Herb Nabigon's The Hollow Tree

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“The Hollow Tree” is a memoir of a man by the name of Herb Nabigon who could not imagine a life without alcohol before discovering native healing methods. This story tells the story of his journey and struggle to overcome his addiction with the help of the native spiritual teachings and the unconditional love of his elders. Herb spent most of his life in a struggle of self-destruction, impulses, resentment, and alcohol abuse. He lost many relationships, and jobs throughout his life. He struggled in staying in school, and even though he found a wonderful woman named Sheila who he, married and had two children with her, that relationship didn’t last. Even after a night of partying and passing out, and than waking up in the hospital after the …show more content…

After Herb had spent most of his life struggling with his self-destructive impulses, feelings of bitterness and resentment, and alcohol abuse when he met Eddie Bellerose, who introduced him to the ancient Aboriginal teachings. He learnt about healing methods drawn by the Four Sacred Directions, the refuge held by the sweat lodge, and the native cultural practices of the use of the pipe. Herb than was able to find true healing at last. When Herb started his walk down the path of spiritual healing, he realized the tree is the symbol of honesty in the native culture. Herb’s first impression of the Native culture, and all it stood for was beyond negative. Than Herb began to believe that “it is time to remember our sacred connections, to transform that hollow tree into the sacred tree it was meant to be.” This would than involve Herb in taking responsibility for his individual life, and acting upon his responsibilities in order to follow with his heart, instead of with greed. Healing from his addiction certainly didn’t come easy for Herb, but with the unconditional love of the elders and support of loving people around him, anything

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