My Nakota name is Tashina To, literally translated, it means Blue Robe.  My maternal family name is Blackbird; therefore my Nakota name would be Blue Robe Blackbird.  Now, in the same tradition that recognized and acknowledges our Mother Earth, and the Nakota philosophy of life, Mitakuye Oyasin, or everything is related, it was told to me during my naming ceremony that Blue Robe is symbolic of the blue sky that surrounds and protects Mother Earth.  Simply meaning that I have a responsibility to represent and protect my family, tribe, Native community and the larger community of the world. 

This is a great query...we have all often wondered and perhaps we have all erroneously believed that we would have done things differently "if we only knew." However, I believe this raises at least two interesting discussion points. firstly, I believe this discussion leads us to realize or discover that we have a responsibility to "know" or at least to try to get to know as much as we can about our internal and external surroundings in every given moment. I believe this is inferring to "being aware" at all times. My former boxing coach used to say all the time, "to be a champ, you have got to train like a champ!" After years of hearing this, and after many of life's struggles reappearing as the question to this answer, somewhat like a twisted jeopardy game of life, "Alex, I'll take lessons I haven't yet learned for 1$1000". I came to understand that my coach was simply telling me that if we want to be successful, at anything, it is up to us to put in the work, find out what it takes to be successful at whatever it is we are pursuing and in that way, prepare ourselves accordingly. Secondly, a part of me believes that this also points to general awareness. Conscious awareness of the fact that we do in fact have a bit of control of the events in our lives, if we see ourselves heading down an unfavorable road, we have the power to change directions. Or if we believe we have made a mistake, our role then is not to lament ourselves for making poor decisions in the past, but to learn from them the first time, so we do not continually make the same mistake...I don't know, but maybe that is all one thing and I repeated myself, huh, if I only knew...

I have always considered my passion to be philosophy. I love pondering, question, examining and answering the ubiquitous questions of life...although I haven't formally studied philosophy, I have read extensively and consider myself informed enough to know that I want to learn more.

This one is pretty difficult to answer...I feel that Bev and I were in this place not too long ago...we floundered a bit...we tried to set up interviews, believe me, we had contests about how many jobs we had applied for, interviewed for, etc...we learned about each other alot, but I don't know that we truly were present in the moment, we worried about bills, mostly rent...thankfully, we had people to call that helped us out, for them we will be forever grateful...what is interesting, is I think this question is designed to drive each person to examine their current conditions...not just financial security, but security in knowing who you really are and whether or not you are in a place that is not dependent on a job, or other people...can you survive without the material things, without the claim to fame, or the feelings of importance from having a specific title or status...can you just be...accepting peace...the greatest, most admirable people that we encounter, if ever so fleetingly, are those that eminate calmness and peace...they just are "being" and through that, they are powerful...I am no longer concerned with striving for happiness as much as I am with just being happy...we are all part of the Divine, we are all one, Mitakuye Oyasin is considerably more powerful and wise than originally comprehended...be, do, have Mitakuye Oyasin

Life Gives Birth to Happiness
Clouds give birth to tantalizing droplets of rain;
pacifying the murderous agony of scorching desert
sands,
Rose gives birth to stupendously ravishing fragrance;
casting a spell of unconquerable happiness in those
lives; deluged with horrendous despair,
Sun gives birth to magnificently flamboyant rays;
filtering a path of profuse optimism in every space;
tottering towards helpless extinction,
Soil gives birth to rhapsodic fountains of fruit and
water; ensuring that none remained disastrously
famished; for centuries immemorial,
Ocean gives birth to tantalizingly tangy globules of
salt; inundating drab existence with cloudbursts of
spice and insurmountable poignancy,
Stars give birth to an incredulously serene calm;
miraculously metamorphosing the complexion of the
ghastly night; into one shimmering with milky pearls,
Leaves give birth to exuberantly fluttering breeze;
enveloping dreary souls in its ebulliently vociferous
swirl; as it merrily whipped by,
Benevolence gives birth to invincible humanity;
incessantly reigning as the supreme leader; even as
the planet entangled in webs of lechery and salacious
malice,
Freedom gives birth to the innermost expression; the
mesmerizing fulmination of a persons senses; which
propels him to blissfully lead an infinite more lives,
Mother gives birth to the perpetually divine; the
immaculately wailing offspring for which; God’s
specially descended down from fathomless cosmos to
bless,
Truth gives birth to harmonious unity; organisms from
all across the unfathomable planet; embracing each
other irrespective of prejudice; caste or creed,
Honesty gives birth to intransigent conviction; an
astronomical within the most feeble of entities; to
catapult to the pinnacle of ultimate success,
Fantasy gives birth to turbulently seductive desire;
relentlessly exploring and absorbing the unsurpassable
beauty lingering on this planet,
Perseverance gives birth to glorious rays of newness;
evolving and achieving even the most inconspicuous of
your philanthropic dream; as golden perspiration
trickled under the sweltering Sun,
Faith gives birth to the incomprehensibly
unbelievable; with man successfully shooting to the
summit of the impossible; uttering the name of the
entity he adored,
Conscience gives birth to irrefutable righteousness;
which the even the entire wealth on this spuriously
bombastic world; miserably failed to purchase,
Eyes give birth to profoundly caressing empathy;
wholeheartedly commiserating and bonding; with even
the most remotest of alien in devastating pain,
Love gives birth to indispensably precious survival;
the everlasting spirit to celestially exist; beyond
ones ordinary time,
And life gives birth to perennial happiness; an
unconquerably sacred joy and bliss that makes each
birth; exist in symbiotic synergy with the bountifully
divine…by Nikhil Parekh

