✥ August 31 - Daily Feast ✥ (SATURDAY)

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 ✥ (FRIDAY)

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 Indians, 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 ✥ (THURSDAY)

August 29 - Daily Feast

To earn a standing place takes control, control of the tongue and all that leads to what it is. 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 ✥ (WEDNESDAY)

Hello friends, I have had to take a few sick days! I am better now!

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 17 - Daily Feast ✥ (SATURDAY)

August 17 - Daily Feast

If you have been handed a difficult situation, stand firm. Change can shake you, but it can't tear you down. Common sense will come in to create a safety zone - a haven for a time to adjust. This is decision time. Speak gently to yourself and never say you should have known. Don't lie down and quit and don't go to pieces. You have spiritual strength whether you know it or not - rely on it. This is a time to declare your strength to use your head, your heart, and your spirit. It is your right and privilege - so let no one talk you out of it.

~ The great sea has sent me adrift; it moves me as the weed in a great river. ~

UVANUK - ESKIMO

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 17

"If a child hasn't been given spiritual values within the family setting, they have no familiarity with the values that are necessary for the just and peaceful functioning in society."

--Eunice Baumann-Nelson, Ph. D, PENOBSCOT

When we are born, we start with a beautiful empty mind ready to be given our beliefs, attitudes, habits and expectations. Most of our true learning comes from watching the actions of others. As we watch our family or relatives, whatever their actions and values are, so will be the children's values and acts. If we see our families living a just and peaceful way of life, so then will the children. If we see our family shouting, arguing and hateful, so will it be for the children. The cycle of life - baby, youth, adult and Elder is all connected. If the older ones have good values, it will be connected to the children.

Oh my Creator, if there are values I have missed, it is not too late. I can get them from You. Teach me today Your spiritual values. Respect, trust, giving, honesty, wisdom - teach me these.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Have you ever known someone whose very presence comforted you? They seem to have no need of words but their quiet companionship soothes like balm to the soul. These are your kindred souls who have already been the route you're traveling, or are just ahead and leaning back to take your hand.

Wherever you are on the path of life, there have been many there before you. It may seem the loneliness of the road has many empty echoes. But there have been many good people concerned enough to make an effort to mark the rougher places to allow your journey easier traveling.

And like all travelers we must look for those signs and make them more plain to the ones who will follow.

And then, in quiet communication, we can each take our turn by understanding.

How often we see people who desperately need our help. We would like to help them, but we put it out of our minds because it seems beyond our means and beyond our strength. We use the excuse that we have enough problems of our own without going out on a limb for someone else. Charity begins at home and at home and at home.

If we have the true desire, and the welfare of someone else in our sights, we can ask divine guidance, and we will receive help. If help does not come, it is because we were not truly serious. Or perhaps whatever we wanted to do was not in the best interests of all concerned. Our help may only have slowed their progress or weakened their efforts. If our desires are worthy we need have no fear that a way will come to help.

The desire to help is a divine gift, and we accept it most beautifully by using 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 16 - Daily Feast ✥ (FRIDAY)

August 16 - Daily Feast

The most common reason for not liking someone is because we don't know them. We may tell ourselves we don't care for the way they look or we don't want to know them because they think they are special. These are just excuses. It's a tragedy to judge people by the way they look. Underneath every mask is a real person with real problems and real needs. We may look secure and it makes them uncomfortable. If they only knew, we have the same fears, the same thoughts that they do. Every friendship could take shape more quickly if we would speak and smile - even when there's no obvious response.

~ The Great Spirit, in placing men on the earth, desired them to take good care of the ground and to do each other no harm. ~

YOUNG CHIEF - CAYUSE

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 16

"The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does."

--Joseph Bruchac, ABENAKI

There are no shortcuts. Every tree must grow according to the growth plan of the Creator. Every flower must grow according to the plan of God. The moon must make its trip around the earth according to God's plan. Every human being must grow according to the plan of the Creator. Sometimes we look at ourselves and we think we are not growing but we are always growing. Because we cannot see it with our mind does not mean it is not happening. We must be patient with ourselves and let the Creator direct our growth.

My Creator, let me be patient. Let me realize that You are in charge of all things. Let me realize that I must grow my roots a little at a time to become strong.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

I don't know of anyone I'd rather see happy than you. Perhaps somewhere along the way you'll also find what causes it and maybe it will be something you can find within your heart to share with others....for only in sharing are we ever really happy.

Just remember that it may well be where you least expect it. You may recognize it as something you're about to give away.....But don't worry; it will come back so many times; like love, it seeketh not its own but flies over us like angels. And when it finds a heart big enough to hold all the love it can supply it settles itself, wings and all, within the soul of that love.

