A Navajo elder sat in a circle with various lifeforms.
He was asked to define healing.
He closed his eyes, he opened his eyes, he looked around, and then he spoke.
“To bring one into harmony with everything.”
A child: ‘EVERYTHING? That is a LOT!”
A tree: “I watch creatures come and go, thinking but not noticing their world, they look at me but do not see. I will try harder.”
A bear:”Humans threaten my sacred space, my home. I get upset and exhibit fierceness. I will try harder.”
The wind: “I blow, sometimes softly, sometimes wildly. I can wake people up, I can massage them into growth, I can calm their fears, but they are not open. I will try harder.”
A sunflower:”I reach for the sun and along the way sprinkle my seeds to feed others and plant my own babies. And I am beautiful. And now I symbolize something BIG, but it is not working. I will try harder.”
A rock:”We must shhhhhhhhhhh and hold each other.”
The Navajo elder stands and bows. “I will try harder.”