be retold. As they get older. The stories of going hunting with father, the story of watching grandma prepare medicine to take care of the illness that somebody has. These are the stories that we learn, right? And if those stories are about the positivity that saw what our stories will tell, right? That’s what our stories would tell. And that’s what our reality becomes. That’s what our reality becomes because it’s during those three to 10 years that our belief systems are created, that our belief systems are created. And how that goes scientifically is our brain. Isn’t in a situation where it’s going to look at that information and decipher right or wrong, true or false because it is all true. If we see it every day, it is all true. That’s the basis of the belief system of the value system. That’s how important it is, right. Is how important it is is we have to be in an environment where we see that. And I want you to think about that right now, because some of you might have three to 10 year olds at home seeing things that are happening in the world and watching you, what are you doing this? Because this is going to be as a young person, they look at you saying you’re going to be my truth. And you’re going to model my adult behaviors. I got to take on, what are you doing right now?
Robert Johnston (24:59):
Those are responsibilities, right? That’s our part. That’s the roles that we play in the life cycle of others, right? That’s the life cycles that we, that, that that’s our responsibility, the life cycles of others. When we know we’re within someone’s circle, this is what we have to show them.
Robert Johnston (25:22):
Right?
Robert Johnston (25:24):
So the 10 to 15 years, what is that? That’s our growth, right? That’s turning into adults and we’re understanding a little bit more about the responsibilities, the work that we need to do. How do we provide the spirituality? What are the ceremonies? What is the self-respect and what is my role in ceremony? Right? We have to think about this and how that, how we look at this, how it, how it differs from today. Um, say, for example, when we walk into certain ceremonies, there might have, there might be total, okay. The females sit on this side and the male sit on this side. And we see that now in today’s world, uh, we know that we have a responsibility to understand about, uh, gender, right? However, in the old way, they’re not seeing gender. When they asked for people to sit here or people to sit here, they’re not looking at gender. What they’re looking at is the medicine that that person carries. The medicine that that person carries
Robert Johnston (26:37):
Someone who can carry life in their body has a different, right. That’s what we really have to really dig down into. What are those true intentions behind these teachings, behind our ceremonies, these teachings behind all the actions that we do, that there’s always intent involved, because how important it is to understand the responsibility of the medicine that you carry as women, as men, the medicine that you carry. So this is really during that time, a lot of self-awareness, how strong are you? How can you manage if we’re sent alone on that mountain for three days, can you survive? Those types of rites of passages were so important for us to show, to learn about ourselves and to show that we’re on the right path, right? That we can take all the tools that we’ve had in life and apply them. We do that in preparation for what happens next.
Robert Johnston (27:40):
Our 15 to 20 is when we start to have our families. And again, we’re talking to our old way. I know when I say 15, I think, Oh wait, teenage pregnancy. But we’re talking about our old ways, right? We’re sharing the old ways. And I also want to share how we apply this to today. But then when we’re talking about these old ways, then we’re talking about the, uh, prepare preparation of family that were within those family. And we’re now aware of everything that I do, how it’s going to affect that next generation and how do I provide and how do I protect? Right? Um, in Charlie’s teachings, he talks about too, when we start to get to the age of 20 and the 20 last throughout 40, those are the years that we are taking care of children, whether they’re our own children or others, we’re taking care of the next generation, that young generation, right? Those are the years. That’s what our years are dedicated to taking care of that next generation. And I also want you to really understand is that in our old ways, we had a childhood and we get to 20, the childhood can no longer be about us, is providing the childhood for those that need to go through it because we’re not talking about just getting through life. We’re talking about creating an environment of healing and survival for the next generations.
Robert Johnston (29:17):
See where there’s a difference. This is seven generational thinking. This is big picture thinking the way all of our indigenous people thought, and this is the reason we stand here today. We would not be here as indigenous people. If our ancestors didn’t think that way. And the more that we can put our minds to that same type of thought process, the more we honor their gifts to us and honor their, their, their, uh, sacrifices to us. But also what’s happening in that 20 to 40 is we’re still getting the guidance of our elders. And that’s important too, because what we see in today’s society that year is that 20 to 40, there’s almost a cutoff from our elders because there’s a, the focus is more intrinsic. Meaning I got this, I’m going to figure it out on my own. I don’t need anyone else’s help. Even though the first value of life was how to ask for help.