Why?...It seems self-explanatory, to me.

Mitakuye Oyasin

I thought this was pretty difficult, too.   Physically, I feel 25 ish, however, intuitively, I feel much, much older.   I always have had this "knowing" feeling.   Perhaps that is why everyone always thought I was trying to act grown up when I was still physically young.   I believe I hold some wisdom that puts me well beyond my years...sometimes though, it is fun to act like I am 23!

I have been helping one of the Fitness Instructors from the Fitness Center with every aspect of a research paper that he has been assigned.  He is in his second semester in community college and he mentioned that he was overwhelmed and a bit lost trying to write this paper...I offered to help.  This week we have gone through and pinpointed his specific topic, outlined it, created a timeline for doing the necessary research and note taking, and created a plan for him working on the rough draft and finalizing it over the next couple of weeks.  Today, he came in excited about some of his research, and he stated how relieved he is now and that he might need some help with his math...I don't mind helping, because he is a good guy, he does the work, he just needs a bit of guidance and confidence.

As for what will be the next nicest thing that I will do...I don't yet know...I think I am open and consciously aware of opportunities that may present themselves to me, hmm...consciously planning to do a nice thing next week, now that is another thing...I don't know how I feel about that...interestlingly, I have mixed feelings, part of me thinks that if I plan to do it ahead of time, it might not be so pure...I don't know, I will think about it and remain open to the possibilities...

Fingers, Bushes, Porch!!! (in no particular order)
firstly, I know it will sound weird, but I liked playing with my imagination...when I played, I imagined that my fingers were little football players or boxers. Additionally, if I played football in the yard, it was usually by myself, so I imagined that the bushes were tacklers, or that I had defenders trying to break up a pass...in baseball in the yard, I imagined being a pitcher in the world series and that the porch was the batter, once the ball was "hit," I became an infielder...so, I guess my answer would be my imagination, in the form of my fingers, the bushes and the porch!

Wow, I know that I should think about this more thoroughly so my answers are more coherent, however here goes:

Firstly, I think it is important to realize that life is a journey, a cycle of ebb and flows.  There is good and there are lessons from things that we may initially perceive as not good.  That is, not everyting is good and bad, but there is ebb and flow.  We can in fact learn the most about ourselves if we take a moment to recognize that there is potential in everything...potential for great learning, and potential for great blundering...we need to know that we have the power to shape our lives...

Secondly, striving for material goods is not the answer, neither is naively striving for what we may consider a higher, more developed reward by striving for "happiness."  We should merely and simply enjoy and celebrate the current of life through the acceptance of peace...

Thirdly, love is the key to everything...I have been learning to appreciate parts of my Sioux heritage and culture and I am amazed at the wisdom inherent in the teachings of our elders.  We have a phrase-Mitakuye Oyasin (pronounced Me TALK ee yay Oya sin) that literally translated means We are all related, we are related to all things, all things are related.  The true meaning of the phrase though, is much deeper...it is difficult to translate cuz it is more of a feeling, and knowing than a literal translation can provide.  This phrase has been used to guide the decisions made by our tribes, to guide the lives of our ancestors, to greet people upon meeting, and to wish them well when parting.  It has been used to begin prayers and end prayers..."All my relatives, or for all my relatives."  It has been used in vision quests, sweats, and more.  To me, I have discovered that it is something like the spirit of aloha, or namaste, or Tao...in any case, through beginning to understand and to become consciously aware that love is the key to everything, love each moment, love each being, love the potential, love your work, love the fact that you can work, love the day, or give love through the day, the concept of God should be thought of as active...godding, or being, or loving...

Mitakuye Oyasin