Running Barefoot

by Amy Harmon

Like a shoe that has lost its mate is never worn again, I had lost my matching part and didn’t know how to run barefoot.

True love suffereth long, and is kind; true love envieth not. True love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. True love does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. True love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. True love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things!’“ I stopped for a breath and one emphatic push against Samuel’s chest. “1st Corinthians, Chapter 13.

the sweet old lady humbly asked for my forgiveness,

“It’s like níłch’i. Níłch’i is the Navajo for air or the wind...but it is more than that. It is holy, and it has power. My grandmother says níłch’i means the Holy Wind Spirit. Everything in the living world communicates through níłch’i. Because of this, the Holy Wind Spirit, níłch’i, sits at the ears of the Diné, or the people, and whispers instructions—tells them right from wrong. People who constantly ignore the níłch’i are abandoned. The ni’ch’i will not remain with them.” Samuel’s eyes became focused again, drawing down on mine. “My grandmother believes that the níłch’i is breathed into a newborn baby as they take their first breath. The child then has the companionship of the níłch’i at all times. Níłch’i guides him as he grows.

“Hózhǫ́ is at the heart of the Navajo religion. It essentially means harmony. Harmony within your spirit, your life, with God. Some people compare it to karma too, the idea that what you put out comes back to you. It is a balance between your body, mind, and spirit.”