November 10 Daily Feast, Elder's Meditation, THINK on THESE THING

November 10 - Daily Feast

For those who have a wait-and-see attitude it is more wait than see. Then they claim it is better to not expect anything than to be disappointed. These people build the same mental images - but they see nothing. Being able to see in the spirit is as necessary as having a blueprint to build a house. The details need to be filled in, finally coming to that completed picture - so vivid and clear that it must come into being. Anything we touch or use was first an image, an idea, in someone's mind. Seeing it and sensing it and loving it is writing an order to receive it. Mental images should never lack from a poor consciousness. Even if it seems impossible, fill it in. Ideas often have miracles of their own.

~ Our fathers gave us many laws, which they learned from their fathers. These laws were good. ~

IN-MUT-TOO-YAH-LAT-LAT - NEZ PERCE

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

Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 10

"The battle for Indian children will be won in the classroom, not on the streets or on horses. The students of today are our warriors of tomorrow."

Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE

The world is constantly changing. One of the strengths of Indian people has been our adaptability. In today's world, education is what we need to survive. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. We can become these things and still live in a cultural way. We need to live in two worlds; the educated world and the Indian cultural world. Education will help protect our land, our people's health, and provide knowledge for our people. We must teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Also, we must teach the language, the culture, the ceremony and the tradition of our people.

Creator, let me remember You are my teacher.

'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 room 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 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 firmly 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.