Words Before All Else Companion Workbook

A Respectful Starting Point for This Workbook

Use these pages as a place to slow down, notice relationships, and choose responsible action. The prompts are inspired by themes found in the Thanksgiving Address, including gratitude, connection, respect, and reciprocity. They are not the Thanksgiving Address itself.

The ceremonial Thanksgiving Address belongs to a living cultural context among Kanien’kehá:ka and Haudenosaunee peoples. It carries teachings, language, responsibilities, and protocols that cannot be reproduced by a workbook. This companion offers personal journaling only. It does not replace, reproduce, perform, or reinterpret the ceremonial Address, and it is not a traditional Mohawk ritual text.

Every activity here is labeled either a Daily Wisdom Practice or a Personal Reflection Practice. A Daily Wisdom Practice is a simple, everyday act of noticing or choosing. A Personal Reflection Practice is private journaling that helps you examine your own relationship with the living world. Neither should be treated as ceremony.

Key takeaway: These pages are for respectful personal reflection inspired by the Address, not for recreating the Address.

Keep these three boundaries in view:

1. Name the source carefully. You may write that a prompt is inspired by themes of the Thanksgiving Address. Don’t claim that your journal entry is the Address.

2. Stay with your own life. Write about your choices, relationships, habits, and responsibilities. Don’t speak for Kanien’kehá:ka or Haudenosaunee communities.

3. Turn gratitude toward responsibility. A thankful thought can be a beginning. The work is deciding what respectful action belongs to you.

If a prompt feels too close to ceremonial language, pause. You can skip it, rewrite it in your own plain words, or simply record what you noticed. Respect sometimes looks like leaving something alone.

Your Respectful Use Agreement

Materials needed: This workbook, a pen or pencil, and a quiet space.

Time required: 10-15 minutes.

Practice type: Personal Reflection Practice.

Expected outcome: A completed personal agreement with five clear boundaries for using these pages.

Before moving into later exercises, write a short agreement with yourself. This gives your journaling a steady frame. You’re not signing up to perform anything. You’re deciding how you’ll use the workbook with care.

Your Turn

1. Read the five statements below.

2. For each statement, mark one box: Yes, Not yet, or Needs my own wording.

3. Rewrite any statement that doesn’t sound like you.

4. Finish the five sentence prompts.

5. Read your agreement once aloud or silently. You’re done when all five statements have a mark and all five sentences are complete.

My respectful use checklist

• [ ] I understand that this workbook is not the ceremonial Thanksgiving Address.
• [ ] I will call these activities Daily Wisdom Practices or Personal Reflection Practices.
• [ ] I will not present my journal entries as traditional Mohawk or Haudenosaunee teachings.
• [ ] I will keep my reflections focused on my own relationships and responsibilities.
• [ ] I will pause or skip a prompt if using it feels disrespectful or confusing.

My five-part agreement

I’m using this workbook to notice:

__________

I will speak only from my own experience by:

__________

A boundary I want to remember is:

__________

When I’m unsure about a prompt, I will:

__________

One responsible action I may take after reflecting is:

__________

> Completed example:

> I’m using this workbook to notice how my daily choices affect water, food, and the people around me.

> I will speak only from my own experience by using “I” statements.

> A boundary I want to remember is that these pages don’t represent the ceremonial Address.

> When I’m unsure about a prompt, I will pause and leave it unanswered.

> One responsible action I may take after reflecting is to reduce disposable bottles at work.

Now write one sentence that describes the workbook in your own words. Keep it accurate and plain.

This workbook is:

__________

If your sentence says that the workbook teaches you to perform, repeat, or reproduce the Thanksgiving Address, revise it. A more accurate sentence might be: “This workbook gives me structured personal journaling practices inspired by themes of gratitude, relationship, and responsibility.”

Carrying the Boundary Into Ordinary Days

Respectful use matters beyond the writing desk. Imagine you’re talking with a friend after completing a prompt about water....