✥ August 31 - Daily Feast ✥ (TUESDAY)

August 31 - Daily Feast

A person totally dominated by his emotions is little different from a piece of paper lifted and tossed by the wind. Everything centers around caution - don't do this, don't say that - or an emotional explosion can take place. None of us escapes emotional extremes. We have cried our hearts out and laughed hilariously in all the wrong places. We have known melancholy and ragged nerves. But most of us know how to stabilize our feelings. The unstable times are when someone feels he has a right to blow. Without sadness or happiness we could be deadly indifferent, but to be blown about with every emotion is a waste of human spirit.

~ May the Lord bring you out of all your troubles. Trust your course with Him. ~

JEREMIAH EVARTS - ATTORNEY FOR CHEROKEES

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 31

"Our Creator makes available to us all that we need. It is an honor to go out and gather it. We must remember to say 'Thank You.' It is honorable to give away, to show our gratitude... and to let the children see this."

--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

So many times we forget to say "thank You" to the Creator. He made for us and abundant universe. He built the Mother Earth to reproduce plenty of everything. It is an honor to be a part of the Great Spirit's world. The Creator always gives us what we need. When we are given things, we should be willing to share it with others. Whenever we give to others, this makes us feel good inside. The more we give, the better we feel. The better we feel, the more we want to give. We need to teach this to our children. The children learn by our behavior.

My Creator, thank you for today. Thank you for the sun. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for my life. Thank you for......

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If you don't know what to do about a situation - wait awhile, the answer will come. If weariness overcomes you before you've completed a difficult job, wait awhile, you'll get your second wind.

If you do not agree with someone else's philosophy, don't fret, perhaps later you will come to know that the same philosophy can be reached from many different directions.

If you think the activities of another person or group are frivolous and unnecessary, wait a bit, they most likely will feel the same way about you sometime.

If you don't like what others have to say, wait, they may clarify it - or you may change your mind.

If life hasn't dished you unhappiness, wait a bit, if you've planted any happiness seeds, you will also reap.

We can't always wait, but sometimes waiting is action, and action of the hardest kind. It is difficult to keep quiet when you have something to say, but it more often saves your face later and sometimes your life.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 30 - Daily Feast ✥ (MONDAY)

August 30 - Daily Feast

How can we know another man's heart or true desire? We're not even sure about our own. So many potent suggestions have been made to us that we question our own hearts. If we can understand who we are, we will know others. To identify something valuable in another person is to know it in ourselves. The Tsalagi calls it intuitive or perceptive - to know something without tangible evidence. The miracle is in finding something good in someone else and realizing we have to have it in us to be able to recognize it. One who never has a good word or a good thought for anyone reveals his terrible need.

~ Sentiment was against the Indian, that they could not be civilized....could not be educated....were somewhat like human beings....but not quite in line of human rights.... ~

WASSAJA

"A Cherokee Feast of Days" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 30

"I started drinking more seriously, seeking refuge, seeking death actually, from a world that was feeling more and more unnatural to me. Following a painful accident related to drinking, I finally realized that I must decide whether I want to follow my grandparents or truly take up this life. Circumstances that followed led me to choose life."

--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

My life is run by choices and decisions. Every choice I make today will carry with it the consequences of that choice. Every decision I make today will carry with it the consequences of that decision. The question I will ask myself today is, "Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?" Which ever one I choose will have a lot to do with the consequences I will experience today. If today was the last day of my life, what choices and what decisions would I make?

Oh Great Spirit, guide my path today and help me see the value of choosing the Red Road.

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THINK ON THESE THINGS
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The woodbine that climbs the trunk of the old oaks has begun to change color. Bright red leaves drop to the ground and join the yellow ones that already have fallen. The cypress has pushed new knees through the surface near the pond, and sand plums are falling from skinny little trees near the barn.

Only a few signs that summer is coming to an end, but very definite signs. Owls call in late evening and hawks spread their tremendous wings and fly late into the evening, circling and circling hoping their sharp eyes will spot food on the ground.

