Tag: Cherokee Feast of Days

September 24 – Daily Feast

September 24 – Daily Feast

When we have a genuine interest in something we seldom lack the energy to do it. Hour after hour thought and energy flow into the routine and weariness has no part. There will surely be some necessary work that will not excite us – but we can refuse to be dull and slow of mind and spirit. How many times we have nearly given up because we could not see creativity or color. And then a change would come – a different view and energy would flow in and the misery would be forgotten. Energy can only flow when it is connected to a live circuit. Our work is to stay connected.

~ I am not talking anything badly or angrily, but simply the truth. ~

SATANTA – KIOWA

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

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 24

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So often it is difficult to know where the line lies between kindness and domineering. It doesn’t sound as if the two could possibly ever mix, but sometimes in our watchfulness over those we care about we’re inclined to thin it is a kind of goodness when it actually becomes domineering.

It is often the best and kindest thing to let others think for themselves. Even though the helpfulness is a love, it can be smothering to the ones who want to breathe freely, even of their own problems.

Concern can turn to possessiveness in the space of a moment and do it do subtly it is almost impossible to comprehend. All individuals have the right to make their own mistakes and also the undeniable right to correct those mistakes. It makes help appreciated when it comes and then help is recognized as help and not as ownership.

If we were all told what to do, it would relieve us of the burden of the responsibility of thinking, planning, or making decisions. Out lives would be literally free of care. And there are those among us who love to direct the traffic of other people’s lives. But have you noticed how detestable it is to them to have the smallest suggestion made concerning their own? What a display of vanity!

There are always sycophants, or “apple polishers,” if you will, who fawn and flatter the vanity. But to have one’s vanity built to great heights is not always an act of love, but more often subtle scorn.

Love is the only force against vanity. Love does not wish to command, but only to serve. If love cannot tell the truth it does not speak. Vanity separates, love joins. Love does not ask that another take the responsibility, but it asks only the strength to bear 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

September 24 – Daily Feast

September 24 – Daily Feast

When we have a genuine interest in something we seldom lack the energy to do it. Hour after hour thought and energy flow into the routine and weariness has no part. There will surely be some necessary work that will not excite us – but we can refuse to be dull and slow of mind and spirit. How many times we have nearly given up because we could not see creativity or color. And then a change would come – a different view and energy would flow in and the misery would be forgotten. Energy can only flow when it is connected to a live circuit. Our work is to stay connected.

~ I am not talking anything badly or angrily, but simply the truth. ~

SATANTA – KIOWA

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

THINK ON THESE THINGS for September 21

THINK ON THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The first day of fall brings with it the promise of quiet and peace. A stillness permeates the woods and about the only sounds are woodpeckers drumming on a hollow tree and blue jays squawking at squirrels they cannot tolerate. A sweet peace that connects with us and helps us relax.

The hills are rose-beige and rounded on top with horses grazing quietly along the sides. Deep ravines where water has eroded the dirt are dark marks such as a child would make with a crayon, and most likely have housed a bobcat or two.

This is the season when we do not hunker down and endure but we enjoy to the utmost. The color, the fresh air, the fall fruit and vegetables and smell of earth turned up by the plow. If something is not right, fix it, and don’t let this pleasant time go to waste!

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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

September 21 – Daily Feast

September 21 – Daily Feast

Can there be anything more beautiful than the seasons of a tree? A tree stands in beauty from year to year and keeps its grace and dignity. Its secrets are at its center and it tells nothing of people and their passing events. We learn when we watch a tree. It constantly prunes itself, continually sheds any excess. When it is growing in a difficult place it sends down deep roots to grapple for a firm footing. Every leaf is unique and beautiful – but they also serve to remove toxic poisons from the atmosphere, and send out a clean fragrance to shade us from heat. To sit beneath a tree, or to lie on the earth beneath an oak is the essence of pleasure. But to see the topmost leaves that no human hand has ever touched is to see a common miracle – a miracle with a message that says to get a firm footing in everything that is good and stand tall with our eye on the sky.

