[bluidkiti]

May 16 - Daily Feast

There is a chance that a decision we make will lead us into battle, an inward and an outward battle against our own will and against the negative flow of the world in general. A cherished goal challenges us that we cannot do it - we can't possibly do what smarter people have tried and failed to do. But chances are we have a source of wisdom that others may not have had, though everything points to their advantages over ours. Maybe we have a source that is more reliable, that no weapon formed against us can prosper. Chief John Ross taught the Cherokees to be persistent. Not a moment could be wasted in apathy, but we had to be there with muscles and mind toned and ready. The tribe's willingness to follow through with honor and integrity helped us to survive.

~ Our cause is with God and good men, and there we are willing to leave it. ~

CHEROKEES

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 16

"It's time. If you are to walk the path of heart, then it is time..."

--Nippawanock, ARAPAHOE

If not now, when? If not me, who? To walk the path of the heart is a great honor. Every human has the choice to walk this path, but very few will decide to make it. Why? Well, because you can't act and behave like everyone else behaves. You must be the person who will learn to look within. You must be the person who will be fully accountable for yourself. You must be the person who prays and meditates. You must be the person who will sacrifice. You must decide to be a Peaceful Warrior. What will you decide today?

Oh, Great Mystery, lead me on the path of the heart.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We want much. It seems sometimes that wanting is all we ever get done. And yet if it were not for the desires of our hearts, there would be little incentive to work and plan and expect.

Some would have us believe it is wrong to desire any more than absolute necessities. But good desires channeled in the right direction can do nothing but better the one who seeks.

Sometimes getting is only a substitute for the true desire. Humans have a way of looking outside themselves for things to satisfy their spiritual hunger. It may be prestige. Or it may be anything that will inflate their egos and give them feelings of security.

Emerson wrote, "The implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it." We have the ability to rise far above what we think we can. We have within us the answers if we but have the wisdom to seek those answers.

And perhaps we should consider, even before we begin to seek, the wisest of all instructions, "With all your getting get understanding."
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May 17 - Daily Feast

It is useless to put a warped container inside a good one in hopes of straightening it. It only spoils the good one. The stuff they are made of has to be workable if either is to be saved. We can be affected, even encouraged by outside influences, but real change is from the inside. It is possible to wait a long time for a situation to change so that we can change. It won't happen. We have to change first - our thoughts, our attitudes, and very often, our reasons. If we are ever to be totally free of, u tso a se di, the Cherokee expression for miserable or unhappy circumstances, we will have to remold our own human spirit to the will of the Great Spirit. It is the only help that is not based on money or dependency on someone else who is equally weak.

~ Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and learn to hear my feeble voice. ~

BLACK ELK

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 17

"If the Great Spirit wanted men to stay in one place He would make the world stand still; but He made it to always change..."

--Chief Flying Hawk, OGLALA SIOUX

The Elders tell us change occurs in two directions. They say, "That which is built is constantly being destroyed; that which is loose is being used to build the New." In other words, change is constantly going on. Many times we hear people say, "I hate change." Does it make sense that the Great Spirit would design people to hate it? The Great Spirit designed people with change abilities such as visioning, imagery and imagination. Maybe we need to learn to use these tools and then we'll look forward to change.

Great Spirit, today, let me see the harmony of Yours, truly changing world.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We know without being told when we have acted unkindly or behaved unjustly toward another. Intolerance, whether it is personal superiority or religious bigotry, serves only to isolate us from the greatest joy in life - the sharing of ideals and happiness and friendship.

We must be patient and fair toward anyone whose opinions differ from our own. There is a much better chance of convincing those whom we hope to influence by being an example rather than a voice.

It is much easier to be led than to be pushed, and not so hard to be tolerant when we recognize within ourselves the reasons we are not always tolerant.

It sometimes becomes habitual to be dissatisfied with everything we see others do. We don't take time to understand and know the basis of their actions. We often fall short of listening to them long enough to understand, and their next words or actions may explain it.

