Pilamaya: Thank you for all your good words

I wanted to say how much I appreciate all you who reached out for me during my recent work anniversary. I have been blessed to continue to follow my passion as I still have all my senses. I lack common sense at times but I guess you can't have everything.

One of the blesssings in my work is that I am able to take my way of life, the good Red Road, and follow the spiritual principles I have learned and apply them to my work. As part of this journey I try to live the Seven Laws of my Tribe on a daily basis. Every now and then I write about them and I will do so now as it is always good to remember who I am and where I am going.

Respect yourself, the elders, and all living creatures. When I respect others I can work with and colloborate with others that I may not have much in common with. They in turn wmoill return the respect more often than not.

Generosity is another important value. It is important to be a giving person with my material possessions as well as with my time. The greatest gift you can give those you work with is to listen to them with an open heart and an open mind. This will allow you to develop deep and meaningful relationships.

Compassion is very important and I try to show this every day. I am a big believer in practicing random acts of kindness. Just by giving words of encouragement to someone who is having a hard day can make all the difference for that person in terms of lifting their spirits.

Patience is a virtue to be sure and one I have had to really work at. It does not come easy to me. In my business I have learned to be patience with my clients as they don't always do things when I want them to. In terms of attracting the business sometimes it take several years before they finally make a commitment to utilize my services but I stay in touch and share information with them that is useful from time to time.

Courage is something I have learned to practice more of over the years. Before I started following the Red Road I live in fear. I learned to face my fears head on. Now I can share my opinion in a group even if I am the only one in the room that has that point of view. On some ocassions I have been able to persuade the rest of the group but in either case I have always been glad that I spoke with impeccable words.

Humility is the recognition that their is a force greater than me. The world does not revolve around me. I am important but not the most important. I never asked my staff to do anything that I was not willing to do myself.

Wisdom comes from learning from my experiences. Even though I am an elder now I realize it is not a function of age. We have more than a few elders who are still stuck in their anger and resentments because they have not dealt with the trauma in their life. Every day I try to be better than I was yesterday and I like that saying: it is progress not perfection.

Mitakuye Oyasin ( All my relations)