What if we decided to see the land, as our grandmother, or as someone who loves us unconditionally? We will probably start to honor, respect, and love the land in return. The land, natural elements, and human beings are all related, interdependent, connected, sacred. For the past 4 weeks, I attended a series of workshop on indigenous worldview and decolonization; it was revealing and transformative. These workshops were designed for a group of immigrant and refugee women. They were online weekly meetings, and, as I pressed the red “leave” button on the right corner of my computer screen to end or final session, I realized how I have been missing (since the start of the pandemic) the restoring and powerful feeling that moments of sharing and fraternal exchanges among women can bring. 

These conversations were troubling as they made me reflect on the ferocious ways my ancestors colonized many lands all over the world including here, in British Colombia. Not a long time ago, indigenous families were separated, childhoods were broken by preventing indigenous communities from using their language, sharing their cultures and traditions. The dark history of Canada and the oppressive worldview of Colonizers are responsible for intergenerational trauma. However, the following statement by our moderator keeps pounding in my head: “Our ancestors survived these traumas, we are still here. We are survivors, and if we can survive, we can heal”. 

During these conversations we shared views points on how to find ways to heal together. We are all connected, no matter our land of origin and the differences that seem to separate us. The country where I born is France, but I also spent many years in the US as a young professional and I now live in Canada. No matter where I spent time, I experienced and witnessed political and cultural division. I can confidently say that our colonized way of living stands on the principles of division and extraction of resources (natural and financial). Our individualist vision of the world tends to separate us from nature and others. By contrast, indigenous see interconnectedness as a powerful way to restore communities and individuals. We are all related somehow, we might even have a common ancestry. We have more than 5 senses, and our spirit, consciousness, or soul are connected to the land. Indigenous believe in the healing power of the land. The series of workshops I attended were introduced by guided meditations that can help us experience the concept of interconnectedness. If you could close your eyes for a minute or two if you could imagine yourself as a tree, where would this tree be? How would it look like? Where would its roots go and connect with? If you could keep your eyes close for a couple of more seconds, what else can you see around you? How do you feel?  Guided meditation can be a powerful way of revealing or clarifying aspects of our personality or our life. 

We are all here for a purpose. Yes, a purpose; and in most cases, this purpose can be as simple and honorable as helping our immediate family, friends, or extended community. It is not always easy to understand what we have to offer to the world. But by being you, by being us together, connected with this beautiful land, we can undoubtedly live a more meaningful life.