We cannot afford to be intolerant, because no matter how good our ideas are, there is always a better one.
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May 18 - Daily Feast

Have we lost control of who we are? Have we allowed ourselves to get in a position of little or no control - believing that we must forfeit bits and pieces of who we are to get along? The one weapon against us that has the total respect of the world is the business of weight loss. Never have so many fought so long to lose so little. Think of the dollar value put on a pound of flesh - the hype, the remorseful tears, the acceptance that we cannot control our eating. Though overindulging in anything is dis-ease, it is not disease. It is the silent enemy, the spirit of destruction that the Cherokee calls, u so nv I, which is not good but downright evil. It is the enemy with no power except subliminal suggestion. But enter the Great Holy Spirit, and its great roar is but a pip-squeak. We have to care, but we also need to know the truth to be free.

~ When the Great Father sent out men to our people, I was poor and thin,; now I am large and stout and fat. It is because so many liars have been sent.....and I have been stuffed full of their lies. ~

RED DOG, 1870

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 18

"...Grandmother the Earth. That power is here all the time. It is continuous, and nobody controls it."

--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

There are certain powers that the human being has no choice but to obey. We cannot negotiate or barter with this power. Our choice is either to conform or to live out of harmony. Whatever our choice, it will be the end result in our lives that we notice. So it is with the powers of the Earth which produce life. The Earth has the life force power. If anyone plants a seed, the seed will grow. The Earth treats everyone equally. The human cannot interfere, only obey. We should all show great respect for the Earth and Her powers.

Great Spirit, today, let me honor and respect the power of the Grandmother, the Earth.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Bad feelings are burdens. When we get to the point of believing the whole world is sour because we don't understand it, we have a lot of self-searching to do. Maybe we helped it to lose its sweetness. Maybe we're the bad apple that soured the whole lot.

Our first thought should be to make amends. Sometimes we can't, and when such is the case we need to get out of the way and let time and nature take its course.

Life is too beautiful to go on being a bitter pill that insists that everyone swallow it. As in the words of Caleb C. Colton, an English clergyman around the turn of the century, "The man who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the grief which he proposes to remove."

We need to unburden ourselves by forgetting our problems and doing something that will put a smile on someone else's face.

The quickest way to solve the problem of hurt feelings is to inquire if this situation is important to the whole of existence. Does this particular thing mean more than any of the other things of life? It is amazing how quickly trials fade into nothingness when faced with this question. It places before us the need to decide here and now the meaning of our whole existence.

There are not many things in our lives that we can truthfully say mean everything to us. The small things are important and very dear, but the really significant things we count on one hand - life, our loved ones, our good desires, our faith, and our nation.

One of the most magnified situations in this day is taking life too seriously. In the stress of too much mental confusion we seem unable to laugh off so many little irritations. We let personality rule us into making each little problem the source of great anxiety and dramatically lay hold of it until it chokes us.

The worthwhile side of this life is too important to let ourselves become involved with things that mean little to us. Too much of the trouble in the world is caused from ego-building importance that would never be missed in anyone's existence.
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May 19 - Daily Feast

If there is one thing that scares us, it is the thought that any part of life has been wasted. We look back and ask why we let it happen - what was so important that it could steal our youth, our strength, our capacity to be somebody - to just be happy. Is it too late to begin again? Never. It may be with a different set of rules, a standard of values that has changed drastically, but begin again? Yes, Many have started over and have had more happiness and contentment in a short time than in all of what is known as the wasted years. Anyone who has ever traveled a trail of tears wishes they had known then what they know now. But we did not know, and life is not lived by hindsight. We did what we knew to do - sometimes with great ignorance. But if we know the difference now and want to begin again - then why not? And why not now?

~ Years of trial and anxiety, of danger and struggle, have maintained the ....Cherokee people as a distinct community....and such must continue. ~

CHIEF JOHN ROSS

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 19

"To be able to greet the sun with the sounds from all of Nature is a great blessing, and it helps us to remember Who is the real provider of all of our benefits."

--Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

The Elders say we should pray to the East every morning. Just try it! Get up early in the morning, watch the sun and listen to the morning sounds, the birds, the winds; smell the air, feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun. Your mid will expand and you will experience oneness with the Great Spirit. You'll realize who is really in charge. You'll realize an interconnectedness. You'll realize how much the Creator loves you! Just try it!

Great Spirit, today, let me feel the Earth, the Father Sun and your presence.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If you don't know what to do about a situation - wait awhile, the answer will come. If weariness overcomes you before you've completed a difficult job, wait awhile, you'll get your second wind.

