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

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Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on April 1, 2012 at 2:47pm

Ka-wa-ni
April

Tsi law'nee
Flower Month

It seems to me that the rulers of the Cherokees have sufficient intelligence to see the utter imbecility of placing any further reliance upon the Supreme Court....

Governor Wilson Lumpkin
Georgia, 1831

April 1 - Daily Feast

In ages past, our old ones were the storytellers. This was the way things were passed along to the generations that followed. For this reason the aged people made it a point to remember every detail so they could relate it at a later time. They were the word and picture carriers making history and spiritual values alive and important. In recent times we have made our old ones think they are not so important. We spoof their stories and make them feel foolish. The truth is that we are ignorant of what is precious and how to a da li he li tse di - appreciate age. Rigidity can creep in and set even the young mind if there are no soft memories, no laughter, no times too deep for tears. Age is grace - a time too valuable to waste.

~ We can get over being poor, but it takes longer to get over being ignorant. ~

JANE SEQUICHIE HIFLER

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on April 1, 2012 at 2:47pm

Elder's Meditation of the Day - April 1

"People think other things are more important than prayer, but they are mistaken."

Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

An Elder once said the most important thing you can do in the course of a day is to pray. If we get up late or oversleep, which is more important? Rush to work without praying or pray first and then go to work? The Elders say it's more important to pray. If we get angry, should we act on our anger or should we pray first? The Elders say it's more important to pray first. If, during the day, we face indecision, what should we do? PRAY. If, during the day, we become irritated or we experience fear, what should we do first? PRAY. The Warrior who prays first will lead a different life from those who pray last.

Great Spirit, teach me to pray first!

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on April 1, 2012 at 2:45pm

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

A new galaxy of shining promises made to oneself are resolutions made with the utmost faith that self is listening and will carry out the plans.

But self is as unpredictable as a child playing in the street; it may dart in any direction, according to the mood and to whatever catches its attention. At the first signs of a challenge, self may race back and lean hard upon the old ways of doing things, no matter how wrong it might be. Resolutions do very little to change a way of living. They are easily made and easily forgotten. There may be a sincere desire to keep a resolution, but if self has not changed inwardly, little can depend on the outward change.

It is said that we promise according to our hopes and perform according to our selfishness. Failure to keep our promises to others is a disappointment, but failure within oneself is disaster.

A little performance is worth a host of promises on any day that starts a new year.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 31, 2012 at 12:51pm

March 31 - Daily Feast

Be strong, be of good courage - so much we worry about will never happen. Put things in order, change what needs to be changed, but begin at once to count the wi Tsa to li gi, the blessings that the Cherokee knows must be told again so we will not forget. Forget the past by which so much of life is marked. Painful things happen - and we take a little of all of it with us. This is a new day, iga, a new time to be renewed. The more we let yesterdays unhappiness slide away, the sooner we come into the fullness of the present. Sorrow will fade. The new hour will bring new experiences, new jobs to do, and even a few negatives may line up to be counted. Don't do it. We can begin at once to call for what we want. We will coax all the sweetness out of every hour and it will sing for us like a bird.

~ We can't go back. The bridge is gone. ~

STRONG EYES

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 31, 2012 at 12:51pm

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 31

"The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew the lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to a lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence."

Luther Standing Bear, OGLALA SIOUX

When we live in nature it's like constantly being in school. We are in an environment that is always teaching. We are constantly being reminded hat there are laws, Natural Laws, which are running the universe. Once we know these laws and we drift from them, we start to live our lives in a different way. Soon we become discontent, selfish and disrespectful. Then, we get in trouble. If our lives have become this way, it can be reversed by going back to nature to be among our teachers.

Great Spirit, teach men, again, the Natural Laws.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 31, 2012 at 12:50pm

'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 kindnesses. 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.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 30, 2012 at 11:14am

March 29 - Daily Feast

Nothing ever remains quite the same - but a time comes when we have to follow new guidelines and think new thoughts and do new things. It does not take a superhuman, but it does take a believer - a worker with ears to hear and eyes to see - not just the physical but the spiritual. We cannot take for granted that any other human can have accurate perception and spell things out for us. The miracles are not all in other heads, other hands, other methods. There must be a burst of inner fire that sparks a miracle, that opens a door to a greater life, a greater calm. We are never so blind as when we close ourselves off by our critical views, our hardened hearts, our failure to perceive the greatness of gentle things. O friend, look away from lack and need and pain. Alter your vision and it will alter life.

~ O, great blue sky; see me roaming here. I trust in you, protect me! ~

PAWNEE

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 30, 2012 at 11:13am

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 29

"Tell the people not to cry. Tell them to be happy."

John Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA (told to his son, Archie, as he died)

Our Elders know about the two Worlds, the Physical World and the Spiritual World. Many times, before we pass to the Spirit World, our relatives, who have gone there before us, will come for us and they will help us. The Spirit World, the Elders say, is a good, happy and harmonious place. When we die, it means we have only entered another world. We will all see one another again.

Great Spirit, allow me to understand both the Spirit World and the Physical World. Today, let me be happy.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 30, 2012 at 11:13am

'THINK on THESE THINGS'
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

How much voice do we really have in our own affairs? How free are we to speak out on the things we know and believe and want to say? How much voice to we have in public affairs?

How much goes unsaid because it may be bad for business, or it might make us look foolish? How often we should speak up but think it is none of our business. How quiet we are when someone's unethical hand does wrong.

What is it that inhibits us? Our own fears. Fears of our own ignorance, fear of losing, fear of the bugaboos we know lurk somewhere, but just aren't sure where.

Who are the people who are free of fears? They are the individuals who govern themselves in such a manner as to have thought out their own ideas enough to be able to speak freely for themselves.

Ethics would seem to be something to ignore if you wish to be successful in business. Many people strive harder today than at any other time to divide their lives so that being seen in church is good taste, and being unethical in business proves they are shrewd. Being successful isn't nearly as important as proving that they've gotten that way by the clever undoing of their opposition.

There was a time when building a better mouse trap by the most efficient methods gave us satisfaction, but too often these days we are impressed because someone is smart. Not smart with intelligence, but smart with the cunning that goes along with the jungle code of getting before someone gets you.

The person who tries to get ahead by ethical methods, and by wanting only to provide something better than is already in existence, must also be equipped to withstand ridicule.

Frankly, the race of the tortoise and the hare is still on, and while the hare is tearing around showing off its ability to be a fast runner, the tortoise is making progress, and never losing its way.

Socrates, being asked the way to honest fame, said, "Study to be what you wish to seem." Success takes time and moral discipline, but our successes will be as human beings first, and then the crown of success in business will sit easily and firmly.

Comment by David White Hawk Administrator on March 30, 2012 at 11:11am

March 30 - Daily Feast

Innocent people tend to fall in line behind a person with the magical quality of arousing devotion - even when they do not see the ultimate destination. They simply follow. Their glee is being in a parade makes it seem to bystanders that they are left out if they do not follow too. As painful as it is to admit it, this is the vanguard of massive ignorance. Know what the parade is all about. How sad if we thought we were in the line to get freedom and discovered we were in the slavery line. We have to think for ourselves, as words deceive us unless we know what they mean. Our enemy is not always flesh and blood, but a da lo nu he di, which means deceit in Cherokee, and trouble in any language. Make it a point of knowing what and who can be trusted. There are many sources but only one Great Spirit.

~ Too many have strayed from the path shown to us by the Great Spirit. ~

SEQUICHIE GRANDFATHER

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