Robert Johnston (30:27):
And so here we are, uh, going through these ages, uh, traditionally what would happen is that we’re really doing, is we’re looking for elders. We’re looking for elder teachings so that we could pass it on that’s our role. And we model the behaviors that we want that younger generation to follow. And we learned that way to talk in the way of communication that our elders want us to pass on so that they can communicate in that same way. Um, when I talk about communication, yes, we’re talking about our languages, but we’re also talking about how we speak in how we talk.
Robert Johnston (31:05):
Do we build, or do we break down BB motivate, motivate by bringing up them, uh, their spirits or by tearing down their spirits? Right? That’s what we’re talking about, how we communicate that positive communication. Because one of our things that we learn is that our greatest strength is knowing how to build things and knowing what to let go of when it’s no longer working for you. And you had no more use for it. And name calling and bullying. Might’ve been something we might’ve done as a kid, but there comes a point as adults. We have no use for it. Gossip might’ve been fun. We were in high school, but it comes a time as adult. We come to a point where we got no use for it, right, sir, doesn’t serve us a purpose. Does it create that positivity in that world that we want coming back to us, right?
Robert Johnston (32:08):
That we want coming back to us, that’s something we can practice. That’s something that we can definitely practice today is putting it out there in your own voice, putting out some love up there, you know, throughout the day, pick some random people, maybe off your Facebook friend list, or maybe off your phone and send some love. Right? But that wave out there. You know how like, uh, when you’re in a pool and someone splashes you, you don’t get irritated. Do you not? When you’re already in the pool. I mean, if you’re trying to stay dry, you get irritated. But if you’re already in the pool and someone splashes you, what do you do? You take it like you splash them back. And pretty soon everyone positivity is the same way. Splash a little bit of positivity in people’s face today because we need it, get the world splashing.
Robert Johnston (33:04):
And that’s what we’re talking about. As adults, we’re understanding these tools and how to use them, but it takes practice. All I do is go to work and put my nose into this and eat and sleep. I, where am I going to find my time to better myself? No, it takes work. It takes work. And we can’t be afraid of that work. Right? And this can be a tool of positivity. You know, a lot of what we’re seeing now in the world where there’s a lot of mixed messages and disinformation going on, it shows us that social media can be a tool of negativity, but look, what are we doing?
Robert Johnston (33:48):
How we’re using it. It becomes a tool of positivity. It becomes a tool of positivity because we’re sharing good messages and we’re connecting and we’re teaching, right. And we’re learning and we’re connecting, right? So we have to remember that. Is that what positive, true, positive thinking is that you can make anything into a tool of positivity. If it’s done with good intent, if it’s done with good intent, you know, I remember we always say it used to say, me and Charlie is like, you know, Geronimo, if he was alive or a sitting bull, if he was alive today and had the technology, they probably have an iPod, but right. But it wouldn’t be filled with Snoop doggy dog. Right. It would be filled with their songs. It’d be filled with the songs, using the tool to share, using the tool, to rehear those songs. Right.
Robert Johnston (34:50):
I mean, that’s what we have to really respond to our responsibility because these tools that we see in, in this, this, the, the, the, the, this, uh, uh, technology that we have around us does not define us. It’s our spirits and intent that define us. Right. And it, and it’s so important right now. It’s so important right now for us to be able to remember those things, to not fear, you know, I hear people say, Hey, uh, whatever I get, I don’t mind getting on Facebook. You probably heard this too. I don’t like getting on Facebook nowadays. Cause every time I get in there, as people are just asking for prayers, because people are sick, there’s too many sick people. I don’t like seeing that. That’s one way of looking at it, isn’t it. But why, what are they doing to ask him for prayers?