If you do not agree with someone else's philosophy, don't fret, perhaps later you will come to know that the same philosophy can be reached from many different directions.

If you think the activities of another person or group are frivolous and unnecessary, wait a bit, they most likely will feel the same way about you sometime.

If you don't like what others have to say, wait, they may clarify it - or you may change your mind.

If life hasn't dished you unhappiness, wait a bit, if you've planted any happiness seeds, you will also reap.

We can't always wait, but sometimes waiting is action, and action of the hardest kind. It is difficult to keep quiet when you have something to say, but it more often saves your face later and sometimes your life.
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May 20 - Daily Feast

Many of us would gladly take the responsibility of hurt for those we love. We feel we would be more capable of bearing it, more apt to handle it. We want to leave them as unscathed and near perfect as possible. But we cannot take some people's problems. They must use their own strength and learn what is true and false in living. Not so different from us, they might not take the wisest steps. It many also be hard for them to believe that our experiences have ever been as wretched as their own. It is difficult not to cry with those we love. Our hearts cry, even when frustration makes our faces stern and stoic. But we have to allow other people to put down their feet and take a stand. How can they become strong in their own right if we try to be in their legs?


~ Sometimes we prayed in silence; sometimes each one prayed aloud; sometimes an aged person prayed for all of us....and to Usen. ~

GERONIMO

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 20

"...the sacred ceremonies given to us by the Creator are the Heart of our existence. These ceremonies are our first duty."

--Traditional Circle of Elders. NORTHERN CHEYENNE

Hidden in the ceremonies are many truths, many principles, many guidelines for living - our access to the Unseen World, healing and visions. Because the Indian People didn't have schools or books, the Great Spirit gave us Ceremonies. The ceremonies are handed down from generation to generation to learn their meaning. Today, many Indian People live in cities or urban areas where it's hard to learn the ceremonies. We need to go to the Elders and learn the ceremonies so we can pass them on to our children.

Great Spirit, teach me the Secrets of the Ceremonies.

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THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Do you remember the interesting story of the lion and the mouse in Aesop's Fables? The lion could have crushed the mouse but was merciful and let it go free. A year later the lion became entangled and the mouse nibbled its way through the net to set the lion free.

It is a dangerous thing to wade through other people's feelings, burning our bridges and believing we will never need them again. The saddest persons on earth must be those who find they have tried to destroy the only one who can help them.

The smallest and seemingly most insignificant has a purpose in this world, and it isn't for us to judge what that purpose is. We have enough to do in finding our own.

As in the fable, we must remember, "Few are so small or weak, I guess...but may assist us in distress....nor shall we ever....if we're wise....the meanest of the least despise."
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May 21 - Daily Feast

Many are gamblers without knowing it. They demand their right to do something - even when it is not expedient. We can insist on our right to turn at the stoplight, but if someone else has never heard of our right and takes his chances at going through, it is dangerous business. Having rights holds only of the responsibility of them goes with it. Sometimes a right is a privilege we don't dare demand. The Cherokee calls this, u na du da lv, acting in a way that is mature and careful of others. Some people tend to believe they are above the basic rules of living. But when life drops a rock on the one who so freely takes advantage, it can be a well-deserved rock. It reminds us to stay within the limits of everything from good taste to common sense.

~ The good road and the road of difficulties you have made me cross; and where they cross the place is holy. ~

BLACK ELK

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 21

"A vision could put you on a path you don't want to follow."

--Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA

There is a saying, "You move toward and become like that which you think about." If we keep thinking about a bad thing, we will move in that direction. If we think about fear in some area of our life, we will probably experience this fear. We move toward and become like that which we think about. If we think about secret things, these secret things will come to pass. Our visions are very powerful. Visions determine our direction, our lives. If you think about lustful things, it's a matter of time before you'll be wrestling with it. We should think about our visions to make sure they include the Great Spirit in every area.

Great Spirit, today, give me Your vision to follow.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Regret is something everyone has, but no one can afford to keep. Being remorseful is commendable when we should be sorry for wrong behavior, but to live with regret is to add to it day by day. There are those who are unable to admit they have ever been wrong. But there are more who carry with them so much regret they are bowed in spirit.

Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, once said, "Remorse is beholding heaven and feeling hell," but perhaps just knowing heaven can exist makes regret more hellish. And so often it renders the regretful almost powerless to lift themselves out of their predicament.