Soon cool breezes will bear down on us and we will be glad for a sweater on late evening walks. Time passes so quickly and all the things we love about fall will be here. The biggest job of all is finding enough time to really enjoy everything before it all changes again. 

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 29 - Daily Feast ✥ (SUNDAY)

August 29 - Daily Feast

To earn a standing place takes control, control of the tongue and all that leads to what it days. Being clever and having powerful connections is about as reliable as cheap scaffolding. It can all tumble down under the slightest pressure. Permanent security is never in things or in fame. Securing is an inner, personal reliance on what the Cherokee calls Galun Lati, or the Great Spirit. People have always attempted to amass fortunes and still be happy apart from anything spiritual. Things and fame can come to anyone willing to work for them - but contentment and health go hand in hand with the Great Spirit.

~ We never quarrel about the Great Spirit. ~

COCHISE

"A Cherokee Feast of Days" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 29

"The devastated earth, the air, water, the extinct species of mankind, animalkind, and plantkind, the drugs, suicides, family separations - these are all the result of false ceremonies."

--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

All life is a ceremony. Every act is a ceremony creating a result in our lives. Every ceremony we do always brings results to our lives. If we do bad medicine to others, we do bad medicine to ourselves. If we keep on doing bad ceremonies, we will eventually destroy ourselves. Any time we live our lives out of harmony, we are doing bad ceremonies. Any time we treat anything with disrespect whether it is another human being or a plant or an animal, we are performing bad ceremonies. These ceremonies not only have an effect on ourselves but will simultaneously affect everything. We need to use our power well, only do good ceremonies.

My Creator, teach me only good ceremonies. Teach me ceremonies that accomplish good for all the people. Good ceremonies cause good results. Teach me ceremonies that are helpful.

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"THINK ON THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
The last few weeks of anything seem to take longer than all the time that has gone before. The last few weeks of summer are the hottest and driest and seem like forever before we get the rain we need. Not unlike waiting for the baby, we know it is going to be joyous but to the mother, those last few weeks are heavy and stressful.

Suddenly, everything changes in a moment's time. It moves so quickly we can't quite grasp all the details. We have prepared, we think, and we are ready, we hope, but here it is and what do we do now?

Being prepared is quite different from what we suppose. We have hoped and wished and prayed, but we stand totally awed until we have had time to digest it. The heavy little shower came in the heat of summer and was gone before we could listen and taste and record the details in our minds. Ready? Never quite ready. But willing to take it and be grateful as it comes.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 28 - Daily Feast ✥ (SATURDAY)

August 28 - Daily Feast

Everything that thrives is fed by the light. Lift up a rock, and the seed that sprouted beneath it is bent, stunted and colorless. But after a few hours of filtered light it begins to straighten, and will eventually throw off all the effects of being held down. We need a li so qui lv di, a weight or a burden, lifted from our shoulders so we can grow and thrive in the light. We have to show willingness to stand on the rock and not beneath it. To see ourselves in better circumstances, to think clearly, is to be free. Little by little we see the possibility of health and order and great prosperity which includes everything we need. To see good and say good will eventually cause good, but our vision and our words must be steady.

~ You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight to our hearts.

~ COCHISE

"A Cherokee Feast of Days" by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 28

"With prayer and good intentions, we make our lives sacred and so come to balance."

--Don Jose Matsua, HUICHOL SIERRA MADRE MEXICO

Only through prayer can we make spiritual changes that are permanent. You have told us that all life is sacred. Today I intend to serve you, my Creator. Allow me to overcome temptation, and if one comes along, let me see the lessons that will give balance. You have told us that all life is sacred. Let me see today with a sacred eye. Let me see beauty in all things.

My Creator, let me know what You would have me be today. Let my intentions be honest, respectful, humble and loving.

