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

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day August 4

"Telling 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.

'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.

Donadagahv’I

Tawodi Unega
( White Hawk )

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

Abe Conklin - Ponca/Osage, (1926-1995)

May The Creator walk with you.