~ It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. ~

BLACK ELK

“A Cherokee Feast of Days” by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for September 12

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Human dignity is that silent something in us that keeps us from falling below the level where others look down on us to make light of our very existence. None of us exists who cannot sense to some degree the feeling that others hold for us. It may create in us a “show them” attitude that takes us through life more successfully, but it will more likely destroy our desire to be anything more than what is expected of us.

It is an appalling thing to see others impose their superiority upon the human dignity of those whose literacy may not be equal to their own. Only profound ignorance could convince anyone they have the right to see and idly judge another’s intelligence, or to insult the dignity of any human being. The little silent people who have not yet discovered within themselves the abilities they need to lift themselves, still have the right and dignity of being human. A small amount of respect and direction might start them on the road to better things, though it might be all uphill. At least if they know it is all uphill they may work harder and reach a place where they can look back at those with lofty ideas about themselves, standing forever stagnant, and feel more compassion than they could ever have felt.

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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

September 11 – Daily Feast

September 11 – Daily Feast

Everything is not our fault, All of life is not our doing. But the one thing we can count on is our thinking. Think things through honestly and without excuse. Don’t tell it, and don’t think that’s all there is to it.The mind is the doorway to the heart and spirit. This is where the real part of us lives, where life springs forth or gives up. Knowing this, we can go in and clean house and begin to feed ourselves life-food. Life-food is from Galun lati, the Spirit – and without the Spirit, everything is our fault. Never be without the Spirit.

~ You fought me and I had to fight back. ~

GALL – HUNKPAPA SIOUX

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for August 4

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Frequently quoted American editor and author Christian Nestell Bovee wrote that sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism – indeed excessive sensitivity is only another name for morbid self-consciousness.

He wrote that the cure for it was to make more of our objectives and less of ourselves. And it isn’t easy to make less of ourselves.

Everyone at some time has felt extreme sensitivity toward people and surroundings. It is a sensitiveness that does not always have a good effect – seemingly for no reason at all we exercise no control over the emotions. It can be frightening to realize that we are quite as capable of destroying as we are, at other times, of building.

It is written in the essays of Aristotle that there are right things to say and a right way of saying them; and the same is true of listening. So often we make a casual remark, not meant to be tactless, but somehow it turns out that way. When there is a desire to appear witty, or clever, at someone else’s expense, there should be no pride in the results.

And when we listen to someone’s casual remark and take offense, we must examine our own thoughts. If we allow our minds to run in channels of vulgarity and mockery, then we can also expect to interpret others’ words to mean the same things.

We can so easily read the wrong things into others’ conversations, and in our own efforts to express ourselves say such foolish things that we lose the priceless gifts of relaxation and fun of conversing with other people. And for those reasons we must cultivate the art of speaking and listening with the warmest heart – which harbors nothing that is not right.

It is a good idea in the most sensitive times to recognize them for what they are and to make a pact within one’s self to by pass this time for serious thought and decision making. This, above all, should be a time for relaxing against the wind of oversensitivity. To resist it only strengthens it, and to look at it clearly and coolly will take away its mystery and its heat.

It is well to remember that the too-sensitive person is not the true self, but the one with the marvelous mental attitude most certainly is – wait for that person.

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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

August 4 – Daily Feast

August 4 – Daily Feast

Anytime we fall down in doing anything and we get up and have another go at it, count it all progress. It is getting up that makes a warrior, di tli hi, as the Cherokee says it. Getting up doesn’t mean the warrior is fearless or that he is totally self-confident. It does mean that he gains confidence as he persistently keeps trying, and he fully expects strength to come as he needs it. He asks, na quu na? How about now? Everyone is afraid of a challenge, afraid of being down and staying down. But relying on the Great Spirit gives the courage to speak powerful words to bolster the human spirit. So, how about now?

~ I know the Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say…. ~

SITTING BULL

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for August 2

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Prisoners never love their jails. And the same holds true for all kinds of prisoners, whether they be dogs on leashes or human beings tied to responsibilities. If they are there of their own free will and because they have a sense of belonging, the connecting link is made of love.

