Daily Feast - January

[bluidkiti]

January 16 - Daily Feast
Rules are made to keep us safe and honest and well-organized - but many of them become more important than the purpose for which they were written. We have a tendency to make rules only to fall under the power of them. If rules and laws are made and have governed us for any length of time, it is generally though that there can be no exceptions - even to the point of being ridiculous. When a rule becomes so binding that it will not allow common sense and honest action to help the people do the right thing, it is time to make a change. Rules are made to help us do our best, ori da tli in gv is, in Cherokee. Rules are made to serve human beings - not human beings made to serve the rules. We need the rules, but wisdom as well.
~ The Great Father in Washington says you have to go! ~
INDIAN INSPECTOR, 1877
'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 16
"If people are going to get back into balance, one of the things they have to do is seek the truth. They have to start really speaking the truth themselves, and that's a difficult thing to do. The way it is now in the world, we don't mind lying."
--John Peters (Slow Turtle), WAMPANOAG
Well, everybody's doing it. Do unto others before they do unto you. If it wasn't for back luck I would have no luck at all. These are excuses and rationalizations for giving up accountability. Be true to yourself. Seek the truth, The Great Spirit is the truth. The truth shall set you free. This is the truth. We cannot be free if we are dishonest nor can we live a balanced life if we are dishonest. As we grow, we need to start taking stands. All warriors take stands. The warrior's belief is constantly being aligned to truth. The warrior will always know where he/she stands.
Great Spirit, help me today to seek Your truth, not my truth.
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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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January 17 - Daily Feast
Most changes are too subtle to be noticed. The fog, u gv ha dv, that blankets the early morning hangs so thick in the woods that the hills beyond cannot be seen. Then, without us seeing it, it is there no longer. So it is in our relationships with other people. We do not understand the moods and changes that work their silent influence on us when we least expect it. We react to the moods of others like we do in the fog, not realizing what has happened until the silent influence has gone. When our feelings are so in command, it is difficult to change the circumstances around us. All the experiences of a lifetime have influenced our decisions and made us react in a way that destroyed something that may never be rebuilt. When the fog lifts it takes away the veil so that we can see a long way. But the inner-fog hides life and love and friendship - until we change it.
~ I am satisfied....I am not afraid to avow the deed that I have done.....I am willing to bury the tomahawk and smoke the pipe of peace.... ~
SOUWAHNOCK 1833
'A Cherokee Feast of Days', by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 17
"In our story of Creation, we talk about each one of us having our own path to travel, and our own gift to give and to share. You see, what we say is that the Creator gave us all special gifts; each one of us is special. And each one of us is a special gift to each other because we've got something to share."
--John Peters (Slow Turtle), WAMPANOAG
We are all equally special. We need to focus on what is right for ourselves. As we focus on what is right for ourselves, we will start to see our special gifts. Then we can see how to share our special gifts with others. If we focus on what's wrong with ourselves, we will not be able to see our gifts. Then we will think we have nothing to give others and we become selfish and withdrawn. The more we focus on our good, the more we see the good in others. The more we see the good in others, the more we see the gifts they have to share. What you sees is what you gets!
My Creator, today, let me use the gifts You have given me. Let me use them wisely.
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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 fists 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 experience and knowledge that will hurry in to help. But only after we've admitted the need for it.
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January 18 - Daily Feast

A certain amount of protection from the wind makes it pleasant to walk in the deep woods, even in January - Uno lv at na. It is quieter and without the activity of other seasons, but the deer come daily to feed on acorns that litter the moss covered earth. Timing is important, even though the Cherokee has been said to have a time of his own - arriving and leaving as he see fit. But even nature gets ahead of herself or lags behind at times. Here in the dead of winter, a shaft of sunlight brings out tiny moth-like insects that dance straight up and down, going nowhere. Doing the right thing at the right time is all-important. We tend to get overanxious and want to push ahead when it is not the time nor the right thing to do. We are not programmed by nature but by Spirit, and from that comes the wisdom to stay or act.