And then the world will be new. There will be sights you've never seen, yet they have been there all the time.....there will be laughter from the heart.....and gratitude for all of life's privileges. There will be peace and contentment.....and strength abounding to withstand all adversity......and quiet acknowledgment of God. For without God, there could be none of these.

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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 15 - Daily Feast ✥ (THURSDAY)

August 15 - Daily Feast

Evening brings Sam-cat to the kitchen door loudly demanding attention. Not that he wants to be fed, because most of the time he prefers the food he finds for himself. He comes to be spoken to, to be petted, and to be made welcome. He's no different from you and me. To be welcome is a basic need. If someone wants us simply for our presence we have something golden. Even when we are hungry we can stop to be greeted because it is a sign we are worthy of attention. Even the aloof and arrogant melt when they know they are loved and wanted. Sam proves that every time he leaves his hideaway in the barn or woods and comes home to renew his security.

~ Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle. ~

CHIEF LUTHER 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 15

"There are many people who could claim and learn from their Indian ancestry, but because of the fear their parents and grandparents knew, because of past and present prejudice against Indian people, that part of their heritage is clouded or denied."

--Joseph Bruchac, ABENAKI

There were many injustices done to Native people. Sometimes I wonder, why am I connected to the past injustices done to Indian people? Why am I so angry about the past? The Elders say our ancestors are alive within each of us. Therefore, I may experience anger and resentment inside of me because of the injustice done to them. The way I get rid of these past feelings is to forgive. It may be necessary to even learn to forgive the unforgivable.

Great Spirit, teach me the path of forgiveness; teach me the courage to forgive; teach me to let go. Give to me, a forgiving heart.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Today I heard the laughter of children at play. Their voices filled the air almost like chimes. And I felt their arms about my neck and their sticky kisses on my face. How blessed I am! Today I heard a mockingbird trilling out every single song it ever heard from its winged friends. I closed my eyes and in the trees I heard all the voices I've ever heard since childhood, and it took me through all the happy, breathless, precious times I loved so much.

Today I heard my mother's voice calling to me happily. It was a good, strong, healthy voice that has called to me courage, and hope and peace, and shall continue to call down many lanes to me.

Today I heard my child's voice. I heard her singing, I heard her praying, I heard her laughing and talking. I heard her teasing and moving from place to place in all the activities I love to see her in.

Now, even more than ever I realize how grateful I am that God has given me the excellent faculty of hearing. I shall with all diligence try to hear nothing evil, but only love and peace which is my heritage.

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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 14 - Daily Feast ✥ (WEDNESDAY)

August 14 - Daily Feast

The direction of our lives is more dependent on our own thoughts and words than on what the government does and how it affects the economy. Yes, we do live in the system, but that doesn't mean we have to get down and struggle for every dollar nor fret about who will take care of us. There's no less money in the world than there has ever been, but by design we have developed a very negative view that if everybody else is having a struggle, then we must struggle too It is buying into the same club that says age means sickness. No, it doesn't. Many older people are not sick at all, because they never planned to be.

What are our plans? It pays to know.

~ Indians living close to nature and nature's ruler are not living in darkness. ~

WALKING BUFFALO - STONEY

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 14

"It's time Indians tell the world what we know... about nature and about God. So I'm going to tell you what I know and who I am. You guys better listen. You got a lot to learn."

--Mathew King, LAKOTA

A long time ago the Creator came to Turtle Island and said to the Red People - "You will be the keepers of the Mother Earth. Among you I will give the wisdom about nature, about the interconnectedness of all things, about balance and about living in harmony. You Red People will see the secrets of nature. You will live in hardship and the blessing of this is you will stay close to the Creator. The day will come when you will need to share the secrets with the other people of the earth because they will stray from their spiritual ways. The time to start sharing is today."

Oh Great Spirit, today I am ready for You to use me as a channel of Your peace. Let my walk today be visible so the people will say "There goes a Man of God." I want to know what He knows. If they ask, I will tell them to go out into the wilderness and pray for You to guide them.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Henry David Thoreau, whose cry was "Simplify! Simplify!" went to great measures to prove to himself, and perhaps to society, that life could be lived in the most simple manner and at the least expense. With only a few dollars he managed to provide for himself the things of absolute necessity for quite a long period of time.

Not many of us would care to exist on the absolute necessities. We have become too accustomed to easier living. Things that were once thought of as luxuries are now considered necessities. And yet, with all of this, life is anything but simple. We seem to have the ability to complicate the best laid plans and find ourselves shadowboxing.

