Day’s Blessings

Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit one and all. 

Respect

Respect means “To feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the wellbeing of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy.” 

Showing respect is a basic law of life.

Code of Ethics

1. Treat every person—from the youngest child to the oldest elder—with respect, always.
2. Special respect should be shown to Elders, Parents, Teachers, and local Community Leaders.
3. Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.
4. No person should be made to feel “put down” by you; avoid hurting other hearts as you would avoid a deadly poison.
5. Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.
6. Respect the privacy and quiet time of every person.
7. Never walk between people that are conversing.
8. Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.
9. Treat the earth as your Mother. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do nothing to pollute our Mother—rise up with wisdom to defend her.
10. Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.
11. Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.
12. All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
13. To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation, and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget your most important tasks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others. 
14. Observe moderation and balance in all things.
15. Know those things that lead to your well-being, and those things that lead to your destruction.
16. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms: in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.
17. Listen intently to the ideas of others and do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed, you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.

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Original version printed in 1982 in the book The Sacred Tree by the Four Worlds Development Project. Well Being Journal adapted the code of ethics from One White Horse Standing https://onewhitehorsestanding.com/resources/native-american-indian-traditional-code-of-ethics.pdf