~ I beseech you.....by everything you hold sacred and dear, abandon this wild visionary and desperate undertaking and return to your village. ~

KEOKUK, 1832

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 18

"Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit."

--Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX

Be still and know. All new learning's, all ideas about new things, creativity, daydreaming and mental effectiveness come to those who learn about silence. All warriors know about the power of silence. All Elders know about stillness. Be still and know God. Meditation is about the place of silence. This is the place to hear God's voice. We can find tremendous amounts of knowledge in the place of silence. This is the sacred place of God.

Great Spirit, teach me the power of silence.

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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 humans 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 may 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.
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January 19 - Daily Feast

We have to actively resist the suggestion that something is going to make us sick. It is not easy to talk illness and poverty without believing strongly that we may have to deal with them. The easiest way is to cancel negative suggestions and claim what we want. Money, which is a de la in Cherokee, will run for cover if we continually talk friendship - and we know what happens when someone tells us we do not look well. We being to take our pulse and wonder whether we should lie down. Too much sympathy and self-pity destroys our immunity to difficulty. When we shut down on it and begin to talk health and begin to talk about excellent opportunities, then we open the way to be well and prosperous.

~ They came to you under the guise and pretense.....and gained your confidence.....they are enemies of you and your band, instead of friends. ~

KEOKUK, 1832

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 19

"Heal yourself - your physical and spiritual bodies. Regenerate yourself with light, and then help those who have poverty of the soul. Return to the inner spirit, which we have abandoned while looking elsewhere for happiness."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHUA NATION, PERU

It is difficult to look inside ourselves, especially when we see conflict or confusion. During times of conflict we need to realize that we are talking to ourselves about our thoughts. This conversation is printing in our subconscious and forming our beliefs. During times of conflict we need to ask the spirit to control our self-talk. Only thorough finding that inner place and going there during troubled times will we ever find happiness.

Great Spirit, You are my peace and you dwell within me. Let me look for You within myself.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

"Though we speak with the tongues of men and angels and give our bodies to be burned, if we are irritable or hard to live with, it all accounts for nothing," wrote Margaret Widdemer.

Wouldn't it be a blessing to ourselves and to others if we could be as gentle and considerate in temper as we expect others to be? It is not a good thing to keep pent up then emotions that rules us so continually, but neither is it good to be too quick and too constantly blowing off steam.

It may serve as a tension reliever to us, but it can soon ruin our relationships with others. And without our realizing it, we can soon become chronic complainers.

Worry, physical ailments and weariness can cause a short temper that we think others should understand. And most have a way of knowing if that is the case, but prolonged impositions on other people will wear that tolerance very thin. It takes two to have an argument, but it takes only one to start it.

The need to forgive and to be forgiven should never be overlooked. To pass over a disagreement quickly without thought to the damage we've done can take the shine off any friendship. There can be no merit in forgetting if we cannot first forgive.

There are two voices in this world that will be forever unpopular. One is the voice of self-pity, the other is the voice that yells all the time. One declares itself to be the victim of great injustices, the other yells to demand justice.

Those who believe themselves to be the victim of injustice - those who believe they are meant to suffer - will always find conditions to prove they are right.

And those who yell, "Look what I've sacrificed," and always with the theme, "What I've tried to do for you," have slowed another's progress and stopped their own.

True victims of circumstance are easily recognized, and do not care to be noticed as such. And those who yell their merits have received their rewards, so there aren't any others.

Both have their attentions turned inward, but to the sorrow of most.... Their voices are not.
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January 20 - Daily Feast

When we rely on other people for what we need to know, we are vulnerable to their mistakes. What others give us may be sincere and it may be genuine, but all information is a matter of how we read it. What one person says with one meaning may reach the ear of another with a different understanding. Wisdom comes from the same source regardless of where we hear it, but it is better to take words of wisdom and work them through our own minds for direction and understanding. When someone else has answers that seem to apply to our questions, we can be open and teachable, but not gullible. It stands to reason if we tune our ears to answers within ourselves, we won't have to lean on outer sources for information.