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THINK ON THESE THINGS
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Symbolism is a part of all our lives. We see certain things and they call to mind a state of life that enriches or drains us of all hope. How like the old Indian chief in the book WHEN THE NIGHTBIRD SINGS. He heard the bird's clear song at the midnight hour and he rose up from his death bed totally well.

The bird sang of good life and the old Chief heard it. Listen for such a song in your own heart because it may be a miracle for you and you can rise like the phoenix out of ashes to become a new person.

Life has its mysteries, but often those mysteries are more true than the things people shout about. Spirit does not shout to us, but what a wonderful thing when we hear Him whisper. The very breath of life, the holiness of a moment of truth. Listen and hear it.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 27 - Daily Feast ✥ (FRIDAY)

August 27 - Daily Feast

Guilt imagines that every eye and every mind judges. But guilt can be false - a thing of the conscience that becomes so real it rules our common sense. We are aware that all guilt is not false - but for most people the fear of someone thinking we are guilty is reason enough. What we do not realize is that it is our own thinking, our own emotion and fear that keep us weaving and dodging. A person trying to lose a few pounds feels guilty if someone see him eating. A prudent spender feels the weight of spending a dollar - and so goes the guilt which is not guilt at all but fear. From one fear comes a thousand things to get rid of - and false guilt should be the first.

~ Will you sit idly by, supinely awaiting complete and abject submission, or will you die fighting? ~

PUSHMATAHA - SHAWNEE

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 27

"We begin by letting the Powers know that we are willing to be their servants to others."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

There are certain prayers or actions we can take that will call the Powers. The powers can only work through people. The Powers are always waiting to express themselves through people that are ready. every person born is born with a purpose. They have a song to sing. They have a mission to accomplish. Every true purpose will always be about serving the Creator and helping others. When we let the Powers know that we are ready to serve the people, the Powers get excited because they can now do things to help the people and make things better for them. The decision is powerful because it turns an idea into action.

Great Spirit, the greatest joy or feeling that I have ever experienced is when you are using me to help the people, the feeling of giving, the feeling of being your channel. Today, let me have that feeling of giving. Use me as You will.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We know without being told when we have acted unkindly or behaved unjustly toward another. Intolerance, whether it is personal superiority or religious bigotry, serves only to isolate us from the greatest joy in life - the sharing of ideals and happiness and friendship.

We must be patient and fair toward anyone whose opinions differ from our own. There is a much better chance of convincing those whom we hope to influence by being an example rather than a voice.

It is much easier to be led than to be pushed and not so hard to be tolerant when we recognize within ourselves the reasons we are not always tolerant.

It sometimes becomes habitual to be dissatisfied with everything we see others do. We don't take time to understand and know the basis for their actions. We often fall short of listening to them long enough to understand, and their next words or actions may explain it.

We cannot afford to be intolerant, because no matter how good our ideas are, there is always a better one.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 26 - Daily Feast ✥ (THURSDAY)

August 26 - Daily Feast

He sat easily on the ground and leaned his back against the rough bark of an oak and spoke solemnly of a problem relatively new to Cherokees. "Time was when ka ni gv na w that doctors call depression was not in our camp. We had our lands and families, but it has changed. Old ones cry to leave land and trees, children wave little hands. Hardship not new, reason new. A scar is depression in the skin. A hurt is depression in the soul. Medicine cures cuts, but only Spirit cures hurts. Speak to it in your prayer and tell it to go. Refuse it a place and always say thank you. Sing some, too. Deep in soul, sing, and it iron out depression."

~ I am afraid that the white men are not speaking straight.... ~

CHIEF WENINOCK - YAKIMA, CIRCA 1915

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 26

"Those who live for one another learn that love is the bond of perfect unity."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

To serve each other, to respect each other, to trust each other, to honor each other, to love each other, to cooperate with each other, to care for each other, to forgive one another, to focus on peoples' good, to laugh with one another, to learn from one another; to pray for each other - these are all acts of love. These values and actions will connect us to one another in the Unseen World. Nature is a good example of how we should get along with one another. Watch nature. She is our teacher. Nature lives to give to one another. The insects give to the birds who give to the four legged who give to the two legged. The Creator made all things perfect.

