WIINGWIISHI BIIJISE (GREY JAY FLIES HERE)

PREPAREDNESS:

The Grey Jay is a careful planner. It specifically chooses a territory that includes certain types of trees in order for it to create thousands of food caches that will sustain it through the winter. In our healing journey, we will be called upon to be well prepared. We must show up in life, as best we can, and with the best tools we have. We also must come prepared to learn and change. Like the Grey Jay, we must carefully choose our environment. This might mean making some tough decisions about what you allow to enter your realm of influence. This means choosing people and places, activities and messages, tools and resources that empower you and that help you on your path. Grey Jay Healing Space provides an anchoring foundation for those who are setting out on their healing journey. It is the watchtower from which you can view the road ahead and prepare accordingly. Here you can find the clarity and the inspiration to map out the life you’ve always wanted, create a plan to get there, and equip yourself with the tools you’ll need to achieve your dreams.

RESOURCEFULNESS:

PARTNERSHIP:

The Grey Jay is a resourceful bird. It uses its environment, people, animals—even its own saliva—to its advantage. It is clever enough to steal food from campsites, or find a variety of other food in its environment and their supreme planning allows them to stay in the same territory year round. Discovering berries, mushrooms, insects, spiders, small nestlings, mice, frogs, and carrion they proceed to 1) Use their sticky salvia to coat their food and glue it into hiding places; 2) Cache food in scaly trees, under bark flaps, which happen to be anti-bacterial; and 3) Utilize the colder temperatures in their environment to help preserve their food. In our healing journey, we will be called upon to be resourceful. We must learn to see opportunities where others see impossibilities; to create solutions where others give up on insurmountable problems. On our path we must always be aware of the resources at our disposal, and aware of our responsibility to use them wisely. We must demonstrate gratitude for what we have, and use it to the best of our ability while striving towards the greatest fulfillment of ourselves. Grey Jay Healing Space provides a workspace where you can learn to use and create the tools you will need on your journey. It is a shop where you can go tinker, finetune your tools; it is a sharpening stone where you can hone your skills, and it is a laboratory where you can test ideas, a drawing board where you can invent and set free your imagination, and a practice space to improve and grow.

The Grey Jay demonstrates an ability to form a symbiosis with its environment and the life forms in it. Although it relies on conifers, it does not feed on the seeds contained within the cones of those trees. Grey Jays have been observed to create partnerships with wolves, humans and other hunters, leading them to animals they prey on. These birds also partner together in monogamous relationships with their mates; living in pairs, they work and defend a territory between 25 hectares and 100 hectares. In our healing journey, we must seek to form spiritual partnerships with those around us, helping each other grow in ways that were previously inaccessible. We must surround ourselves with people that empower us, inspire us, and appreciate us. We must learn to first contribute to the lives of others and demonstrate loyalty in our relationships, for this is what creates abundance for everyone. We must also give consideration to the environments in which we find ourselves. We must partner with the Earth, our Mother, in order to keep our physical environment safe. We must partner with the Creator, our Father, to keep our spiritual environment pure. We must also be conscious of our social environments, the influence they have on us and that we have on them. By being mindful of choosing uplifting environments we are assured of healthy, respectful relationships. Grey Jay Healing Space itself is available to you as a partner. It stands strong, sending you energy and strength that you can call upon at any time. It is the stronghold of a community of people who choose to work together to help heal themselves, each other, and the world.

COMMUNICATION:

The Grey Jay is an effective communicator, mimicking other birds to fool them or warn their friends of an oncoming attack. They even find ways of sending messages to humans and other animals. In our healing journey, we will need to be conscious and mindful of our messages – the messages we send others through our words, actions and attitudes. The messages that we receive from friends, family neighbors and strangers. The messages we pick up in our environment and from the media. And most importantly, the things we tell ourselves, those messages we hold in our minds and our hearts, that shape our reality. Grey Jay Healing Space provides an environment where these messages can be explored – what are their effects on our consciousness? It is a place where we can together learn to share in a respectful way, without judgment and without fear. Where we can learn to speak our truth and make our entire lives become our message.

CHAOS:

The Grey Jay is undeniably bold in its approach; eating straight from people’s hands or even their campsites, making its nest while the snow is still on the ground, always confident in its ability to act and react to the world around it. In our healing journey, we must be ready to take risks, go big, and try for the greatest possibly victories—and expect to win. We must be prepared to fall, and to get back up. The greatest lessons are learned by facing the greatest challenges. Grey Jay Healing Space is a place of bold affirmative action, of standing up for what you believe, and making your actions demonstrate the courage in your heart.

BOLDNESS:

Chaos is the untamed, unbridled creative force of the Universe, bound by Law, from which arises the existence of all things. Chaos is change. In our healing journey, we must allow some creative chaos into our lives to help us imagine new realities, conceptualize new ideas and accept new truths. All things change, and we can either tap into this flow or cause ourselves suffering by resisting it. The Grey Jay employs this chaos in strange ways: it is a trickster that can be seen causing a ruckus in people’s tents while searching for food, leading hunters around in circles, and sending predators off on a wild chase. It uses disorder to its benefit. Grey Jay Healing Space celebrates change, and helps us accept that there are multiple, ever-changing ways of doing things. It helps us to use the chaos as a wakeup call, bring awareness to our situations, and refresh our views about the world around us

TRUST:

And finally, the simplest, but the most powerful trait of the Grey Jay: Trust. Without trust, the Grey Jay would not be able to exist as it does. It has to trust that by preparing, it will be able to face the challenges of winter, trust that it is resourceful enough to manage difficult situations. That its partners will provide for them. That its message will be received. That its boldness will come with great rewards. And embracing chaos can bring positive results. In our healing journey, trust (or in other words FAITH) is the key upon which everything lies. Faith in yourself, that you have the capacity to create great things in your life. Faith in others, that there are many people in the world that are looking to foster peace and understanding. Faith in the Divine, the Source, the Universe, God… Father. However you so choose to express the Eternal… there it is: conspiring on behalf of your happiness. Faith, however, is not a skill but a gift. Therefore extend gratitude for the fact that you have the ability to trust in such a way. Grey Jay Healing Space hinges on a trust that all things are as they should be, right here, right now, at this very moment

ACTION THERAPY

PLANT THERAPY

The orchard and year-round greenhouse will provide ample opportunity to learn about plants, including native flowers and medicines. It will also allow participants to be a part of growing the food they eat

ART THERAPY

Engaging projects will provide opportunities to learn various art forms, as well as to engage in beautifying our spaces, as a form of legacy for those who will come after (and come back) to enjoy.

LAND-BASED LEARNING

HAND-SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Frequent trips to wildlife management areas with participants to learn about flora and fauna, ecosystems and geography, as well as indigenous teachings

Building projects around the premises will allow for participants to acquire practical knowledge and skills in carpentry, plumbing, solar and wind electrical.