Tag: Cherokee Feast of Days

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 16

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There are many fears in the minds of man, but none so subtle, yet so effectual, as fear of failure.

We are so afraid we’ve been unwise and wasted valuable time and it makes us wonder how many times we’ve failed those who depended upon us, and how many times we’ve failed ourselves.

Time seems too short to make up and overcome the things long past. It seems sometimes that opportunities are there and gone before we’ve had time to make use of them. We condemn ourselves so much for the lack of knowledge when we most needed it. But if decisions were made on after thought, they might not be as wise as those made quickly, without time to think.

We should no longer think about past failures, nor give undue thought to our chances for future ones, but only begin now to do the very best we can.

True failure comes only to those who stop trying, for no age, no time, no place can stop the person who decides to try one more time. As Frederick William Farrar, English author, has written, “There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is, not to be true to the best one knows.”

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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 16 – Daily Feast

July 16 – Daily Feast

If time were a dollar – how careful we would be with how we spent it. We wouldn’t spend it on worry, for we know fretting is not profitable. Anything limited makes us conscious of what we do with it, whether it is time or money or the people in our lives. How we value what we have decides what we keep. The Cherokee doesn’t want many things, but they know the wise are, I yv da, careful or mindful of what is important. Such caution teaches us to think before we talk, to slow our pace and find peace of mind. It eventually gives us more resources, and more time to enjoy them.

~ If we could have spared more, we would have given more…. ~

CANASSATEGO

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 15

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

What is the texture of life?

Texture is that finely woven fabric of life that demands we have a congenial environment. It asks that we be industrious toward success, and that we should have a way of life, a purpose. We should hear the music of life and taste the bitter and the sweet.

Texture requires us to research every experience and learn the lessons in it. It orders us to communicate with life and make discoveries about ourselves and progress toward a texture where the coarse has been refined.

Frequently we should examine the texture of life to identify the quality. How wide is my world? How high is my sky?

All of us should know our own makeup, our capabilities, our gifts with which we have been divinely endowed. And we should think long on these words from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Renascence:

“The world stands out on either side no wider than the heart is wide. Above the world is stretched the sky, no higher than the soul is high.”

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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 15 – Daily Feast

July 15 – Daily Feast

A shallow river that is not deep enough to hold all the water that runs into it during the rainy season is always in danger of pushing out of its banks. When it overflows, everything is in danger. Those who live near such a river know the must be prepared. They have seen havoc wreaked on everything in its way. But they have the same feeling about people who are so like the river. Such people have no control and no depths, and tend to push into the lives of others persons. Many of the walls we build are to protect us from intrusion. The Cherokees remember that need for a li s de lv to di, safety or protection, and will not again be caught in the floodtide.

~ No man of my race has ever stood there before. The flood rises, looking upward I see a steep, stony path. I lead the way up…. ~

STANDING BEAR

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for July 14

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

This is a day that God has made, rejoice and be glad in it.

What we do with each day is largely decided by the thought we give it in the beginning and how we start a new day plays an immense part in the success or failure of either carefully laid plans or helter-skelter activity.

We should open this day with as much reverence as if it were gift wrapped and presented to us personally, which it is.

What wonderful thing can I do this day that no one else can do! Shall I spend these precious moments complaining? Shall I sit glum at my work to make others feel morbid? Should I continually acknowledge how little I have and how badly I feel?

Or should I speak kindly, think kindly, feel kindly, and be so grateful that I have another opportunity today to do something for others that will bring them joy and lift their spirits?

This day is in your hands. You will reap from it what you plant. If you would be loved, then be lovable; if you want peace, be peaceable; and if you would ask freedom, grant freedom. And learn to forgive without reservation.

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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 14 – Daily Feast

July 14 – Daily Feast

Never quit when the going gets tough. Now is the time to bear down even harder. It would be a shame to quit and find we had almost reached our goal. If a person that can’t swim panics in deep water, he will sink. But if he rolls over and floats for a while, he can get his sense of balance and make the distance easily. The Cherokee believes he can endure, he can work, and he can fight. He will not be a tsv na, turned back. We owe it to ourselves to see what we can accomplish. And it may well be that we can do what others said is not possible.

