March 19 Daily Feast, Elder's Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

March 19 - Daily Feast

Last autumn's leaves have been dislodged from their wintering places to race north with the wind from the South - only to be turned and blown south again. They drift and dance on end, twirling and falling into deep piles to disintegrate in spring rains. Drifting with the wind is not a habit of nature alone. People with no goals, no aims, drift from one place to another in hopes that fate will put them in the right place at the right time. Fate is simply accepting what comes because nothing has been done to direct thought and action in any other way. If decisions are not made and goals are not set, the world will make them for us. The Cherokee calls this attitude go na ya, which translates to the same thing as "doing without."

~ The problem with blending the Indian and European cultures is that the Indian is devoted to living and the European to getting. ~

JOHN ROSS McINTOSH

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 19

"There's a deep wound in people-that they have been so cut off from the source of their being, their mother, their Earth Mother."

Francis Story Talbott II (Medicine Story), WAMPANOAG

When we are connected to the Earth Mother, or when we are clear on our purpose, we will feel connected and safe. We will feel love. When we are disconnected from the Earth Mother, or we don't know who we are or why we are, we will feel pain. It will be similar to a little child who has lost its Mother. We will hurt inside-we will be wounded within. If this happens to the whole community, the people will be very sad and lost. It will seem like there is death in the air. When this happens, it is time for ceremony and reconnection to God and Mother Earth. This is the time of prayer.

Great Mystery, today, help me to stay connected to the Earth and to You, my Creator.

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It has been written that an optimist is someone who can fall ten stories and call out to each floor in passing that everything is okay so far. It has also been said that an optimist is someone who refuses to see things as they really are.

It is far better, the pessimist believes, to look for the worst so as to be pleasantly surprised when things are better than expected. Then, if they are as bad as imagined, the disappointment won't be quite so great.

But this is somewhat like backing into a rose so to avoid seeing the beauty of it, only to find it is an elevator shaft.

There can be no advancement where we expect the worst and believe that going outside the limits of ordinary thinking is only day dreaming. Thinkers, capable of forecasting and predicting answers before the questions arise, are in great demand.

Only the optimist can fill the bill. Only the optimist can dare to believe there are things waiting for discovery and further development.

An optimist questions life the same as a pessimist - the difference is that the optimist knows there is an answer and that the answer can be found. Optimists are aware that the cherries of life have pits, but they are prepared to remove them. Their minds do not dwell on the pits, but on the sweetness of the cherries.

There will be situations that will make us afraid. Fear is a common sense emotion that keeps us from walking in front of a moving car or from jumping off the deep end of anything. And there are periods of natural anxiety when we want too much to perform well, and the butterflies begin to flutter.

Then, there is another kind of fear that is unnatural. It has the ability to possess us and rule over our very lives. It is that "what if" fear that builds nests in our minds and hatches dire images that scare the daylights out of us. It can keep the lights off, the doors bolted, and the windows of our souls locked against the most beautiful things in life.

It is no disgrace in this day to ask for professional help in understanding our fears. Only the very foolish would consider this help a crutch. It is a brave person who admits the need for help and has the courage to go and find it.

They are the pioneers in recognizing our existence as threefold: spirit, mind, and body.