‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for November 12th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

At night sometimes the world seems so topsy-turvy and you’re so weary of doing things the same old way. Then nothing seems to please….You try desperately for something new and different, something that doesn’t seem so much like you. Why? Tonight you are different.

One cannot expect the world to be top side up all the time. Such perfection does not come so easily to human nature. And always there is a search for something new and different. A change of pace….that thought that I don’t want to be me today, to think my thoughts and do my daily chores. I want to make a complete change now, to know a whole new way of life. And it is good to leave behind the many daily situations that sometimes stand too closely to be seen clearly, but to be wise enough to know which things should be left behind.

There have been clean sweeps that have left behind the dearest things….and have taken along the same dreary, dark unhappy things of the mind that should have been left behind.

A line from the prayer of serenity is “The wisdom to know the difference…..” And wisdom, says Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is common sense in an uncommon degree. If one has the wisdom to wait a bit, wait until morning – or several mornings – that uncommon degree of common sense will give us the wisdom to know the difference.

______________________

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

November 12 – Daily Feast

November 12 – Daily Feast

Misery seems to justify making someone pay – but there is sweet revenge in finding our own inner spirit can expand quickly to push out unfairness and bitterness. Who doesn’t have the right to be bitter? A hard thing to forget, a mountain to overcome – but such peace follows. Peace spreads like warm honey across a hot biscuit and permeates all the little places that capture and hold it. The heart lifts its hands in praise for relief from the darkness of bitter memories. All of us can do it – all of us must if we are to be well and have something to share. Just let it go. Life will balance the books, it always does.

~ While living I want to live well. ~

GERONIMO – CHIRACAHUA APACHE

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for November 10th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

It has been written that an optimist is someone who can fall ten stories and call out to each floor in passing that everything is okay so far. It has also been said that an optimist is someone who refuses to see things as they really are.

It is far better, the pessimist believes, to look for the worst so as to be pleasantly surprised when things are better than expected. Then, if they are as bad as imagined, the disappointment won’t be quite so great.

But this is somewhat like backing into a room so to avoid seeing the beauty of it, only to find it is an elevator shaft.

There can be no advancement where we expect the worst and believe that going outside the limits of ordinary thinking is only day dreaming. Thinkers, capable of forecasting and predicting answers before the questions arise, are in great demand.

Only the optimist can fill the bill. Only the optimist can dare to believe there are things waiting for discovery and further development.

An optimist questions life the same as a pessimist – the difference is that the optimist knows there is an answer and that the answer can be found. Optimists are aware that the cherries of life have pits, but they are prepared to remove them. Their minds do not dwell on pits, but on the sweetness of the cherries.

There will be situations that will make us afraid. Fear is a common sense emotion that keeps us from walking in front of a moving car or from jumping off the deep end of anything. And there are periods of natural anxiety when we want too much to perform well, and the butterflies begin to flutter.

Then, there is another kind of fear that is unnatural. It has the ability to possess us and rule over our very lives. It is that “what if” fear that builds nests in our minds and hatches dire images that scare the daylights out of us. It can keep the lights off, the doors bolted, and the windows of our souls firmly locked against the most beautiful things in life.

It is no disgrace in this day to ask for professional help in understanding our fears. Only the very foolish would consider this help a crutch. It is a brave person who admits the need for help and has the courage to go and find it.

They are the pioneers in recognizing our existence as threefold: Spirit, mind and body.

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

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

November 10 – Daily Feast

For those who have a wait-and-see attitude it is more wait than see. Then they claim it is better to not expect anything than to be disappointed. These people build the same mental images – but they see nothing. Being able to see in the spirit is as necessary as having a blueprint to build a house. The details need to be filled in, finally coming to that completed picture – so vivid and clear that it must come into being. Anything we touch or use was first an image, an idea, in someone’s mind. Seeing it and sensing it and loving it is writing an order to receive it. Mental images should never lack from a poor consciousness. Even if it seems impossible, fill it in. Ideas often have miracles of their own.

~ Our fathers gave us many laws, which they learned from their fathers. These laws were good. ~

IN-MUT-TOO-YAH-LAT-LAT – NEZ PERCE

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for November 8th

‘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 it 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 has 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.