~ The British father.....promised aid and assistance.... He is at peace with the Great Father in Washington.....and neither knows nor cares for your grievances... ~

KEOKUK

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 20

"The most important thing now is to reveal the inner temple of the soul with right thinking and right activity."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHUA NATION, PERU

The key to growing a strong tree is to have a good system of roots and to feed the roots with good medicine. If we put poison in the root system, it will affect the tree, and it will become obvious to the rest of the forest what is being fed to the roots. This is also true of the human being. We need to feed our roots with right thinking. If our thinking is right, it will become obvious to the rest of the people. We don't need to tell people about ourselves with our mouth because our actions always tell them.

Great Spirit, direct my thinking today. Feed my roots.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

True forgiveness could be described as a divine amnesty where we receive a pardon from the unworthy things we've done, and have another chance to prove our worth. Forgiveness is something we must give in order to receive. And we have a tendency to linger over old grudges, using them to bolster our reasons for not forgiving. But we cannot return to the past, nor can we change one whit of anything that happened then. We cannot make up for resentments we've caused in others, no more than they can make up for ours.

To forgive is divine. God is above punishment, but we are not. It is we, not God, who punish by taking things into our own hands and making them work for our own selfish reasons. We demand punishment by hanging on to painful past experiences that produce self-pity. We are the ones who blame God's will for our illness, our poverty, our lack of friends. But we are wrong, for there is a moment of truth when we face ourselves and know that we are the guilty.

And there is a time such as William Wordsworth wrote about, "that blessed mood, in which the burden of the mystery, in which they heavy and weary weight of all this unintelligible world, is lightened"....because we've been forgiven.
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January 21 - Daily Feast

In the darkest day in winter color is everywhere. They are colors we do not expect to see, so we do not see them. They float on early morning clouds that lie aloft in the southern sky and hover in the crevices of hills at midday. In the evening, the western horizon is purple - all shades of purple, which the Cherokee calls gi ge s di. The last rays of sunlight color the scuddling clouds with purple, rose, and lilac. The Indian loves color and is tuned in to its joy. If we are caught in moods that are drab, our eyes have little chance of seeing color. A drab view can be changed. Even now a, as go in ge (jay) and a brilliant, gi ga ge (cardinal) can stir us with their blues and reds if we have the heart to see them.

~ This is the most valuable thing I have ever possessed. ~

YE-WHELL-COME-TETSA, 1815

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 21

"This is the time of awakening to the inner father and the inner mother. Without this we will receive no high initiation; instead we get initiated into darkness. That's because any investigation or revolution without God leads, not to freedom, but to more slavery."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHAU NATION, PERU

Honor the Father and the Mother. Father stands for wisdom and Mother stands for feelings. Inside each of us is the Father and the Mother. If we do not honor both, we will not grow in balance. To honor both the Father and the Mother helps our masculine and feminine sides grow. The winter season is a good time to focus on this. This is our season of reflection. Honoring both sides allows us to see the Creator is both Father and Mother.

Great Spirit, Father Sky, Mother Earth, guide me today. Let me experience balance.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Hardly any of us are without some jealousy. We like to think of ourselves about that painful emotion, because such a monstrous feeling is a destructive thing. But if we have not felt a normal amount of it, it is because we have yet to doubt something we love very much.

Margaret, Queen of Navarre, and sister of Francis I, King of France in the fifteenth century, wrote the following words:
"Love may exist without jealousy, although this is rare; but jealousy can feed on that which is bitter, no less than on that which is sweet, and is sustained by pride as often as by affection."

Jealousy can rear its head when logic is giving you the facts, and throw the whole thing into chaos. But confidence is the enemy of jealousy. Confidence, trust, and faith are all strong parts of a nature where jealousy does not rule.

And jealousy, even in moderation, can introduce us to a serious problem with ourselves, if we let it grow out of proportion. It breeds rejection while maturity and understanding keep us safely within the bounds of permissiveness rather than possessiveness.
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January 22 - Daily Feast

Pushmataha, Chief of the Choctaws, understood our weaknesses as well as our strengths. He knew how willing we are to give in to abuse for fear of having no peace at all. Peace at any price is very familiar to the American Indian. And we know how a little success can do away with common sense - how it can remove the stops that keep us on the true path. A stable attitude can offset the extremes where we sometimes find ourselves. Good peace - to hi dv - is an inside job, a place where we cultivate the development of our own spirits before we look to our surroundings for strength and sustenance. The heart and soul that loves peace and wants others to be peaceful will never miss the mark of excellence.