Oh Great Spirit, let me serve the people today. Let me see that it is better to give than it is to receive. Be with me today.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We want much. It seems sometimes that wanting is all we ever get done. And yet if it were not for the desires of our hearts, there would be little incentive to work and plan and expect.

Some would have us believe it is wrong to desire more than absolute necessities. But good desires channeled in the right direction can do nothing but better the one who seeks.

Sometimes getting is only a substitute for the true desire. Humans have a way of looking outside themselves for things to satisfy them. It may be prestige. Or it may be anything that will inflate their egos and give them feelings of security.

Emerson wrote, "The implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it." We have the ability to rise far above what we think we can. We have within us the answers if we but have the wisdom to seek those answers.

And perhaps we should consider, even before we begin to seek, the wisest of all instructions, "With all your getting, get understanding."

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 25 - Daily Feast ✥ (WEDNESDAY)

August 25 - Daily Feast

 
We are the designers, the engineers, the builders of our lives. But we are notorious for not staying with any one of these things to complete it because we are afraid something is developing in another area that we don't know about. Stick to it. Study it out and get so involved that nothing else can compete in importance. See each detail, measure every idea, refine and improve until you know it like the back of your hand. Be steady and consistent and never count yourself so important that you cannot stand corrected. Albert Einstein put it this way: If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y being play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.

 
~ For him [the old Indian] to sit upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly; he can see more clearly into the mysteries of life. ~

 
STANDING BEAR - LAKOTA

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

 
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 25

 
"God is making use of you - you should be grateful He's found a use for you."

 
--Mathew King, LAKOTA

 
The Creator can only create through human beings. Each human being has a purpose given to us by the Creator. We are on this earth to fulfill this purpose. Our only work is to make ourselves ready, to become a channel, to perform for the Creator. We prepare ourselves by prayer. We prepare ourselves by becoming unselfish. We prepare ourselves by seeking and choosing to walk on a spiritual path. Each morning we look to the East and we say an honor prayer to the Creator. We offer our gifts: tobacco and corn. We ask him to help us do His will for today. In this simple way, we still fulfill our purpose. It should be an honor to serve the Creator.

 
Great Spirit, today I am ready to serve You.

 
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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

 
Whenever we stop to consider where we are on the road of life, we might also think about why we are there. Whether it is success or failure, or wavering in the middle of the road, we are where we are because of someone or something.

Nearly every person can pinpoint the time in their life when there was a turning point, a change for worse or for the better. And usually there is someone to whom they give the credit for such a change.

 
Throughout our lives we contact many people, and they each leave an impression. As living continues the combination of all those thoughts and feelings and actions forms our opinions, our likes and dislikes, our fears and our loves. But there is one basic factor in all of this that turns us one way or other - the individual, the personal self. It is how we take life, what we expect, how we do our daily tasks, where we place our values that makes the difference.

 
We are born with the right to choose - and whatever we choose there will always be someone there to help us be good or bad. But first, we must give credit where credit is due.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 24 - Daily Feast ✥ (TUESDAY)

August 24 - Daily Feast

Never let another person tell you what to think and what to do. Start now to think things through and get ready for what you want. You have to be prosperous in your thinking long before you see the money. Your health must have the support of your mind and words before it can keep its good condition. You have to be lovable before anyone can love you. We think "instant" when it takes time. Remember the flower - first the bud and then the bloom, and all the steps that go in between. What do you want? See it now in your mind, and keep on seeing it so clearly that it becomes a treasure map. Enjoy looking at it and stop questioning whether it is going to work. It is your map - give it your attention.