____________________________________

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

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

November 8 – Daily Feast

November 8 – Daily Feast

Listen, if you do not care about yourself, who is going to? If you are not acquainted with your own spirit, who will be? Listen, there are secrets in your heart that you have refused to hear. There is strength in your mind and in your soul that you have not used. Who told you that you would never amount to anything? Did you say it, or did you hear it said? It is a lie. You see, Spirit is the only One that knows you. Has He said you won’t make it? Never, because He knows you can. If you will only believe in yourself, if you will only take the initiative and move one step, He will move two. All you have to do is to care about yourself and your Creator.

~ I have nothing bad in my breast at all; everything is all right there. ~

SATANTA – KIOWA CHIEFTAN

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

“THINK on THESE THINGS” for November 6th

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Why is it that the things we love so much 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, Fredrick William Robertson, wrote, “To believe is strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power.”

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

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

October 6 – Daily Feast

October 6 – Daily Feast

Living is a little like a wedding – to make a deal takes only a minute, but to live with it may take a lifetime. Many have not learned that life is not a quick trip down the isle and if you don’t find it to your liking you can start all over again. A good marriage is one of adjustments and then readjustment. It is sharing the hardships and the growing and sweetening that are in the middle of hardships. Little can compare with faith and looking out for others. It is giving and receiving, and we know it is not something outside ourselves that makes life worthwhile but what we have in our hearts.

~ I will keep my word until the stones melt. ~

DELSHAY – APACHE

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for November 4th

‘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 hear the lesson in it. It orders us to communicate with life and make discoveries about ourselves and progress toward a texture where the course 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.”

________________________________________

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

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

November 4 – Daily Feast

November 4 – Daily Feast

At one time or another we have watched someone and wondered how long it would be before we reached their stage of distress. We have been made to believe that if someone in the family has had a problem that we must have it as well. Even with our tendencies to be like someone else, we are still individuals and what we see should teach us to avoid the same pitfalls they had. More is decided in our minds and spirits than we can imagine. We have the creative power of speech, the determination and the grit to stop falling because someone else falls. Deny every thought and every suggestion that we have to be the victims of anything.

~ We were becoming like them, hypocrites and liars, adulterous lazy drones, all talkers, and no workers. ~

MA-KE-TAI-ME-SHE-KIA-KIAK – SAUK AND FOX CHIEF

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 31

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

James Russell Lowell once wrote, “No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him.” Each of us has been given a talent. It may not be some great shining thing that will attract attention and bring fame. But living has become so intricate, so great in detail, so fine in its workings, that it requires that skill of all men.

Every time we touch something, hear, see, and feel, we are using the results of other peoples talents. Too many take their own abilities for granted and see a task as just another job. But that isn’t true, because no matter how small your part may seem, it takes its place in the world of living as important and necessary as the greatest talent.

The secret of a successful talent is in its use. The most minute gift was put there for a purpose and we should never belittle it but gratefully devote our attention to developing its perfection.

There are a number of self-improvement books on the market today. Among them are excellent etiquette books teaching us the correct way of doing things and how to live more graciously with our fellow man. But one can be quite learned and lose the benefit of keeping the social graces with oneself.

You owe it to yourself to quit belittling your abilities in thought or word. Self-respect is a necessity in order to keep on good terms with oneself

You owe yourself spiritual growth – the ability to enter a church reverently and to sit quietly in your own preparatory service before the formal service begins.

It is your duty to fill your mind with the better thoughts, the sweetening of the nature and a measure of tolerance – for you will make mistakes, but there should also be the power to forgive oneself, to go on from there.

To be on good terms with oneself is to worry less about violating the rules of good behavior with all others

_________________________________________

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

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 October 30th

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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

___________________________________

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

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 October 29th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’

By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

We have often heard it said that God never closes one door unless He opens another. It is a great comfort to know we never really lose when we believe, for any defeat can be turned to good if we will absorb the lesson in it.

And yet, how often we refuse to go through that door that has been opened for us. It is so much easier to stand back and wail about the closed one. There seems to be a certain amount of glorification in defeat. It is a subtle something that hides in us and keeps us from doing well that which we know we are capable of doing. If we show strength, we are afraid we will have to stand alone.