Like many of the trite old adages, "Life is what we make it," is so true. By our own minds we accept or reject, by ignoring or by searching out the causes of shadows and removing the cause. It is whatever we elect to do about our individual lives that makes the difference. But we shall make great strides when we recognize the supreme excellence in all things of simplicity.

We don't need to worry about doing without the necessary things in life
- if we have a grateful heart. A grateful heart is not just remembering to write a few words to someone who has done a kindness, or saying thank you graciously and at the right moment. A grateful heart is the feeling of great blessing which precedes that thank you note and that verbal expression.

A grateful heart is one that always knows the fullness of that rich feeling of first being grateful without cause. And then, all other gratitude and its expression comes naturally.

Perhaps true gratitude is a grateful thought toward heaven that I should be chosen to fill this spot, do this work, and have been given the strength to do it.

It was Romaine, the English theologian, who said, "Gratitude to God makes even a temporal blessing a taste of heaven." We can have so much more heaven with a grateful heart.

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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 13 - Daily Feast ✥ (TUESDAY)

August 13 - Daily Feast

Grief is one of the most tenacious and persistent emotions of all our feelings. Putting it aside is a temporary act at most, because it waits and moves at subtle times and when we least expect it. This deceptive pain can spring from times and times ago - things that have been dealt with and put to rest. But grief is a spirit and loves to spring up as guilt and subtle questioning about what if we had done differently. We have a right to happiness, without grief. The fact that we can scold it and have it leave should show us we can be free, even though it takes a time or two to overturn its invitation to hurt.

~ Almighty God made me an Indian, but not an agency Indian. ~

GERONIMO - APACHE, CIRCA 1876

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 13

"A bit of sunshine, a drop of rain, a puff of life from the Great Spirit as He gently breathed upon that spot, created the Native Americans. They were well formed and agile, copper colored and proud."

--Harriet Starleaf Gumbs, SHINNECOCK

We are made in the image of the Great Spirit. A long time ago He breathed life into our ancestors. He made the Indian strong. He created a Warrior. Our ancestors created more warriors. We have been tested throughout the seasons and we are still here, stronger than ever. It is good to be Indian. We are proud of ourselves and our ancestors. Mostly we are proud the Great Spirit has never forsaken us, and continues to guide us.

My Creator, let me live my life today in a way that would make my ancestors proud. Let me remember each month that I am here to serve You. Today let me conduct my life in a way that also would make You proud.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Realizing there are a multitude of wonderful things to appreciate, we must shake them all together in our minds and wait for the chosen ones to rise to the top like bubbles. Life is such a challenge, such a joy to live when it is appreciated. If we could only realize who gave us life, we would understand even more why the Creator intended us to appreciate and love all that is about us.

The things we can appreciate are never in any particular order, but mingled together as they are in our lives. We can so beautifully and joyfully appreciate the sound of our children's laughter when sudden happiness overtakes them; the tremendous and moving power of silent prayer; a strong voice singing a song of inspiration, or of sentiment; early morning sunrises, misty pink and fresh; a mockingbird singing out its heart in the depth of night; the touch of souls in understanding; violin music; and our children in prayer; in spells of delight, or in any other moment.

To name them all would be an impossibility, to live them all is a blessing. We must not pass these things by without appreciating them. We must not lose them by failing to give thanks. These are the things we always have near us, and we can appreciate them merely by attuning our senses to them.

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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 12 - Daily Feast ✥ (MONDAY)

August 12 - Daily Feast

In this age of freethinkers, many business and political geniuses have asked, "Who can I join hands with that will do me the most good?" Almost any aggressive person can get his feet on the ladder of success. It is keeping them there that gets into artfulness. Because there is a time to think and act independently, a person's footing may get very shaky and very temporary. A law of cause and effect works minute by minute, and that simply says we get only when we give and we reap only what we sow. No one else can do for us what we have to do for ourselves. And no one else can keep us sharp and honest and respectful. It is our job.

~ Once I moved about like the wind. Now I surrender to you and that is all. ~

GERONIMO - APACHE

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 12

"With one mind we address our acknowledgment, respect, and gratefulness to all the sacred Cycle of Life. We, as humans, must remember to be humble and acknowledge the gifts we use so freely in our daily lives."

--Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA

The sacred Cycle of life - the baby, the youth, the adult, the Elder. Let us respect all directions, the four directions of the Grandfathers; let us respect their power. Let us remember we belong to the earth, the earth does not belong to us. Help us to be respectful to all the gifts You have given us.