Robert Johnston (35:40):
They’re asking for prayers, they’re utilizing that device to say, please pray for my sick family member. Right. That’s what I mean. We have to focus on the positivity and be a part of that. Be a part of that. Right? Have those smudge bowl bowls ready when you know, you’re going to get on Facebook, how those smudge bulls ready, except it, because here’s the thing by you doing that by you answering that call for prayer, that’s called self-development for you. You’re helping yourself move in that cycle. Right. You’re contributing to that circle of not only themselves, but of your own circle development, you’ll become a wiser, a person closer to that wisdom keeper that we’re all seeking. Right. We’re understanding that the power of your spirituality and how it applies to your connection with everyone, uh, 40 to 60. That’s my, uh, and, and traditionally, this is grandparent age.
Robert Johnston (36:51):
I know we hear 40 is still young, but, you know, while we saw, uh, back in the day, you know, where you had, uh, a Parenthood started at a younger age. Right. But they were ready. It’s not like, it was like, Oh, you made a mistake. No, they were ready. And they’re prepared to be good mothers, good fathers, and going to, to be good grandmothers and good grandfathers. We were prepared to do these things. And we love doing these things. But at this point we’re still teachers and we’re applying those things. We’re applying it. We’re applying our elder years. Yes. Traditionally I would be considered an elder right now at my age of 47, but I would be applying what I’ve learned. And I would still be seeking the knowledge of those older than me. Right. In a way at the feeling that all I’m sharing with you are the teachings that was given to me by my elder.
Robert Johnston (37:43):
Right. And then I go out there and I try to teach those that are younger than me and through different tools, uh, had a zoom call with some, a younger, uh, youth, uh, last week, uh, had some one-on-ones the other day with those younger than me, uh, seeking advice. We’re still doing that. We’re still playing that role. Right. And again, what does it set up for us to do? It helps us look at those tools from a, a standpoint of, this is what I did, and this is what our younger group is doing now. Right? And we still play a part in that. We still play a part in that cycle. And that connection in that pipeline of information from those that are the oldest to those that are the youngest, uh, 60 plus is what we call our wisdom keepers.
Robert Johnston (38:41):
And our wisdom keepers tell the most glorious stories, the stories of their livelihood, their stories of their journey, the stories that we need to know, the stories of survival, the stories of what they know of what they went through and what they saw others go through the stories of how to learn our language, the stories of how to be a good mentor, the stories of how to restore families, the stories of how to conduct our ceremonies, the stories of how to use our medicines. These are the stories that are being told in those wisdom keeper years. And they’re told in a way, uh, because it’s up to us in the younger age groups to live those stories, right? Some of our, we know our wisdom keepers, maybe can’t get out there and pick that medicine. So that’s why we need to hear these stories so that we know what to do. And we can tell those stories and pass on those stories.
Robert Johnston (39:50):
So we’re looking at this as lifecycle. Now, I want you to understand, is that what we’re talking about, these tools of positivity throughout this lifecycle is so that when we come to that end, the end, we don’t call death. The end is what we call our passage, that passage to that new journey, that passage to that moose, uh, being a spirit. But that passage is what we’re coming to as we get to that point. And yes, what are we doing when we’re doing what we do did when we came into this earth and that is where asking for help with certain things, sometimes physically, we can’t do the things that we used to do. So we have to ask for help.
Robert Johnston (40:39):
You know, that’s what truly connection is connection. Isn’t just about a connection with the creator or the land is connection with all of those that are around you, right? And when we go start to prepare for that passage, there’s a sense of calmness. Why? Because those tools, the positivity that we use has helped look put us in a way that we can look at that next journey as part of our agreement with the creator, our return home, our return to our ancestors, or becoming an ancestor ourself that we can look at in that way, because we had a whole life journey, a positivity and tools of positivity that help us put us in that mindset.
Robert Johnston (41:28):
Right. And what is so important for us to understand that those of you that are between the ages of 20 to 40 50, this is a call-out for all of us, or I should say a calling for all of us to really start to use those tools of positivity. And today, especially when I literally today, those tools are positivity, right? Because the bitterness that we learn and the negativity that we learn become the stories that we tell in our last days, what are the stories that w that we’re going to pass on, or the stories of how everyone was against us or their stories about how much hate is in the world, how much hurt is in the world? This world’s a horrible place are the stories are going to be, I can’t wait to, I’m gone from this earth.
Robert Johnston (42:30):
Other stories of you guys are never going to survive. What are those stories? Because those stories are determined later in life, by what we do right now, by what we do right now. Now those this life cycle is what we call foundational learning in that, in order for us to be, um, like Charlie often talked about, you know, people who lived outside of the circle, and then as they got older called themselves the elder, and I have, uh, access to the knowledge that say someone who stayed within that circle has, he didn’t call them out as a bad people. Whatever he just said is that is difficult to do that when you don’t have the foundation, it’s difficult to understand the importance of positivity when that has never been a foundation for you, because of your fear foundation has been built on negativity, right. Then that’s the foundation that you’ve learned.
Robert Johnston (43:34):
And it’s hard to pass on that knowledge of the ancestors when they’re, uh, when the ancestral knowledge and wisdom was not based on that. Right. But, but we also have to understand too, is that for someone who wasn’t raised, you know, when we talked about, you know, the foundations foundations were ceremonial foundations where things and what we call our cultural practices as they were there in our lineage. And we didn’t have that doesn’t mean we can’t go back to that. Remember what we said, that circle is always there for you, right? That circle is always there for you. And for those that maybe felt like, you know what, I never had any of that in my life.
Robert Johnston (44:16):
Well, go back to that, circle it, start with the first step. And what is the first step prayer song ceremony, ask him for help, ask for people to pray for you, ask for people to sing for you, ask for a song for you to learn, ask for the language, for words, for you to use, ask for a name, go back to the beginning of that first walk, because it truly is a first walk. It might be your first walk in that circle if you’ve never had it before. Right? I mean, there’s certainly things in the circle that I never experienced and I would love to, and acknowledging that gives me something to live for acknowledging that gives me something to focus on to better myself, right?
Robert Johnston (45:26):
So that when it comes to renewal, it’s not a redo and it’s not starting over. It’s about how do I build on what’s already there because what’s already, there is strong enough to get you here to today, right? So again, what we are experiencing on this day, what’s happening in our country and what we’re experience worldwide with the pandemic. At some point, we’re going to have to be grateful and thankful for this. You may not know why right now, but at some point we’re going to have to be for us to be a better person for us to have evolved for us to mature.
Robert Johnston (46:15):
So sure. Heart gets pounding a little bit seeing this stuff, but we’re going to be fine. And you’re going to be fine. I’m going to do a couple of, uh, more visuals with you. Uh, and, uh, forgive me for going a little bit. I know I got started a little bit late, so I got about 10 minutes left that I do want to share. And these are two visual tools and tools. The positivity can be so many things. Like I said, you know, today’s a day where, like I said, we can reach out, use our technology, reach out, send those positive waves out there, splash some people positivity. There might be pupil, you know, or Hey, people, you may not know, right. Might be, if you had to go to the grocery store, might be a cork there, splash some positivity on them, right? Let that come back to you.
Robert Johnston (47:05):
That positivity, let that be surrounded by that. You can create that that’s that internal medicine bag that you carry in your power to create that energy that you give out and the energy that is reflected back to you. All right. Um, but here’s the thing I want to share with you is we’re going to try this. This is a visual, there’s a little tool that we’re going to do, right? And this first one is about this. When it comes to, uh, in a way our positivity, one thing that pulls us back from that is our own, uh, um, how we see ourselves, our own self perception of ourself, our self-esteem and, and how we view ourself. Right. And what holds us back a lot of times is that nobody’s better at recognizing our weaknesses or recognizing our vulnerabilities than ourselves. And often we recognize it a heck of a lot longer, more than other people do.
Robert Johnston (48:06):
You know, sometimes you might say, you know what? I don’t like in my notes, we might hear from other people, what are you talking about? You know, you haven’t yet you have a nice nose. No, I don’t. It’s hideous. It’s ugly. I look like Shrek, right? I mean, we can put ourselves down. We can really say some mean stuff toward ourselves. Right? Um, we’re, we’re really critical of ourselves, but that, you know, that’s where we have this, uh, low self-esteem come out. And this, uh, perception of ourself is that we think this, when we go out there, a lot of times everyone can see those weaknesses and everyone can see the stuff that we’re not comfortable with about ourselves, that everyone can see it, right. Say, you know, if we think that, uh, you know, we’re, we’re, uh, we don’t like our body, whatever our body falls, maybe too big, too skinny.
Robert Johnston (48:58):
However, I think it is. We think that’s what people look at it as, as soon as they see us. So this tool is to help us a little bit. This tool of positivity is, is, and it’s based on that, that sense of when are we at our strongest, when do we really capture when we’re on our strongest, what would really make you stand up strong and courageous? And if you ask that, we think in times of our life, a lot of times it came when someone that we love was under the attack and someone we love was hurting. I mean, that’s when we really stepped up to take care of them, we got a loved one. Who’s sick. Don’t we fill it upon us. It’s like, you know, I’m not going to stop until they are taken care of. But yet when it comes to taking care of ourselves, we take it, we take the hurt and we don’t step up with courage and say, this needs to stop. Because if we stopped the negativity, then we wouldn’t be talking negative about ourselves because we’re the main ones giving us that negativity wouldn’t mean. I mean, the fight would be won easily because of the fight is against ourselves. But yet we put ourselves down and down and down and down to time, again, more than anyone else does, but we wouldn’t let anyone else talk to a loved one, the way that we talk to ourselves. Don’t we? So this idea is this.
Robert Johnston (50:19):
When you get an opportunity, maybe a piece of paper would help, but write down every insecurity that you have about yourself, all the things that you think about yourself, everything, everything from physical to, to personality, to intelligence, just everything that you think could be something that, that, that you’re not proud of. That you’re insecure about. That you’re not happy about put it all down, right? Put it all down. Okay. And put a name to it. Sure. You can use your name. Maybe you can use another name, right. But make that a person and start telling that person how much you love them, make it a goal to lift that person up and lift their spirit up,
Robert Johnston (51:26):
Right? Make it a goal to lift their spirit. Start talking to that person and hear those words, say it out loud. What you need to tell that person to make them feel better about themselves, because you have to say it, right? You had to say it. You really have to put it out that you have to hear those things. That’s the way our brain works. If we think it very powerful, but if we hear it, bam it’s as if we’re hearing a song that’s about us. And we love those songs. Don’t we, we relate the songs when we say that’s my song, but those words of positivity, that’s going to be your new song.
Robert Johnston (52:10):
And anytime you get into a situation where you need some positivity, or you need some confidence, if you need some confidence in facing a situation, ask that person to go along with you, ask that person, go along with you. You know, maybe my person is Squatch and Squatch is, uh, what I, I’m not going to call him. Squatch the squad. Just go this on a call, this my shadow. This is my shadow. And this is all my insecurities right here down to the big feet, right? Every time any name I think of anyone that’s ever called me, or I called upon myself. It’s right here. But I want to imagine this. If I’m in a situation where I think this might be under attack and I take my shadow along with me, when I see people looking at me and I see bill coming at me, what am I going to do on a warrior up?
Robert Johnston (53:01):
And I’m going to stand in front of this shadow. This is when you see this, the confident meaning you’re not going to touch my shadow and you’re not going to affect my shadow. This is who I am. Right. I’m ready to protect. And what are you really doing? You’re protecting yourself. You’re taking care of your own spirit. That’s one tool. We got one more too. I want to share with you before I go. This is a quick 32nd visualization, right? A real quick visualization. So bear with me, you know, if you got an opportunity to sit somewhere and this is best when we close our eyes and what I’m going to have you do is just go through, uh, this, uh, uh, just visualization exercise. And what is this about? This is about facing tough times. And this is the times of uncertainty. A lot of times what causes those fears of when we got to go through something is we don’t know what the is going to be.
