what are you weaving into your whakapapa?

Have you seen that quote, “we are the ancestors” ? If you haven’t, you’re welcome, PM me your deets and I’ll send an invoice lol jokes but if you have, do you love it?! I do. It reminds me of our obligation to the generations coming after us and the kind of legacy we’re leaving for them.

Before we get into it and for the context of this post (and pretty much all the content I produce), I want to clarify that whakapapa is our ancestry/genealogy as well as the experiences, environments and processes that have shaped us.

whakapapa = nature and nurture in one.

Our tupuna (ancestors) are amazing. They set the standard and left a legacy for us that includes realising our potential, becoming the best versions of ourselves we can be and contributing those skills and learnings back to our collective/s. This was rudely interrupted by colonisation, but we’re finding our way back after a couple hundred years…

Which brings me to making comparisons between our tupuna in their time and us. They were intentional and very deliberate about how they conducted themselves, how they planted their kai, who they engaged in relationships with etc. they were particular about who and what they wove into their whakapapa.

If you think about it with kai (food). Have you considered how your meal today ended up in your puku (stomach)? Where was it grown? What was the environment like? Were chemicals involved in production? What about the shipping and transport? What about the environment at the supermarket or restaurant, under artificial light, exposed to this that and the other etc.?

And once you consume that kai, you’re consuming all of that whakapapa too. So do you know what you’re weaving into your whakapapa?

Are you aware of the kinds of messages you’re reinforcing (consciously or subconsciously) and the relationships you now have with kai, on a spiritual, emotional, psychological level?

If not, why? Your life now will soon be part of your tamariki and mokopuna (future generations)’s whakapapa. Our decisions, our experiences, our learnings as well as the tātai whakapapa (genealogy) we descend from have culminated in us right now. Shouldn’t we know what we’re weaving into it for the generations to come?

Hai wānanga mā tātou, something for us to discuss, tēnā tātou,

Hana.