~ We talk to Wakan Tanka and are sure he hears us. ~

CHASED-BY-BEARS - SANTEE-YANKTONAI SIOUX

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 24

"The mind's eye changes the way we judge things."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

"What you see is what you get." Our head has inside it a movie projector that projects out from our foreheads and shines on a screen a picture of our true thoughts. This is our reality. We can only see what we project (our beliefs). If we believe someone is a jerk, every time we see them we reflect our beliefs about what we think about that person and that is all we can see. Even if someone tells us this person is a kind, loving, caring, intelligent individual, we wouldn't be able to see it. If we change our belief about them, that person will change and so will our judgment about that person.

My Creator, let me realize the power of choice. Let me see the advantages of changing my beliefs. Today, if I am judging my brother, let me change my beliefs to acceptance. If my thoughts are of anger, let me change them to love. Let my eyes only see you in everything and every person.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It takes such a little whiff of memory to carry us all the way back. Small things tucked here and there remind us of some place, some thing, some person who has played a special part in our lives.

We want to go forward, try new things, know new people, visit new places, yet how nice to slip on those comfortable old slippers of the familiar bygones and remember loving faces and happy times.

It is said that we should never return to places that have a sacred spot in our memories. Everything changes with time, so little remains recognizable to us. We begin to think that perhaps those hallowed places were not so wonderful as we remember.

But they were, for in their time and that place it was as it should have been, happy and meaningful. They may have changed, but so have we.

A little of every place and every person goes with us in the building of even happier times. We have not lost anyone or anything but it is the combination of all that we have lived and learned that builds our character and teaches us the way of life.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 23 - Daily Feast ✥ (MONDAY)

August 23 - Daily Feast

Too many of our efforts are like scrambled eggs all thrown in together, whipped and beaten and without much substance. What we do overlaps too much - sleep lets worry in, eating is not prepared but brought in with its ingredients totally beyond our knowledge. Walking has become a contest, a thing of speed and clever costumes. Talking is chatter and boastful - and prayer is too often listening to someone else who "knows how." Whatever we choose to do should be done with all our hearts. Not done so we can feel important by running here, running there - but done in love for the sake of love, and not for competition. Who we are, what we are, where we are going and when we get there has to do with the mind and spirit more than what the Cherokee calls nu s di da nv - how people see us.

~ You can count your money....but only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of grass. ~

BLACKFEET

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 23

"They also learned, and perhaps this was the most important thing, how to look at things through the eyes of the Higher Powers."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

Our eyes can only see our beliefs. Our beliefs cause us to make assumptions, draw conclusions and cause confusion. Our five senses are very limiting. The Creator has a way of allowing us to see or know in the spiritual world. This is called the Sixth Sense. The Sixth Sense is like a radar system; our personal radar system. It will help us "see" opportunities and help us avoid disaster. This Sixth Sense is controlled by God. We must learn to listen to it. We must learn to trust it. We must learn to act on it even if our head says differently. We must learn to look at things through the eyes of God.


My Creator, guide me today. If my eyes cause confusion, let me close them and see through Your eyes. If my ears hear confusion, let me listen to my heart. Let me let You guide me.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When you hear geese honking their way southward in the quiet of the night, when you hear church bells ringing through the crystal clear autumn air, then you've heard the sounds of Thanksgiving.

Perhaps memories of Thanksgiving are not the same for all of us. We all carry our own memories within our hearts, and some live only for past Thanksgivings when a family was more complete. And so this day serves only to remind them of happier times. Those times should be remembered in all their glory and yet, there is the now. It is important too. Perhaps in some ways it is more important, for the challenge to quit thinking of ourselves and to consider how sorely needed is every last person. How memorable we could make this day for someone who hasn't even a happy memory. How strong we can be, not for ourselves, but for that memory and for those who do not have the strength.

Some young child or some young adult may be looking for a pattern to go by, some reason to be truly thankful, and here is the opportunity.

Some of our most delightful hours are spent in conversation with those people sometimes known as senior citizens, our elders, and lovingly, grandmother or grandfather. But whatever their titles they still have a wealth of wisdom and experience to share with us.

Whether we accept the experiences of our elders to profit by, or if we choose to ignore them, will determine a great deal how alert and aware we are of life. For this is life, this experience, this knowledge.

