Daily Feast Of Wisdom (Tsugitsvnvda Danalisdayvhvsgv Agadohvsdi ) (ᏧᎩᏨᏅᏓ ᏓᎾᎵᏍᏓᏴᎲᏍᎬ ᎠᎦᏙᎲᏍᏗ)

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 8, 2012 at 12:19pm: August 8 - Daily Feast

Life is one long courtship of things we want or fear. Whether it is something we want or something we want to avoid, we gu na da yi li da s di, court it, we woo it through our thoughts and words, reaching with intense effort. When our desires are too rigid, we have been known to create a psychological wall that shuts off the natural flow to carry out our heart's desire. We simply can't do what we want to do. When something is to be avoided at all costs, we tend to vision it so vividly that it has no choice but to come our way. The same mental law turns back what we want as well. We have to be careful about what we want, because we are apt to get it. It is our nature to court, but wisdom should always be there.

~ I ran to the spring to fetch water for them when they were thirsty. By these little services I won their affection.... ~

PLAYFUL CALF

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 8, 2012 at 12:19pm: Elder's Meditation of the Day August 8

"The Creator told every one of us in our tribal beginnings to look after our ceremonies, and each other."

Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

Our ceremonies are important and each has a purpose. They teach us about the Creator and about each other. The ceremonies teach us to be humble and teach us to pray. They teach us to look inside ourselves. We should remember to pray each morning. Ask the Creator to guide our thinking. Think only good thoughts. Think good thoughts about our relatives and about our brothers and sisters. Pray for our children in ceremony. Give thanks to the Great Mystery for life. All life is sacred. Pray in a sacred way.

Oh Great Spirit, I come to You this morning in ceremony. I come to this sacred place to talk to You. I thank You for Your guidance and protection. Give me Your eyes today so I may see the beauty in all things.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 8, 2012 at 12:18pm: 'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We all develop our own ways of centering our lives on something. In our minds we each have a design of what we think we are capable of being. If we want to be what we think we are capable of being, then we must hold our design firmly in our minds until it is secured as the focal point.

Each life must have that focal point, that center of interest where all phases of life come together. A focal point gives strength and meaning to the smallest details of everyday living.

Dimension and depth belong to the life that is centered. Though it may take many forms we must always have a "home" to return to, knowing that here are the roots, the things that really matter.

There must be a blending of our lives with others. But to be happy with one's self, that focal point must be steady and true before we can feel contented that "all's right with the world."

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 7, 2012 at 12:52pm: August 7 - Daily Feast

The path through the woods has a light layer of scarlet leaves that have fallen early from the woodbine. Crickets are chirping the coming of a new season - and the sassy blue jay, tla yv ga, agrees. Touching the earth is a lovely feeling that once again we find our beginnings. Whether we walk of plant or plow, it is a place created for us, a place to stand with bare feet to feel comfort spread quietly through us. The pulse of the earth slows our own and tranquilizes confusion. Seeing the ga lv lo I, sky, in its limitless depths stirs us to imagine, to stretch our awareness to know how much beauty is provided for us. It helps us to see that mean things can only last as long as we allow them. Nothing can hem us in when we know the freedom of spirit.

~ I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures.... ~

GERONIMO

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 7, 2012 at 12:52pm: Elder's Meditation of the Day August 7

"Everything I know I learned by listening and watching."

Vernon Cooper, LUMBEE

Sometimes my mind is talking so fast about so many different things that I can't slow it down. All day long I am judging and making assumptions about everything.

Great Spirit, help me this day to slow down. Help me to listen â?? quietly. Help me to watch carefully. Help me to listen to my inner voice. Let me listen and watch only the thing You would have me observe. Guide my eyes and my ears to be focused on You. Grandfather, love me today and teach me to be quiet.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 7, 2012 at 12:51pm: 'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Surely there is nothing so peaceful to the eye as the quiet, soft-hued hills resting in the autumn sun. We think if we could only get to those hills we could walk in the warmth of that sunlight and feel that peace in every nerve and muscle.

But so frequently we are unable to follow our wills. We are forced to sit where we are. And the very thought of being bound to this spot sometimes makes us restless, perhaps beyond reason. It creates a feeling of panic, that life will never be peaceful.