Oh Great Spirit, help me this day to be humble. Let me not attack anything in deed or in my thoughts. Let my thoughts focus on the beauty You have created in all things.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Is there ever a perfect time? A wise mother says there isn't. She advises us to take life by the hand and march right into the middle, and then start digging out the corners. She says not to wait for a perfect time to do anything, because a perfect time never quite makes it. We simply have to go ahead and make it as near perfect as possible.

A perfectionist is usually someone who can never find the perfect way, and gives up in futility. But the one who aims at perfection and does not wait for it, is at least moving and there's nothing useless about that. Unless we are moving, we resemble Tennyson's description: "Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, dead perfection; no more."

We have to face life, not under the pressure of perfection, but by pure faith. We have to go on accepting and rejecting as we come to each phase.

"For perfection does not exist," said eighteenth century writer Alfred DE Musset. "To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence; to expect to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness."

In the rush of too much to do, we stack up for ourselves things we are going to do, things we ought to do, and things we intend to do. We do first the things of necessity, we take time to think a little about what we ought to do, and the rest is left to good intentions.

Frequently, good intentions hold the key to our happiness. While we bog down in the necessities of living, the things that mean so much slip away unnoticed.

We always expect other people to know that we intended to do this or that, but we must realize they cannot read our good intentions. Good intentions have the same look as nothing at all. And we have to draw our own conclusions as to what our thoughts and feelings are. Only if we express them can we ever hope for others to know what we would like to do, even though circumstances may hinder us.

It has been written that intelligent beings have what it takes to surpass themselves. By sensible thought we can actively express our good intentions and this opens the way for fulfillment.

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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 11 - Daily Feast ✥ (SUNDAY)

August 11 - Daily Feast

 
Two people in agreement sets a trend. It works well, and it works for the good or the bad. Be very careful how you agree with someone, particularly if it is destructive. We put down dozens of claims every day, though it may sound like speculation. The markers are there by our own mouths and though it seems like only words, it sets a trend. If we could go back and see what we talked about, what we were afraid of, what we said was possible, we could see where we put down the roots as well. We have been told that where two agree as touching anything on earth, it is established. Do we want that?

~ As far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung. ~

 
ANDREW MYRICK - TRADER

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

 
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 11

 
"May there be peace when we meet."

 
--Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA

 
The Elders tell us the greatest gift we can seek is peace of mind, to walk in balance, to respect all things. For us to do this, we must have peace within ourselves and peace within ourselves cannot come unless we are walking the path the Creator would have us walk. Sometimes the tests on this path are difficult, but we know that each test makes us stronger.

 
Oh Great Spirit, I ask You to whisper Your wisdom in my heart. You are the only one who knows the secret to peaceful living and the mystery of harmony. Teach me of Your peace, understanding and balance and guide me onto your good path.

 
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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

 
Human beings worry a great deal about what others think. It is a nagging worry that somehow the curtain that protects our privacy from the eyes of the world will suddenly drop and allow us to see all the things our pride has hidden.

 
Why is it that we seemingly need to be clever in order to handle the world? Why can't we just live honestly and openly, without scheming and trying to appear that we are something we are not? The world is so heavy laden with priggish pride that the clean simple truth is lost in playing it cool. Why can't we quit being something pent up inside and be something like sunshine or showers right out here where we can enjoy it or get over it?

 
Socrates said that the shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be. And we may just as well, because if there isn't a good cake under all that frosting, someone is going to know it anyway. To drop all pretense and say with genuine honesty; "This is the way I am" would be to find a whole new way of enjoying the simplicity of being ourselves.

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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 10 - Daily Feast ✥ (SATURDAY)

August 10 - Daily Feast

Voices echo in our minds even after we are grown. They can be whispers that only the subconscious mind can hear - but it is an exacting voice that can give us courage or suggest failure. We've no idea how fenced in we are by those voices of old. The subconscious mind is a road map, a map with many mistakes, and who is to know what they are? Nothing is set forever in one direction, and we are able to read the signs and change them. Not because they may sound old-fashioned but because they are foolish and suggest that we take paths that have no destination except ruin. We can change it and we must.

~ If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted, and it was the same way with the Indians. ~

WAMDITANKA - SANTEE SIOUX

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 10

"Nature is the storehouse of potential life for future generations and is sacred."