Responsible people with an assignment, and the feeling that it is theirs alone, will do it to the best of their ability and see it through. But is they must be watched and directed in every step, then it is a jail and the first thought is how to get out.

Freedom to be an individual with the right to make even small decisions is a precious possession. Freedom to come and go can build faith and trust within people, to make them stick closer than brothers. The rigid rules and constant prodding of a free spirit will force them to find that freedom.

We simply cannot keep another in bondage without being in bondage ourselves. To hold humanity by invisible force is to keep constant watch. And even beneath that watchful eye there will be a continual search for escape.

Anyone completely dependent upon others must always bear their will-O-the-wisp attitudes and the rising and lowering of the emotional tides. However, it is presumptuous of anyone to believe they can possibly be completely independent of others. Without other people, we cannot exist.

But to believe we are doing our best for anyone except ourselves is to build on sand. Of course others inspire us. They give us reasons to be better. They give us the benefit of their experience, but we seldom learn from that. We demand experience of our own. So consequently, we err and make it right. We mar and erase. And sometimes we try and fail, but always it is up to us to decide whether we do better or worse.

We can despair easily of allowed to become completely and utterly dependent upon others. They are human and they make mistakes. But we must know some measure of forgiveness the same as we must know some independence, if only in the spirit. And if the spirit is free, then all else shall be too.

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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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 26th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We often wonder why we must come in contact with some phases of life that seem so unrelated to how we think and plan. It seems we should be able to contend with things that really have little kinship to what we’re trying to do.

But no matter how we question and analyze, situations and events continue to present themselves for solving. It takes a great deal of wisdom to know the difference between that which we must do and that which we must refuse serious consideration. This very thin line is the deciding factor in the victory or defeat of a plan.

Like a well-written story, sometimes the smallest incident hidden among our experiences can play a very big part at some later time. It is difficult to know just which parts of the puzzle will fall into place to complete a picture we seek.

We must take one step at a time, being sensibly aware of the thoughts we store in our minds. For “as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” As long as we dwell on all the unnecessary activities we will never have time for the important things. If we seek the wisdom of the one Creative Mind we have much less chance of being led astray by the glitter of unimportant things.

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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

July 21 – Daily Feast

July 21 – Daily Feast

When we are appalled at the other person’s ignorance, it is hard to believe that our own is just as profound. We stand in awe that they do not see what is so apparent, but in all our self-confidence we are as much in the dark as the next person. We are just ignorant on different subjects. What one person studies intensely may mean nothing to someone involved in another idea. But it takes all of us to make up the families of the world. We each have a purpose – and none of us quite like another. Time, circumstances, and beliefs have separated some as far as the East is from the West. It is not that we were created to be nu da le hna v, different or separated – but that we chose. We chose. We had the freedom to choose, and therein lies the difference.

~ You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool than I am. ~

SITTING BULL

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 20

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Life equips us in many ways for very special purposes. Some never catch the high vision as to why they may be the object of ridicule or the witness of cruelty – while others bear the brunt of many heartaches and still are capable of knowing compassion for those who cause it.

Jesus was such a man – He withstood more than we are able to comprehend, but He asked that His tormentors be forgiven for they knew not what they were doing.

It is our individual decision whether we choose to be one of the throng of agitators who see only to confirm what everyone else is doing, or we can catch the vision of greater things and walk firmly in paths we believe are right.

To fall into the role of just another face in the crowd is an ill-chosen path, but to lead others to follow is the essence of parasitism – the need to have others be just as nameless and even more dependent.

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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

July 20 – Daily Feast

July 20 – Daily Feast

The hours were longer when we were children. Summer was a time of sunlight, bare feet, and shade trees. We fished in a creek with a crooked pole and feasted on potatoes and onions cooked over an open fire, which the Cherokee calls a tsi la. It was a good time, and we expected everything to be good. There was time to daydream – or hide out in a secret place and be quiet. Now we have less time and more responsibility – or have we let fear steal our joy? If we let it, it will tell us we can’t remember details, we hear less, our vision is blurred and we are afraid of what we see and read. Fear is a contaminate that dulls our senses. But it can’t affect us when we turn around and renew and restore our minds. The creek and the sunperch are still there to help.

