“ Our role is to ensure that our mother is taken care of and that we remember that we are at one with her and everything, all her progeny, are a part of us and we are one with everything that exists” – Dr Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikitanga Rose Pere CBE
Te Wheke kamātu – the Octopus of great wisdom, the eight dimensions of total wellbeing and development, devised by Dr Rose Pere mātauranga Māori advocate, a spiritual leader, Te Reo advocate, and so much more, her whakapapa goes back through the lines of Tūhoe, Ngāti Ruapani and Ngāti Kahangungu.
Te Wheke is a Māori health model that illustrates a holistic whānau way of wellbeing, modelled off an Octopus 8 tentacles, a head, eyes, stomach and 3 hearts (Which is an awesome metaphor in itself)
Dr Rose peels back the layers and looks very deeply into how the 8 areas above help us “see how we are” it shows how these overlapping dimensions symbolise the interconnected nature of us all as terrestrial and celestial beings to EVERYTHING around us.
This being said, practically, it is a powerful mode to self assess and check in, so what better way to show the value in the model than by assessing myself!
To feed each of my tentacles with the sustenance they need to reach waiora (whānau total wellbeing) this is what it looks like for me.
So as you can see there are many areas of growth for me and my biggest takeaway from this exercise was:
Remember e te whānau, in the great words of Dr Rose
"We are all terrestrial and celestial beings and we have forgotten how to stand in our own power. You have a vested authority from your ancestors, celebrate your uniqueness, there has never been any one exactly like you, you have a divine authority to stand in your own power." - Dr Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikitanga Rose Pere CBE