But there is forgiveness! A daily vow or affirmation can take us a step further in lifting ourselves above the things that cause regret. And if we've settled down in the middle of unhappiness to enjoy our lot in life, then, moment by moment, inch by inch, we shall overcome that, too!
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May 22 - Daily Feast

The past is to be respected for its rich store of experience - mistakes and all - believes the Cherokee. In it are all the trials and wisdom of our elders, the timeless suffering and seasoning that came to us with a brave front. But we, with less experience and far less wisdom, question why they did certain things. We have only to look at our own recent history to know that many circumstances come in to dictate some of what happened. We do not relate it to our offspring word for word - why we did something, wise or unwise. It is better they take what we have learned and build on it. The young have a tendency to see themselves far more shrewd and able than their elders. But one day, they too will see and understand the patterns that have been laid down. They will forgive and hope to be forgiven for not being miracle workers. The fact that we are here with a load of experience and wisdom behind us speaks positively of the past.

~ Grandfathers, Great Spirit, you have given me the cup of living water, the sacred bow, the power to make life and to destroy it. ~

BLACK ELK

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 22

"The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was... The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's business to divide it..."

--Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE

There is danger when we start to draw lines and boundaries. This is true whether outside ourselves or inside ourselves. The danger is losing sight of the interconnectedness. When we lose sight of interconnectedness, separation, possessiveness ( this is mine, I can do what I want) and infighting results. Even at an individual level, if we don't believe we are connected to all things we get self-centered and have self-seeking motives. We must think in harmony, balance and integrity. We must see our relationship to the great whole and conduct ourselves accordingly.

Great Spirit, today, let me think beyond boundaries.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Have you noticed how hardheaded we are about clinging to the way we think something should be done? If it worked once, we think it should again, and perhaps it does. There are proven methods of getting successful results in many things. But ever so often we try to use the same procedure, follow the same general pattern we've used before, only this time it doesn't work.

How we pound our fist against that stone wall! Insisting all the time that there used to be a door in exactly that spot. Who moved the door? Frequently circumstances are to blame. But placing the blame is not the important thing. Finding the way is important.

The way may not be marked plainly, and we have to blaze a new trail, find a new method. But the hardest part of finding that new method is in admitting we need one. The first and most important step is in changing our idea of how it should be done. As soon as we have accepted this fact the mind has a reserve of experiences and knowledge that will hurry in to help. But only after we've admitted the need for it.
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May 23 - Daily Feast

Pride so often makes it hard for us to ask forgiveness. Instead of saying we are sorry for a mistake, it is easier on the pride to pretend it did not happen and quickly change our behavior. Words are important in love and forgiveness - and courage. It is good to hear them - better to speak them. Forgiveness is not just to make someone else feel better about us but to help us think better of ourselves. To make amends, set things straight,is go tlv so di, to change - not just outwardly for effect but inwardly for good reason. When we forgive someone we stop resenting them. It takes a little while longer to forget - and even longer to forgive ourselves for having been so foolish.

~ We want to keep peace. Will you help us? ~

CHIEF RED CLOUD, 1870

'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day May 23

"To me, if you're Indian, you're Indian. You don't have to put on your buckskin, beads, and feathers, and stuff like that."

--Cecilia Mitchell, MOHAWK

The most important thing that determines who we are is on our insides, not our outsides. If we are Indian inside, that's all that matters. Being Indian means to think right, to be spiritual and to pray. Feathers and beads don't make us Indian. Being Indian means to have a good heart and a good mind.

Great Spirit, today, let me think Indian.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It has been said that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. But it is even truer that there is no hell more furious than those human beings who feel scorn within themselves for themselves. It is natural but painful for those who do not know the meaning of love to find fault and grief within their own existence. Unable to accept the blame for their actions, there is a continual search for the cause in other people.

How can we tell what point in life others am have reached in their development? We can only see and sense the pain that some carry while they learn the way. If it is impossible to get along with them, we should get along without them, but condemning them will never turn the tide.

Understanding of others and of ourselves has been a great human need for all time. The fact that we do not look with a critical eye, pecking away in constant irritation at another's faults, but give some sign of friendliness, some patience for rebellious spirits, may serve as the turning point for that spirit. And to try for such understanding does no harm for the one who makes the effort.