Pathlight: Journey to the Good Life – Gratitude for Limitations
Originally from the U.S., Annie earned her Canadian Citizenship in 2013. Annie & her Husband live in Pic River First Nation. She works as full-time as an Adult Mental Health and Addictions Therapist at the Marathon office of North of Superior Counseling Programs. Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW has been a cinical social worker since 1979 working in mental health, family therapy, and addictions services. She is a doctoral candidate at Laurentian University in Sudbury, ON. Annie also works part-time as a consultant for LYNX, owned by her husband Herb Nabigon, MSW. Herb provides traditional Anishnabek teachings and healing workshops for both Native and non-Native organizations. Together he and Annie provide training and education to professionals on a wide range of topics blending mainstream and traditional approaches in healing. They also provide cultural safety and anti-racism training. Do you have questions re: dealing with loss, mental health, living a good life, relationships, etc. ?Annie would love to hear them and may even include your questions in a future column (published every other Sunday, exclusively on OntarioNewsNorth.com) Send your questions to Annie via email to Pathlight@OntarioNewsNorth.com if you prefer to remain anonymous, specify this in your letter.
Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW
As a teenager I lived with many limitations, as I saw it. From my parents’ viewpoints, however, I had an abundance of freedoms and privileges. It was a simple matter of differences of perspective – to which realities we were comparing our opinions. My parents had grown up in a culture vastly different from the one in which I lived. We all had a lot of “stretching” to do to try to stay on the same page, and fortunately we had basic love and respect to guide us, and eventually I “grew up” and learned the value of some limitations.
For example, we did not have a television in our home, and the one small radio was strictly under my parents’ control. As result I listened to the music of classical composers, and to hymns and sermons. What a delicious treat it was one evening when my parents were at a church meeting, and as the oldest child, I was home watching over my younger brothers. At last! The radio was under my control and we enjoyed the forbidden treat of listening to a rock station which just happened to play the whole of the soundtrack from “Jesus Christ Superstar”. (Does that give you a hint of how old I am?!)
Looking back on that now, from the perspective of many years, I can honestly say I am grateful for the uniqueness of my childhood experiences and limitations. I feel lucky to have been able to spend my formative years growing up in the relative protectiveness of an environment where my normal teenage rebelliousness could be expressed with the limited riskiness of listening to forbidden music (and other benign activities). I had no clue about sneaking drugs or alcohol, or engaging in sexual activities beyond my years. I knew there was a great big interesting world out there on the other side of our “safe” little Mennonite world, and I was eager to “jump the fence” and experience that wider world, but today I treasure the way I grew up as a gift which gives me many benefits and deeper perspectives of human life.
Lately I’ve been pondering the limitations I experience as I grow older and am forced to deal with physical problems which slow me down. As I type this column I am forced to type slowly with one hand. That carpal tunnel surgery I had a few days ago is really slowing me down. But it heightens my awareness of how lucky I am to have two hands and the hope of getting them “fixed”, and how lucky I am to have a Microsoft Word program with a spell check! It’s a lot easier to type without limitations but this is forcing me to go a bit slower, and think a bit more.
I would suppose there are many ways by which the limitations in our lives actually benefit us more than we could ever imagine. Do you have limitations that weigh you down or frustrate and anger you? What do you imagine could be different in your life if you found a way to be grateful for those limitations? Just imagine – you have the power to change your life by changing your perspective!
Annie Wenger-Nabigon, MSW, RSW
Pathlight@OntarioNewsNorth.com
ANNIE RECOMMENDS:
- The Hollow Tree by Herb Nabigon
- EldersTeachings.blogspot.com
- Pathlight: Journey to a Good Life archives
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