When I was but 13 years of age, my mentor and elder took me to the old swinging bridge at the end of the Rez. in Cherokee North Carolina. We went out to the middle and stood looking down at the very torrid and rushing water.
My Elder asked me the question "What do you see?"
Knowing this was not just a general question but one that I really needed to have some thought about, I did take a harder look around and this is what I replied..."Elder, I see the rushing waters as thousands upon thousands of people all mixed up and going in one direction nowhere fast!"
"Very good!" he replied back. "Now what else do you see?"
I looked down one more time and I seen off to the sides the quite eddies, so peaceful and completely calm from what was happing in the middle. I thought about it and replied to my Elder this..."I see the eddies Elder, and that they stay calm all the time from the middle of the river. They are part of the river, but; are separate too."
He smiled his toothless smile at me with a twinkle in his eyes of pride. "You are right again WhiteFeather, as you were right about the people getting caught up together swirling and mixing and all jumbled up in confusion, discontent, doubts, indecisions of what life can and does throw at you on a daily basis. Not knowing which way to turn or go."
He paused a moment and took a deep breath then continued. "The quite eddies as you said, are very much a part of the whole too, separate but part of. When one learns about the eddies of life which is the true centre of our spirits/souls, we find ultimate peace. There is where we can go when everything is so crazy around us, pounding and beating at us like that rock out in the middle of the river. Our spirits/souls are steadfast as that rock, deflecting the water and what is thrown at it because we have focus and calm in our centres. The Creator of all who made us dwells there, He is our eddy to go to."
Then he said; "Life in general will always be like the torrid waters underneath us, we as human beings can and do get caught in it so very easily. What we have to learn as human beings, is how to place our selves where we can hear the voice of our Creator speaking to our spirits/souls, and then be able to follow our true paths and become the human beings we were meant to be."
I have shared this story with hundreds of people throughout my life, and I had been asked to place it up on our Nations site, so maybe it can help others to see what I seen as a young girl and for others of all age groups to help find their own quite eddies in life.
When you are at work and the boss is barking at you, or a co-worker or a family member chewing on you for whatever reason....Life in general is getting you down and dragging you into that torrid, rushing waters...
There is an older lesson a lot of us learned some time ago, that goes along with this....
Just smile, it makes people what you are up to and a soft word turns away anger!
