You are the Medicine Wheel and the Medicine Wheel is you.
The Medicine Wheel or the Four Directions is a circular symbol representing the wholeness of traditional Indigenous life. It is a perfectly balanced shape without a top or bottom, length or width. It represents constant movement and change. It also represents and symbolizes unity, peace, harmony and courage. It is a testimony of the human being’s ability to survive and to maintain balance. The ultimate goal is to strike a harmonious balance in life. The circular form of the Medicine Wheel shows the relationship of all things in a unity, a perfect form, and suggests the cyclical nature of all relationships and interactions. Everything in the universe is part of a single whole. Every thing is a part of our story.
I grew up with storytelling as a part of my culture.
A story is a gift given by the Creator
Stories are an honour to receive and an honour to give
A story is entertaining, not entertainment
Storytelling is the spirit of Relationship
Stories remind us of our connections, stories are medicine for broken hearts.
The Medicine Wheel and the Research Journey (from my master thesis)
Owning knowledge is a powerful thing. When we recognize what we know and how we know it, as a culture and as individuals, we can see the connections and locate ourselves within a larger narrative. In this way, we come back to sharing stories. Our stories are like pieces of the puzzle, pieces that need to connect and that belong in a place. Linda T. Smith writes, “research is not a distant academic exercise but an activity that has something at stake and that occurs in a set of political and social conditions” (L. T. Smith 2012, 5). Sharing knowledge through storytelling is a way to connect to related stories from family and serves as a connection between communities. My perspective is that I am related to my research like a sibling. It is a part of my family and a part of me. Our stories, our knowledge is intertwined.
In order to give a basis for understanding the relationship between storytelling and sharing knowledge, I will share the legend of the Medicine Wheel here and give a short discussion of the elements of the story and their reflection in literature. This is one definition from an online source, Four Directions Teachings :
As Cree people, we were given the gift of being named for the four parts of human beings. Nehiyawak, we were called. It means being balanced in the four parts that are found in the four directions of the Medicine Wheel. These four parts for human beings are the spiritual, physical, emotional and mental aspects of the self. We need to try and balance these four parts that were given to us, to function as people. The fire is in the centre of the Medicine Wheel. That is where the meaning of the teachings comes from. For me this fire is also the self. When you look at the Medicine Wheel, you start from self. And as you look out, you make your circle. This is how the Medicine Wheel represents the life journey of people. The old people will tell you it is life itself. Look at the four seasons and follow the sun. Spring in the east, summer in the south, fall in the west and winter in the north. It tells the whole story of how all life came into being abundantly bright, rising in the east and then fading away as it moves west and north. All life rises and sets like the sun.
What we do in between is our journey. This is where the gifts of the four directions are needed - the gifts of the spirit, physical body, emotions and mind - and where we need to find balance within these four realms (Lee 2006). 