And within these lives we find so many things small though they may be, that have a great part to play in our success or failure as human beings and parents. For they have learned what still remains sacred in man's heart, though years may pass and times may change.

To most the unhappy times are forgotten. And left to live are the beautiful beloved things that work as well today as yesterday. Things like cheerfulness, and refusal to take unpleasantness as final; a warm and friendly kitchen where guests had rather be, and a Bible well read; a shining faith and a belief that the impossible only takes a little longer; and, a good broad shoulder to catch our tears - and love, which after all was the beginning of all of this.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 22 - Daily Feast ✥ (SUNDAY)

August 22 - Daily Feast

In a sense, the American Indian lived a freer life than any other race. They had no boundaries, and many lived in teepees that were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They moved south in cold weather and north when it was hot. They ate off the land and kept it in good condition without becoming slaves to it. They wore the very best furs and rode the best horses, and they worshipped God in the purest sense. Every morning the Cherokee prayed near the stream and then bathed in it
- summer and winter. He protected his honor and that of his tribe. He did not litter the land nor contaminate the streams, and he fought when he had reason to fight. Because he lived so close to nature, he was something of the poet and loved deeply. These were Indians and they left us that legacy.

~ Who gave you the Countries that you now inhabit, and by what right do you possess them? ~

ADARIO - HURON CHIEF

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 22

"When life is too good, we think too highly of ourselves and our blessings. Then we decide we are the wisest and the favored ones, and we don't think we need Wakan-Tanka and the Helpers anymore."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

It is sometimes easy to get off track when times are good. We start to take the credit and start to think we are in control. We start to think we are smart. Then we quit praying or pray only with lip service. We say the words but don't mean them. Sometimes our head is our greatest enemy. We start acting like a foolish child. We must develop the discipline to be humble during the good times. We need to remember how honorable it is each day to come into the presence of the Creator. How happy we should be to talk to the Grandfathers, to have the choice to start each day on the Sacred Spot - our place of communion with the Great Spirit.

Oh Great Spirit, first let me thank You for the honor of talking to You today. To have the insight of Your love, that only You can love me when I don't deserve to be loved. Let me be reminded to talk to You all day long.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Until you've walked in the rain, you cannot truly appreciate the protection of shelter.

Unless you've felt the heat from a sweltering sun, you cannot fully enjoy the coolness of shade.

Only after the clatter and bang of crowded places can you find quietness and solitude so soothing to the nerves.

Before you can stop worrying and start living, there must be an elimination of fear which is the cause of all worry.

Sometimes, unfortunately, we must collide with the bad before we can totally appreciate the good.

It is said that we too often must be reminded of our obligations before we take charge of them.

Frequently it seems we must have our freedom threatened before we muster enough patriotism to defend it.

Too many shoulders are bowed by our thoughtlessness before we finally learn the key to real success is kindness.

We never know how truly wonderful it is to be loved until we are loved when we've failed to deserve it.

M.R. Smith's words, "God's plans, like lilies pure and white untold - We must not tear the close shut leaves apart - Time will reveal the calyxes of gold," reveal, after all, that patience does its perfect work.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 21 - Daily Feast ✥ (SATURDAY)

August 21 - Daily Feast

A person has to have enough confidence in himself to go ahead and run a good race, even when he knows it is going to be grueling and that he might not be the winner. But that is so much better than sitting down and saying to himself that he isn't good enough to try. Most people tend to lean on the belief that they are not good enough. But no one starts out good enough. It is the getting up and getting into living that makes us good enough. At times self-esteem melts like ice in the sun, but it certainly does not mean we do not qualify. The fight is not with others
- but with ourselves. We have to overcome ourselves and all our hidden voices that tell us we are not going to make it.