~ You showed me….the spirit shape of things as they should be. You have shown me, and I have seen. ~

BLACK ELK

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

July 12 – Daily Feast

July 12 – Daily Feast

The fragrances of the countryside are exhilarating after a summer rain. Wildflowers and morning glories have spread profusely along fence rows, and bittersweet vines abound wherever they can take hold. One breath of fresh air, one beautiful smell of petunias on the evening breeze, is never enough. It has to be repeated and held in remembrance for another time, another place. A pill doesn’t exist that works better than a country lane after a rain shower. Huge drops make secret symbols in the dust and are a da to li gi, a blessing on the head of a Cherokee. It is a special message, a private baptism from the Great Spirit.

~ This country is mine, I was raised on it; my forefathers died on it; and I wish to remain on it. ~

CROW FEATHER

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

July 11 – Daily Feast

July 11 – Daily Feast

As unlikely as it seems at times, there is always a way – even a better way. If we can keep on working and using our vision, there will be solutions and they will not fail. Our limited view can make us believe answers must come through certain channels. It is hard to stop thinking that one particular way is all there is, that we have no choice. It makes us rely on a crust of bread when we could have a feast. If we want a breakthrough, we need to take off our blinders – stop pressing our minds into tiny molds that have no room to expand. Allow, even encourage, the mind and spirit to use the gift of a go wa dv di, vision – extraordinary ability to see beyond ordinary sight, to a better way.

~ There was a time….our wants were within our control….we saw nothing we could not get. ~

SHARITARISH

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

July 10 – Daily Feast

July 10 – Daily Feast

New trends and new ideas interest us, but how we love the familiar. We like to keep those things that are dear to us, old songs, familiar places, the good faces. Most of us don’t want to recapture the old times. They have served their purpose and we have put too much into what counts for us now. But when something familiar comes to our ears, or a certain fragrance touches our memory, we are suddenly back there and reliving old times. It is tiresome to be forever striving toward the future. The road is unfamiliar – and every inch of it will have to be tested and tried. And then something we know by heart rises to the top and it buoys us up and we are ready to go again. Sometimes it takes the familiar to help us appreciate what we have today.

~ Grandfather, Great Spirit, the good road and the road of difficulties you have made me cross; and where they cross, the place is holy. ~

BLACK ELK

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

July 9 – Daily Feast

July 9 – Daily Feast

When people are secure, they can let someone else have the credit for doing something worthwhile and not complain. Sooner or later, the truth comes out anyway. Life always balances the credit. People have thought many times they were getting something for nothing – but listen, nothing stands for nothing. There is always compensation. Call it what it is. The only thing we don’t pay for is love, real love, which the Cherokee calls a da ge yu di. What we give, we receive. Life is reciprocal, it requires us to do the best we can and to leave judgment and balancing to Him Who works out all things to their perfection.

~ Tell your people….that since we were promised we should never be removed, we have moved five times. ~

A CHIEF, 1876

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

July 3 – Daily Feast

July 3 – Daily Feast

We are always rich when we have courage. It is not the circumstance in which we find ourselves but how we handle it that makes the difference. If nothing ever challenged us we might not know our strength – we might never feel the power to overcome something that gives us courage to tackle another O at li, mountain. Giving up does not come on us suddenly, but we cultivate it on a daily basis. Everything, success or failure – or even mediocrity – settles on us as we get ready for it. When we think and talk failure, it happens. When we think we can do something, we can do it. It takes as much effort to lose as it does to win – sometimes more. But to think courage, to think strength, is the breath of life.

~ Why don’t you talk and go straight and all will be well? ~

BLACK KETTLE

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for June 21

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Isn’t it true that when someone days something is wrong, our first thought is, “What have I done wrong now?” That constant fear of having a finger of accusation pointed in our direction – that guilt complex that can plague us into admitting guilt when it isn’t ours.

