Hope, Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose

Four simple words that have a powerful impact on our wellness.

These words come from Elders and Knowledge Keepers who, despite being from different Nations with different cultural practices, agreed that wellness happens when we have Hope for the future, a sense of Belonging, that we understand our lives have Meaning and that we have found our Purpose whether it is through education, employment, caregiving activities or cultural ways of being and doing.

 

“Wellness from an Indigenous perspective is a whole and healthy person expressed through a sense of balance of spirit, emotion, mind and body. Central to wellness is belief in one’s connection to language, land, beings of creation, and ancestry, supported by a caring family and environment.” Elder Jim Dumont

 

We can connect with culture to find balance in many ways:

  • Spiritually through prayer or ceremonies, such as fasting or sweat lodge ceremonies
  • Emotionally by finding your Clan or going to a community event
  • Mentally by learning the Creation Story or going to a talking circle
  • Physically by touching the earth, spending time on the land

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