~ I am here on my own ground and I will never go back. You can kill me here but you cannot make me go back. ~

DULL KNIFE - CHEYENNE

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 21

"The greater the faith, the greater the result."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

The Creator designed us to act on faith. We are able to do this by holding firm to our beliefs. If we believe something and if we don't want the belief to change, we need to add the power of the Great Spirit to this belief. We must always have the spiritual added to our beliefs. If we don't add the Spirit, then we may very well change our minds during the first time we are tested. Each time we are tested and we don't change our minds, we get stronger. The wind may blow on the red willow trees bending them and causing the roots to grow deeper. The more the wind bends the tree, the bigger, stronger and deeper the roots grow. We should be happy that we are tested. It's the Creator's way of making us have greater faith for greater results.

Great Mystery, Grandfather, I know if I am tested today that I can count on You to give me the courage to get to the other side. On the other side of every test is the reward of strength. Make me strong.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Think on pleasant things. Deliberately turn your thoughts to something pleasant when the pressures are too intense. And be careful as undisciplined thought quickly sifts back to the unhappy, unsettled mind.

The greater part of the time we are victims of our emotions. They play havoc with our peace of mind and are great friends of pessimism. They tell us things are true with such sincerity that we believe them into fact. They convince us things are a certain way and that we cannot remedy them with any amount of effort.

But stop where you are and consider what it is you are listening to and how it affects your feelings. Do a turnabout and take the positive route of deliberately replacing thoughts of unhappiness, injustices, and misunderstandings with the thought that these are merely chariots to carry us past all that has withheld freedom.

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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✥ August 20 - Daily Feast ✥ (FRIDAY)

August 20 - Daily Feast

Talking trouble is rehearsing trouble. Innocent as it sounds, it draws an outline for the thing to happen. Medical information in the wrong hands lays out a mere possibility but is always a catalyst for hope and false hope at that. Remember that most of what we hear is simply read to us as a bedtime story meant to help us rest - but it never does. Someone said talk is cheap, but it isn't. It is one of the most expensive items we can handle. And talking trouble may be entertaining but it is costly
- and never worth what we seem willing to pay.

~ I am master of my condition, I am master of my own body. ~

ADARIO - HURON CHIEF, 1600's

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 20

"...remember and think about the closeness of Wanka-Tanka. If they live in this wisdom, it will give them endless strength and hope."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

The value of staying close to the Creator is the immediate help we have available to us whenever we need it. I can listen to the whisper of my heart for this is the place He communicates with me. Staying close helps me remember that we are here to serve Him and to help other people. The Grandfathers are my direct access to wisdom. He who has wisdom has everything. If we have wisdom, then we will see our lives become more effective in the areas of jobs, relationships, family, friends and finances.

My Creator, today grant me the wisdom to seek Your wisdom. Help me to Walk of the Red Road.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Most successful ventures have behind them some hardships. We as human beings demand such experiences before we can truly appreciate the meaning of victory. No one promised that life would be one long gala event, but if we're made of durable stuff, we neither let it hinder us not make us run roughshod to get ahead.

We must always recognize past hardships for what they are. We cannot ignore them, for they are a part of our makeup. But neither can we let them become crutches to lean upon when there's a need for an excuse.

Bitterness over past experiences wastes valuable time. Perhaps it was those hardships that gave us the strength to rise above the mediocre things. However crude, ugly or unhappy, even tragic, some of the times may seem, as seen alone, when combined with all our other knowledge they form the perfect circle and play no more important part than all the rest.

In the words of American poet John Neal, "No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm."

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Available online! 'Cherokee Feast of Days' 
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler. 

Visit her web site to purchase the wonderful books by Joyce as gifts for yourself or for loved ones......and also for those who don't have access to the Internet: http://www.hifler.com 
Click Here to Buy her books at Amazon.com

Elder's Meditation of the Day
By White Bison, Inc., an American Indian-owned nonprofit organization. Order their many products from their web site: http://www.whitebison.org

 

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If you would like to Subscribe\Unsubscribe, or change your subscribed email address for The Daily Feast email list, email: Daily.Feast@gmail.com and give your new or updated info!

 

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