Shakespeare wrote, “The mind of guilt is full of scorpions.” And surely it is. For we often take more on with a feeling of guilt than is required of us. It is more often a feeling of fear; fear of being ridiculed, blamed, or even threatened.

A guilt complex can be erased. Not in a day, and maybe not completely, unless we are dedicated to keeping it out of our minds. We are so prone to throw fuel on the fire that we must always be completely aware of the thoughts we entertain.

But certainly, with turning to our innate faith and wisdom we can find enough courage to recognize the ghosts of guilt and see them for what they are.

Perhaps in the final analysis we find we were not guilty at all. We feel relieved, but if we were guilty, the relief of admitting mistakes is just as great.

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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

June 21 – Daily Feast

 

Chances are we never recall just when we made the biggest decisions in our lives – unless we can remember some of our quietest moments. We think of change coming with fanfare, but that so seldom happens. Most of the time we silently recognize the great things in our lives long before we bring them our to be known by everyone. It is hard to say just when the change began. Some of it is even ga lv quo di, sacred to us, not easily shared – nor wise to share, because it is our own that comes from somewhere deep within us. There is an inner life that makes changes easier because it prepares us to accept what we cannot change – and more importantly, to change what we can.

~ The whole world is coming. A nation is coming, a nation is coming. The Eagle has brought the message to the tribe. ~

WOVOKA

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for June 20

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

At those times when we have planned for something and have our hearts set on our affairs going in a certain direction but they fail to materialize, we are disappointed. If we have any faith at all, we must remember that one door never closes but another opens. That which once seemed the right thing to plan for may not hold all the things that would be for our good in the long run. It may have been right in the beginning, but as time passes and other events come into being, a change may be necessary for the benefit of the over-all picture.

Sometimes we fix our attention so rigidly on one thing, one part of life, one person, that a change throws us into a state of extreme disappointment. But disappointment, like all of the emotions, can serve to strengthen rather than take away. The attitude with which we face life can determine its outcome.

We can look with woeful eyes on the negative mental attitude and wallow in self-pity, or we can flip the mind to the upper side and let the positive mental attitude bring to us the strength and peace we need.

Disappointment is something no one has escaped. The many plans we make sometimes fade like mist in the sunlight. A cherished dream may take another shape and to lose that vision can throw a dim view on all of life. Because one tiny part could not be fulfilled, we are so tempted to let all of the rest go with it.

But if only we could wait a bit. So often we then come to realize the reason for our change in plans.

Sometimes disappointment is the very thing that keeps us mounting the steps upward, keeps us stretching our minds to understand. And it may test our spirits. For if disappointment can make a spirit bitter, the joy of accomplishment would have soon soured.

There is no joy in a disappointment, but it may be the thing to save us from a life of mediocrity.

English novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton wrote, “Man must be disappointed with the lesser things in life before he can accomplish the full value of the greater.”

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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

June 20 – Daily Feast

 

Everything is fresh and new on a June morning. Someone performed a miracle while we slept. The air was cleaned to crystal clarity, the rising sun glistens on every leaf and blade of grass. The hills are new green from spring rains and the horses that graze there are sleek and shiny. Such rewards, such a as s dv, are for the early riser, the one who greets the day with thanksgiving and praise. Regardless of how many tagalongs from yesterday threaten, they cannot break the spell of the beauty at hand. Another opportunity, another splendid day that is so oblivious to the schemes of man. To go with it, to rise with the morning mist, is to know the freedom and restoration in the soul of the American Indian.

~ To the Indian, words that are true sink deep into his heart where they remain; he never forgets them. ~

FOUR GUNS

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for June 19th

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Why is it that the things we love can cause us so much pain, and perhaps without realizing it? Why is it that we find so much to worry about in all the “what ifs” that cross our minds with such persistence? What makes fatigue follow us through the hours and drain away precious strength that we need to help us in our daily routine?

All the things that plague us daily have one common cause – fear. To some, fear is a constant companion. We may call it by many other names such as necessity, time, busyness, demands, but all of these can be forms of fear.