--Audrey Shenandoah, ONONDAGA

We need to honor and respect our Mother Earth. She is the source of all life. The sun shines life to the earth, then the earth produces life in all forms and in a balanced way. Everything is here to serve everything else. If we interrupt the flow in any way, we leave nothing for the future generations. Before every decision is made, we should ask, and answer, a final question, "If we do this, what will be the effects on the seventh generation? What will we cause our children to live with?" We need to have respect and love for all things and for all people. We need to do this for ourselves and for all the children still unborn.


My Creator, let me look at nature today and let me have the highest respect for all the things I see. All the two legged, the four
legged, the winged ones, the plants, the water, the air, the Mother Earth. Let me have respect for myself.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Are you one of those people who degrades yourself in idle conversation until it becomes a fact within your mind? Has it become your belief that this is true humility, talking down your abilities, hiding your light, refusing to accept your rights as a child of God as being meek and humble?

This thing called life is given to us for a purpose, never to downgrade; no more than we should blow it out of proportion by thinking too highly of ourselves.

Each life is important, each breath for a purpose, each moment a time for learning. Walt Whitman has written in Leaves of Grass: "Whoever you are! Motion and reflection are especially for you; the divine ships sails the divine sea for you. Whoever you are! You are he or she for whom the earth is solid and liquid, you are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the sky, for none more than you are the present and the past. For none more than you is immortality."

By our words we reveal our minds. It is easy to refuse to be a channel through which the best can reveal itself. And it is so easy to forget that our song of life, as Whitman has written, "The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him. I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete!"

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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 9 - Daily Feast ✥ (FRIDAY)

August 9 - Daily Feast

Conversation does not reflect the grand training our mothers and grammar teachers hoped we would remember. But we are aware that when we say "ain't", it ain't right. Frequently, those little words express what we want to say better than what is considered correct. Why is it that we notice these things when dozens of vulgar and offensive words are used without anyone showing surprise. Maybe people are not aware that words are creative and shape who we are - coarse and without polish or gentle and caring. We have a responsibility to keep ourselves clean and it begins with our words.

~ The mental capacity of the Indian is of far superior order. ~

COL. RICHARD DODGE - 1882

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - August 9

"Praying to seek a vision, to seek truth is always right. Truth builds upon itself - as the true mark of a warrior who conducts himself/herself accordingly - so that its beauty may shine in the faces of our children."

--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

We move toward and become like that which we think about. What we think about creates our vision. If our thoughts are wise and good, then our vision becomes strong and truthful. If our thoughts are junk, then our vision becomes contaminated, so it's important to be aware of what we are thinking about. As I live my vision, my children watch and they will live their lives the same way. We need to live the walk of the Warrior. We need to walk in beauty and respect.

Oh Great Spirit, give me a vision for today. Let me see truth. Let me walk in beauty. Let my heart guide me in truth. The law says the truth shall set you free. Let me be free today.

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"THINK on THESE THINGS"
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

All things in sequence, first the bud and then the flower. We can no more hold back the blossom than we can the daylight. It is inevitably there, beautifully delicate and subject to crushing. Only through very careful tending will it withstand the winds and rain and pressures of outside.

Sequence is the order of human life. God intended us to unfold as the flower. First the seed in fertile soil, the birth, the growth, the learning, the discoveries, the knowledge, the desires, the fulfillment as each phase of life follows its own sequence. We hold back the flowering of life only if we want it to be nonexistent, for it must progress. And in some of the most tender spots progression must be slow, easy, and reverently handled, for it can be as fragile as the flower.

There is within us a delicacy of thought which entwines itself throughout our beings, crossing from phase to phase, creating within us conflicts not easily understood. Something out of sequence in one phase may postpone the flowering of another phase. The very roots of our souls must be watered with reverence to successfully follow the sequence of life. If no other human understands or cares to understand, if we do, then continue - first the bud and then the flower.

Of all the intricate and complicated creations in the world, humanity occupies the first place. Our lives are made up of such flexous combination of body, soul, and spirit that we do not even understand ourselves.

We all desire to know what makes us tick and how to go about making ourselves tick better. Whether we realize it or not, we are in search of the truth of our own being. Why are we here? What step should we take next? One problem after another, question after question brings us to this place again and again.

They are our personal problems and the wisest of persons cannot give us the answers. We will always need help to encourage us in our search, but we must go within ourselves to cure, to live, to feel, to believe.

We must win our own hearts before we can find happiness with others. We must know what we want and be willing to share it with others, for it is written that life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness win and preserve the heart.

The English divine John Mason write these words, " By these things examine thyself: By whose rules am I acting; in whose name; in whose strength; in whose glory? What faith, humility, self-denial and love of God and to man have there been in all my actions?"

*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*

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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