And then we look up into the limitless sky and see the depths and immensity of the universe, and we know that nothing binds us. That is, unless we want to be bound.

If we were to go to those hills, there would be others in the distance that would look as inviting. To hunt for peace outside ourselves is to ever be in search, and so to be bound again. But to loose that infinitely beautiful truth that peace is never there or there - but here, within me.

Most of us are lovers of familiar things. We love the routine of living, the security of knowing what is going to happen at a certain hour on a certain day. We love the knowledge that we will continue to love others even though we may not like what they are doing at the moment. We find great peace in knowing others will continue to love us even when we've been foolish.

The exciting and livable life is not always one of being on the go, being in entertaining places. The real life of life is not spangles that glitter and one continual round of gaiety.

Life is contentment, living in depth with a genuine love for work seasoned with recreation and freedom to worship where we choose and to pursue our talents as we please.

English author Samuel Johnson tells us that the fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and they who have so little knowledge of human nature as to see happiness by changing anything but their own dispositions will waste their lives in fruitless efforts.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 6, 2012 at 9:03am: August 6 - Daily Feast

Nature is positive. When one part of it drops away and returns to the great continuum of life, new shoots, new sprouts of life stand nearby to complete the purpose. One season moves on so that another can take its place - but it is no more and no less important than the one before. It is inherent in nature to be positive - as it was in the beginning for human nature. But human nature was given the option of choosing good or bad. It chose to disobey, and now we know fear and anxiety. A Cherokee expression, u so nv-I ya dv ne di, calls this a wrong act, a misdeed, that brought about a long-standing situation that has to be dealt with more than we would like. But we have a choice as well, and we must consider who is standing alongside to be the new sprout to complete the purpose.

~ Great Spirit.....To the center of the world you have taken me and showed me the goodness and the beauty and the strangeness of the greening earth.....you have showed me, and I have seen. ~

BLACK ELK

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 6, 2012 at 9:03am: Elder's Meditation of the Day August 6

"We have to have one mind for the Four Directions. Until we reach that one mind, we cannot be filled with understanding.... The Creator will not answer until you have just one mind, just like if you have one person."

Grandfather William Commanda, ALGONQUIN

The Elders have taught us to balance our lives emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. If I am out of control emotionally, I get angry, doubtful or erratic, I am out of balance. If I trigger bad mental pictures of my brothers and sisters, I am out of balance. If I get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, I am out of balance physically. If I don't pray and talk to the Creator daily, I am out of balance spiritually. To be centered, I must be in balance. The Creator talks to me in the quiet and still place. So if I get angry, what I should do first is to pause and get still so I can hear the guidance of the Grandfathers.

Oh Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, protect and keep me safe today - hear my prayers.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 6, 2012 at 9:01am: 'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It doesn't seem that a simple thing like going fishing could have such excellent results when the world suddenly seems too much. It is a very difficult thing to worry when your mind is fixed intently on a little red and white plastic float bobbing in the water.

Just taking one's mind off the general routine of living for even a short time is like a much needed and appreciated vacation. We seldom recognize the need for getting away from the monotony of following each day with another day exactly like it. We lose the value of the hours and minutes and lump them all together and plod along expecting miracles to come someday and save us.

The effort we have to give is in releasing the problem and concentrating on something beautifully simple and uncomplicated. Living doesn't seem so ominous when we can go fishing for a little peace and quiet, and sidetrack the things that weigh so heavily on our minds.

Good health is such a blessing. We don't all realize how much we aid or harm our own health. In fact, we give much more thought to being careful not to get wet than being careful not to get angry. And it is said that anger can lower resistance to colds much quicker than getting wet.

It is a proven fact that to feel love builds a resistance to illnesses while resentment and hate can destroy both mind and body.

Longfellow once wrote that joy, temperance, and repose would slam the door on the doctor's nose. There's no doubt but that most doctor's noses are safe. But they, too, would be glad if more patients would exercise their abilities to lift themselves out of much of their ill health by knowing some measure of joy rather than self pity, some healthy thoughts and less thoughts of self.

We lower our resistance to ill health in many ways, but none works against us as surely as worry, anxiety, and care, plus our inability to recognize the fact that we are our own greatest enemy.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on August 5, 2012 at 10:46am: 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