Walking Spirit in a Native Way

In 1962 I entered the military services. At that time, I put up my hand and swore that I would support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It was a proud moment in my life.   I did not see a lot of action while on active duty. I was stationed on a Destroyer, The USS Warrington, DD 843, out of Newport, Rhode Island and our patrol duties included the Cuban Crisis and intermittent duty off the shores of Vietnam. The Navy saw to it that I was trained to handle what would come at me in service. The real battle began the day I was released back to civilian life. No one prepared me for that. The p rotests against the Vietnam conflict were happening all over the country. R ace riots were going on in major cities across the country and only blocks from where I lived in Buffalo NY. Veterans were being harassed on college campuses and in the workplace. I came home in 1967 to a different United States of America than the one I h...

Conversation with Woodpecker   Woodpecker Came to Visit!                           By James B. Beard aka Noodin   Most people probably don't talk to animals. Or do they? I guess one turning point from reality is when animals start talking to people. Wasn't that something taken away by Spirit a long time ago because of man's lack of respect for animals? Most Spirit teachings say that. Maybe it is something to be gifted back at some point. I don't know.   I don't know much, and the longer I walk on this Earth it seems, the less I really know. There is a kind of progression in living that leads one to assume that each discovery in life is a contribution to a wider knowledge of all that is. As these discoveries continue, one realizes that the knowledge gained only creates more questions. Wisdom, it seems, is the realization that we really don't know a lot about anything. In th...

  STORY TELLER ~ NOODIN   JAMES BEARD aka Noodin [wind]                                                                     I never would have envisioned myself following Native teachings. Not being Native. I really didn’t understand why I was taking that turn in my life. I was a businessman, successful, family and there was no reason for me to walk away from all of that.  From the Summit - Grand Monadnock As Spirit guided me I came to see that there were answers I was looking for in my life that I wasn’t finding in our modern society. I grew up in the sixties. The fifties and the sixties. I watched the transition of our society of our young people from a people who seemed to be very respectful of their parents and of government and of all th...

  Gwe kwaad ziwin (honesty) Be honest in every action and provide good feelings in the heart. Do not be deceitful or use self-deception. One of the Seven Gifts of the Seven Grandfathers according to the stories of the Anishinaabe people. Wisdom, Respect, Honesty, Humility, Love, Bravery, Truth ~Amik~ Totem Animal ~ [beaver] Beaver demonstrates diligence in protecting the family and helping his brothers and sisters in the forest by demonstrating honesty in his work. WALKING SPIRIT IN A NATIVE WAY by James B Beard Buy this at stores her e! Please share this article

Elder Wisdom! A teaching given to me by Ojibwe Elder Larry Matrious First: Draw a circle on paper. Second: put a dot in the center of the circle. Third: put a mark at the top of the circle. You can indicate that mark to represent North. Then put a mark on each side of the circle and the bottom. Mark those as East, South and West. T he circle represents balance and the dot in the center represents you. Now write in next to the East, Emotion. Next to the South, Physical. Next to the West, Spiritual. Next to the North, Mental. These are the four parts of your being. The dot in the center can move in the circle depending on what is pulling you. Your task is to keep the dot stable and in the center. Everything in the circle is about you and ONLY you. Everything outside the circle is material things around you. Clothes, cars, home, people, work, food and all that surrounds you. Now. How does it work. You walk into a room, and you see a beautiful flower. It calls to you and your first react...