~ We sang songs that carried in their melodies all the sounds of nature – the running of waters, the sighing of winds, and the calls of the animals. Teach your children….. ~

AMERICAN INDIAN

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for July 19

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Before we can share with others, we must have something to share. And all of us do have something to give. Not material things, but we can share our peace and our love and our loyalty.

Before we can share with others, there must be others with whom to share. For if we are selfish and self-centered enough, we will never have to worry about sharing anything. We will be alone.

Before we can expect others to share with us, we must be capable of accepting. We must be worthy of others who desire to share with us; we must deserve their love.

Before the two of us can ever find anything in this world of mutual interest, we must have enough concern and enough love to feel a need within to produce something good enough to offer; not only to others, but to ourselves. If we have abused our own nature with thoughts of bitterness, harboring painful experiences, self-condemnation for little progress regardless of circumstances, then we have nothing to offer.

The French philosopher Achille Poincelot once said, “Some people think that all the world should share their misfortunes, though they do not share in the sufferings of anyone else.”

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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

July 19 – Daily Feast

July 19 – Daily Feast

Talk is easy, but listening is better. Mouths have a way of getting away from us – and then we say things we are not committed to – or don’t necessarily believe. Others may seem sensitive – too sensitive. But we may be dull and careless. When the mouth starts to work, the minds stops to listen. Where did those words come from? They came from trouble on the horizon. True, some are easily offended – and on the other hand, what would it have cost to be quiet?

~ I am the maker of my own future. ~

SHOOTING STAR – SHAWNEE WAR CHIEF

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 18

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Sensibility is said to be neither good nor evil in itself, but in its application. Sometimes we just “out-sensible” ourselves. In the course of years we come to see the pattern of the truly sensible. What have we at this moment that really means anything? Does it give us happiness? Did in once seem most impractical? Was it worth fighting for?

The intellectual strives for knowledge and in his absorption leaves the world but hardly leaves a vacancy. The materialistic must have everything at the price of peace, and their possessions decay but never their chaotic souls. And the insecure forfeit the most minute comforts to save for that rainy day. Happiness would have been greater and far more lasting if the fund had been smaller and used as an opportunity fund.

The fine line of sensibility can be most elusive, but it seems to be more clearly seen when we relax and quit shoving to get there. If the place we desire is meant for us, it will come when we learn the way isn’t always sharp and direct and by demand.

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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

July 18 – Daily Feast

July 18 – Daily Feast

Time is the supreme equalizer. It puts us on the same level with people that never considered us their equal. The person in most revered and feared position can suddenly have his breath taken away by sudden descent. Time seems almost mischievous in the way it turns things around. We never really know what people think or what they believe until they have had some time. Our only drawback is how we think about ourselves and the need to talk about it. When our mouths are talking, our minds stop to listen. We may not like what time has done – but we can rely on its fairness. It has seen our actions, heard us talk, and knows our hearts. We can only hope there is enough time that we learn and change.

~ Like the wildwood birds which our fathers used to hold their breath to hear, they sing in concert….alike in forest and field…..alike before wigwam or castle….alike. ~

POKAGON

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

July 17 – Daily Feast

July 17 – Daily Feast

There is little wrong with the earth that it cannot clean up itself. It renews constantly, trying to keep pace with so much tampering going on. It has its hot spots, its upheavals, and the recycling of elements – but the Indian has known how to live with the changes. It is the world of people that needs to clean up its act. Some think the trouble began when the atom was split – but it was more apt to be when man split with the Great Holy Spirit. We learn from the earth not to build up too much pressure or we will blow it. The river has taught us we can’t be too broadminded or we spread out in the shallows and dry up in the midday sun. When moral standards were lost in the shuffle, the world kicked over the lantern again.

~ Hear me, not for myself but for my people….that they may once more go back….and find the good road and the shielding tree. ~

BLACK ELK

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler