August 3, 4 & 5 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

August 3 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

2013

August 3 - Daily Feast

Love and abuse are never compatible. When someone claims to love us regardless of how they treat us, we should take it with a grain of salt. It is the cry of someone who needs to lean more than to love. Need is a net thrown over a prey. It is the spider tightening the threads of its web to catch what it needs. Love doesn't threaten and intimidate one minute and practice persuasion and promises the next. Love is not just emotional words. It is the need to give and support and protect, even when comfort is threatened. It is not manipulation and it is never, never, u yo I gv ne di, abuse.

~ A child believes that only the action of someone who is unfriendly can cause pain. ~

CHASED-BY-BEARS

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 3

"Always remember you are Indian - do things to make your people proud."

Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE

All our choices and decisions will reflect on our people. We need to assume the accountability of honoring people. We must remember to conduct ourselves in a sacred way. Sometimes this is hard. But we must remember we have the assistance of the Spirit World, and we have the principles and values by which we should live written in our hearts. The Creator will help us develop into a strong people if we just learn to depend upon Him.

Great Spirit, lead me on the path of the Red Road.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The setting of the sun on an old year is a kind of summing up time. What have you accomplished? What were your goals? Will they be higher in the new year?

Whatever your personal plans and whatever the reasons back of them, there are common everyday kinds of people that should be kept in view. They have positive outlooks, and are best recognized when sincerely listening to a child's words.

You will see them when they steady the elderly, you will know them by their kindness. You will not often hear their prayers as they are for their God. But you will know they are to be depended upon and that they will not tire of these things for it is their natural role.

Think about these people when you set your plans. They are good to remember. Your success or failure depends upon these people being you.

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August 4 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

2013

August 4 - Daily Feast

Anytime we fall down in doing anything and we get up and have another go at it, count it all progress. It is getting up that makes a warrior, di tli hi, as the Cherokee says it. Getting up doesn't mean the warrior is fearless or that he is totally self-confident. It does mean that he gains confidence as he persistently keeps trying, and he fully expects strength to come as he needs it. He asks, na quu na? How about now? Everyone is afraid of a challenge, afraid of being down and staying down. But relying on the Great Spirit gives the courage to speak powerful words to bolster the human spirit. So, how about now?

~ I know the Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say.... ~

SITTING BULL

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 4

"Telling about our lives is important for those who come after as, for those who will see our experience as part of their own historical struggle."

Linda Hogan, CHICKASAW

How important it is for us to support one another. How important it is for us to know our culture and to share our experiences with one another. How powerful it is to be authentic. How important it is to hold no secrets. I am as sick as my secrets.

Grandfather, allow me today to be willing to share with my brother and sister. Let my eyes see You in their eyes. Let me not judge them but only love them. Grandfather, help me, for I am Your humble servant.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Frequently quoted American editor and author Christian Nestell Bovee wrote that sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism - indeed excessive sensitivity is only another name for morbid self-consciousness.

He wrote that the cure for it was to make more of our objectives and less of ourselves. And it isn't easy to make less of ourselves.

Everyone at some time has felt extreme sensitivity toward people and surroundings. It is a sensitiveness that does not always have a good effect - seemingly for no reason at all we exercise no control over the emotions. It can be frightening to realize that we are quite as capable of destroying as we are, at other times, of building.

It is written in the essays of Aristotle that there are right things to say and a right way of saying them; and the same is true of listening. So often we make a casual remark, not meant to be tactless, but somehow it turns out that way. When there is a desire to appear witty, or clever, at someone else's expense, there should be no pride in the results.

And when we listen to someone's casual remark and take offense, we must examine our own thoughts. If we allow our minds to run in channels of vulgarity and mockery, then we can also expect to interpret others' words to mean the same things.

We can so easily read the wrong things into others' conversations, and in our own efforts to express ourselves say such foolish things that we lose the priceless gifts of relaxation and fun of conversing with other people. And for those reasons we must cultivate the art of speaking and listening with the warmest heart - which harbors nothing that is not right.

It is a good idea in the most sensitive times to recognize them for what they are and to make a pact within one's self to by pass this time for serious thought and decision making. This, above all, should be a time for relaxing against the wind of oversensitivity. To resist it only strengthens it, and to look at it clearly and coolly will take away its mystery and its heat.

It is well to remember that the too-sensitive person is not the true self, but the one with the marvelous mental attitude most certainly is - wait for that person.

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August 5 Daily Feast, Elder’s Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

2013

August 5 - Daily Feast

It is strange how the same words spoken yesterday have a different meaning today. What can we say that we have not already said before? And what can be said that has not been said so many ways? Some words can be said any number of times and still be new. The Cherokees say, Gv ge yu a, I like you or I love you. I love you to the ultimate amount for one day. But it will not compare with tomorrow. Tomorrow brings its own container to be filled. As the sun rises and the moon sets, time moves swiftly, and the need to love and be loved never changes. It helps us appreciate the finer things, knowing our hours together are beautiful as polished gems that never lose their glow and always retain their value.

~ I felt glad as the ponies do when the fresh green grass starts in the beginning of the year. ~

TEN BEARS

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day August 5

"It is a paradox in the contemporary world that in our desire for peace we must willingly give ourselves to struggle."

Linda Hogan, CHICKASAW

The Grandfathers have taught us about sacrifice. We have been taught to pray for the people in a pitiful way. Struggle and conflict is neither good nor bad, it just is. Everything that grows experiences conflict. When the deer is born it is through conflict. When the seed first grows, it is through conflict. Conflict precedes clarity. Everything has the seasons of growth. Recognize - acknowledge - forgive and change. All of these things are done through conflict.

Great Spirit, give me the courage today to see that struggle and conflict are here to teach me lessons that are a gift from you.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Remember all those times when you made three trips to the other room to get something, and before you got there you had already forgotten what it was? Didn't the thought of age diminishing your memory enter your mind at those times?

There's really no need to waste time thinking that way. It is not the case of a scattered memory, but a skittery mind, jumping from one subject to another with only circumstances to remind you.

And haven't you awakened sharply in the middle of the night because suddenly you remembered something you should have done, or something you must do? Age again? No, it was the only time your subconscious mind ever found you quiet enough to remind you of something you wanted to remember.

Life would be so much more orderly if we took several minutes night and morning to sit completely away from outside sights and sounds to recall the important things. As long as we are able to see and hear the activity about us we have difficulty thinking soundly. The conscious mind is capable of carrying just so much, and then the debris must be cleared away before the "filed away" things in the subconscious can be remembered.

"Be still and know...."

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Donvdagahv'i
David White Hawk
Tawodi Unega

"Be good, be kind, help each other."
"Respect the ground, respect the drum, respect each other."

May The Creator walk with you.

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