Robert Johnston (53:57):
And unfortunately, when we don’t know where the outcome, we fill in the blank. And I say, unfortunately, because what we rely on to fill in the brain is our base of memory, of our experiences, the stories that we’ve already heard similar to this situation. And here’s the thing over years and years and years, none of it we’ve seen true stories, but we seen a lot of fictionalized stories because we’ve watched a lot of television and TV. So if we don’t have a situation where, where you related to it in real life, we go to and default to what we got from television or TV to fill in the hole. So none of us have experienced a pandemic before, right. So where do we go to fill in the void of what it’s going to be like Hollywood. Right. And what are those movies about? They don’t usually have a good ending.
Robert Johnston (54:51):
Do they fall at the very end, after millions of people that died? You know, stuff like that. We fill in the blank with the worst case scenarios, because that’s what Hollywood does to make movies and profit from it. Right? So when we go through things that are tough, when we don’t have, um, you know, we don’t know the outcome, that’s what the fear is. That’s what the fear is. So a lot of times what we need to do is just ignore what outcomes are and focus on just getting through it, ignore what the possible outcomes are and concentrate and just getting through it. Right? Cause we know when we go through tough times, what does that feel like when you’ve gone through something tough and you come out on the other side, what does that feel like? I did it. You ever had a test and this test determines whether you get your degree or whether you get the job and you pass it, how does it feel?
Speaker 4 (55:52):
Woo.
Robert Johnston (55:53):
Right. It would go to the doctor because you’re sick and you’re waiting for those test results and not knowing what’s going on with you, but then you get the results and it’s, you know, good news. I was about to say positive news, but it’s good news,
Robert Johnston (56:08):
Right? Ever in a marathon halfway through. I don’t think I’ll make it. I don’t make it. They can cross that finish line. Right? That’s what we want to focus on. It’s just getting through. So this visualization just bear with me as we do it. Right? But I want you to do is I want you to close your eyes and with your eyes closed, what I want you to do is just imagine yourself in a lodge and you fill the lodge because you feel the surrounding around you and you feel this darkness all around you. You can feel it a little bit of chill in the air, but you can feel it, but there’s some warrants. And you start to realize that warrant, this getting stronger and stronger. And as you look in this lodge in the middle, right in front of you, you see these glowing red rocks right there.
Robert Johnston (56:52):
And that’s where the heat is coming from. And it’s getting hotter and hotter and hotter. And you know, that heat is really starting to hit your body and it’s piercing, right? And you know, it’s just a second. What’s going to happen. You don’t know how intense it’s going to be, but you know, it’s going to be intense. You know, it’s going to be intense is that water is going to be put on those rocks. And when they do that, steam is going to come out and it’s going to hit your body. And you don’t know the intensity, but you know, it’s going to be intense, but you’re ready for it. And in your mind, you start to say these words, bring on the water, bring on the water, bring on the water. And when the water hits the rocks, that sound that sizzle and that steam hits your body.
Robert Johnston (57:35):
It’s more intense than you’ve ever felt. You fill it all there. It’s sitting everywhere in your body. It’s just this heat intense heat. But you also know as it’s hitting your body, your mind, your spirit changes. It reacts by becoming stronger, your body, your mind, your heart, your spirit becomes stronger. And you say that the heat makes me stronger. That he makes me stronger, that he makes me stronger and you take it on and you don’t know when it’s going to end. And you don’t even know if it’s going to get worse or better, but you just take it on. Then suddenly flats open up and you feel that breeze from outside, you walk outside, breathe that fresh air, that heat is gone. And is that cooling when that hits your body?
Robert Johnston (58:26):
And you think muddle, thank you, heat you, your set me free. Thank you heat. But Oh, you have set me free. All right. You can open your eyes back now. So I’ll try that. Try that one minute, two minute visualization when you’re going through some tough times and just feel it and experience you set me free. But, uh, thank you for joining me today and take care of yourself and send those ways of positivity out there today because we really need it. Take care of those young ones. Take care of yourself. And again, thank you to the noise foundation for helping us out with the, this presentation today, but Oh, take care.