~ Never be elevated above measure by success....nor delighted with the sweets of peace to suffer insults. ~

PUSHMATAHA

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 22

"The first factor in the revolution of consciousness is the mystic death of the ego - the death of negative thinking, negative personalities. We must purify the soul of the inner enemies. Every time a defect manifests- envy, gluttony, anger, lust, whatever-that impulse to the heart. Ask, `Do I really need to invoke this?' And then honor the heart."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHAU NATION, PERU

Our egos have character defects. These character defects we sometimes act out and they invariably bring results to our lives that we might not want. If we continue to use these character defects, we will continue to have undesirable results in our lives. How do we change ourselves or get rid of a character defect We can go to the heart-ask a question, make a decision-then honor the heart. For example, say I get angry today. I would go to the heart and ask, would I rather be right or would I rather be happy? How we answer this question can have an enormous impact on how our day goes. Once we decide the answer to this question, we need to honor the heart by saying, "Thank you for the power of changing my thoughts. I choose to be happy and to experience peace of mind."

Great Spirit, today, let me teach only love and learn only love.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The destructive hand is one that never finds a friendly hand to shake. Its finger is always pointed at someone's face in a threat. The destructive hand is forever lifted against anyone who differs, ready to strike in disagreement, always lifted for attention to let them tell the wrong someone has done.

The destructive hand tries desperately to hold another's good back....ready to sign a complaint....forever in a gesture of disdain.

But pity the destructive hand. It will never know the tenderness of love nor find the clasp of friendship. It will never feel the sun warm on its palm while it lifts someone....or guide another to happier things....or wave or cheer or praise and give thanks.

The destructive hand is the negative approach to all of life. It can never do anything but discourage and frighten. The positive approach to life is found in every gesture of the productive hand; it builds unbreakable structure, unbroken peace, and joy to soothe the most savage heart.
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January 23 - Daily Feast

As a child, I wanted to sing at the supper table. It seemed the logical place to let the joy of life flow freely - since it was our habit to share happy experiences at mealtime - never grievances. But E li is, Grandmother Essie, expected manners, not singing. The food at our table was not as important as the stories. Some were farfetched yarns so typical of the Cherokee. When we came together, laughter and joyful bantering took my mind off the ever-present greens that I had to close my eyes to eat. Grandmother said greens were part of making-do, but it seemed to me that I was making do when I sang at the table. Food should never be eaten when the throat is constricted and the spirit aches from hurt. Joy makes the most common food a feast - and it would not surprise me that E li is is sitting at supper in heaven - singing!

~ Friends and relations....you know what I feel....you have children, whom you love as yourself. ~

WAWATAM, 1763

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - January 23

"Our true enemies, as well as our true sources of strength, lie within."

--Willaru Huayta, QUECHUA NATION, PERU

A long time ago, the Creator put inside the human being the secrets to the laws of life. We usually know this is true even though we may not know what these laws are. If something goes wrong with our lives, we usually fix the blame on something outside of ourselves. We tend to give up accountability. One way or another we say, "It's not my fault." We need to realize that all permanent and lasting change starts on the inside and works its way out. If it's meant to be, it is up to me.

Oh Great Spirit, let me realize fully that my problems are of my own making. Therefore, so are the solutions.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Don't allow life to mean too much. Keep it light and shallow; spend as much time as possible scoffing at those things meaningful to others; forget the decency and patience in their attitudes.

And look with overbearing revenge to make them pay for what they believe.....laugh at their efforts.....call attention to their imperfections.....and don't forget to learn how to live alone.....if not in body, then in spirit. And then don't take the blame for a desert-island soul. It is of one's own making. But remember, oh so well, that life does not stand still while we search for someone to blame for our isolation.