Fear produces the most mental, physical, and spiritual fatigue that has ever overtaken humans. It rushes us so that we have accidents. It drains us of strength to resist illness. It tells us we cannot produce enough to meet the demands upon us. And it builds within our minds such dire images so that we cannot face the simplest.

Fear has one antidote. It is not to stop worrying and take it easy, but it is faith. Adverse conditions cannot break us in the face of faith. Faith allows us to look fear in the eyes with such confidence that it loses its power over us.

English divine, Frederick William Robertson, wrote, “To believe is strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power.”

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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

June 19 – Daily Feast

 

Some of us have kindred souls that understand what we feel, what we think, and what we need. These special people seldom bother with a lot of talk – but their quiet companionship is balm to the spirit and enough without words. Wherever we are on the pathway – the Cherokee calls it ga lo hi s di – one of these special persons has known loneliness, felt the solitary hours, heard the empty echoes, and is there to mark the way for us. We are assured of company, told that we will make it – that we are almost there now. Suddenly there is a corner to turn, a light to shine, hope and a hand to support us. Then, in quiet communication, we reach back and take someone else’s hand.

~ They were kind to me, those old men, when I was working hard to learn from them these sacred songs. ~

PLAYFUL CALF

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for June 18

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Courage must have its everyday face. We can’t preserve it just for special occasions. We must have courage when we are disappointed, because disappointment is a robber of reason and faith, and even dignity. We must remember that whatever we have to meet there is something within us to help us meet it. But it is like a vein of rich ore. We must tap it, know what it is, and turn it into a finished product that will serve a purpose.

Every day we must have courage to forgive. The adamant we shall always face, but to forgive is to disarm. To forgive is to release and to release is to remove the graceless things that make it necessary to forgive.

A little common, everyday courage can give a life so much more to live for and to find contentment in the knowledge that today I did not give on to the smaller self. And I can draw on the strength from One who bore personal suffering with supreme courage.

A comforting adage is that it is always darkest just before the dawn. The darkness of fear and worry and misunderstanding can last only so long, and then the light of dawn breaks through to show everything in its true perspective.

To someone who is troubled, the darkness holds only the most frightening difficulties. This kind of night seems to have no end, but given a little time it will pass, as will our problems.

The very fact that we are not alone should give some comfort, for no matter what we are experiencing someone else has been there too. We must not delude ourselves with notions that we are meant to be cross-bearers forever.

And frequently, they are much better people who emerge from their own night to remember that it is as important to have faith in the dark as it is easy to have faith in the sunshine.

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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

June 18 – Daily Feast

Talking too much is a little like painting a picture. It is frequently what we leave out that makes it the masterpiece. We don’t have to tell everything we think – not use every color on the palette. Subtlety makes someone else think, and that is more important. Our tendency is to think that no one understands unless we spell things out for them. It is hard to keep our mouths shut when we want to say something so much – usually with a da li s ga na ne hi, irony or a degree of sarcasm, according to the Cherokee. Silence can be as unkind as saying too much but in the long run it serves a better purpose in preserving friendships. There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence, but it is a person of rare sensitivity who knows when the time is.

~ Tell your children of the friendly acts of Indians to the white people who settled here. Tell them of our leaders and heroes and their deeds. ~

INDIAN COUNCIL

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for June 12

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

So much has been written about happiness – the way to it, the reasons for it, the symbols of it – and still people search for that very special something that will assure happiness forever after. Of all the recipes for lasting happiness, we finally have to mix our own. But the one thing everyone has in common is the need for a little bit more. We have this and this, for which we are very thankful, but always the need is extended to that little bit more.

Happiness is like any other part of our lives, we must use wisdom in seeking it. We too often rush headlong into something that seems to be instant happiness, all the time telling ourselves we can right the wrong at a later time. But happiness doesn’t remain happiness for very long when it has such strings attached.

In order to e rightly happy we concentrate on getting, but it is giving that we find most necessary to mix into every recipe. To some happiness will always be elusive, never quite settling anywhere, never quite revealing itself, for they have yet to learn that happiness has the wings of angels, the breath of God, and the love of man, all hidden within Him.

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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