Sometimes a door will close for us because that particular one would have caused us more unhappiness, but it never closes for punishment. God is love and love does not punish, nor does it have any power but to give what is right and good for us. With this knowledge, we can by grace walk through those doors that open to us and know it is right.

____________________________

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 October 27th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Haven’t you heard someone say, after experiencing something either good or bad, “I knew it was going to be that way.” And perhaps the conviction was very strong that certain conditions would take a definite turn. But much of the time we say it not out of conviction, but resignedly, agreeing beforehand that something will be a certain way, and usually with dire overturns.

It used to be believed that we had no power to control anything coming to us. We were mere victims of circumstances, almost like stones waiting to be kicked aside. But we were taught, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.”

We must not be so presumptuous as to believe we know everything there is to know about the workings of the mind. But we attract a great many of our problems simply by dwelling on them in our thoughts.

Premonition, or “knowing” things are going to be a certain way, is merely giving us a little time to head off the trouble. Such things should be a challenge, not an accepted rule. “Know” better until you believe it into conviction and into being

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

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 October 25th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When there’s thinking to be done a person does well to have a little private retreat….a place where there’s no worry that any minute someone will interrupt. And at the very ease of knowing that here is a little time to do nothing but just think.

Except that I must carefully direct those thoughts so to never let them roam to things that serve only to disturb. But where does one find a place these days that affords a time alone?

It doesn’t take much room to think. Some have little special places hidden from view….a hillside maybe….a sunny spot along a path….a closet not so large….a park bench….or they may even take a drive.

But that place that is always available to us is that place within our own selves. This is the secret place within the heart where desires are stored. And no matter what we do, where we go, thoughts are productive.

Here is where thankfulness is stored….here is where love is born….here is where the very life of life is built and rebuilt. This is our retreat when there’s thinking to be done.

___________________________________

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

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

October 25 – Daily Feast

October 25 – Daily Feast

At one time, most of us thought we knew it all, and later on, we wished we had kept quiet until we had learned something. Discovering the depth of one thing makes us think we have tapped a reserve of wisdom and knowledge. What we really learned was how much there is left to learn. We want to know; it is our nature. But most rebel at being taught, especially the things of the spirit. What we learn should always be carefully examined – but never with the intellect alone and always with the spirit. Life, itself, is the spirit and it should never be allowed to suffer malnutrition.

~ The roots of the tree of his life have not yet grasped the rock and soil. ~

STANDING BEAR – LAKOTA

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

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’ for October 24th

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

To so many, getting up in the morning is the worst way to begin a day. To them every morning is the morning after, a time to feel nervous anxiety and regret in the deepest sense, while to others morning is a new world. Yesterday ceased to be with sleep last night.

How much better off we’d be if only for a few hours we could put out of our minds every painful thought and every unpleasant person until the mind and body could find enough new life to begin again.

“The early morning hath gold in its mouth,” wrote Franklin. But it has things more precious than gold. It has life as fresh and sweet as the shimmering, clinging dewdrops in the first rays of golden sunlight. It has the grace of mimosa leaves rippling in the gentlest breeze. It has the songs of the birds and the love of a new awakening.

And in this breathless creation is something more. A new opportunity, another chance, a challenge to walk on, more strong, more forgiving, more loving.

Sleep deep and rest sweet, but rise glad. Don’t let one joyful second be lost in dead oblivion. This is a vision of newness awaiting even the least to arise and accept the best – a new beginning.

Morning need not be a jury trial for oneself. Dawn and sleep can be a miraculous cleansing to set us out on our feet ready to begin again and in a friendlier atmosphere. We must feel friendly toward ourselves before we can possibly find morning good to anyone else.

An unknown writer once wrote, “Every morning lean thine arms awhile upon the window sill of heaven, and gaze upon thy Lord, then, with the vision in thy heart, turn strong to meet thy day.”

We need to be strong to meet the day with self control, to find out reason and purpose, but, more important, to leave behind us the heavy and darkened thoughts that kept us from seeing the breathtaking beauty of the most important time – this morning.

___________________________________________

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

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 October 23

THINK on THESE THINGS
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

When there’s thinking to be done, a person does well to have a little private retreat….a place where there’s no worry that any minute someone will interrupt. And the very ease of knowing that here is a little time to do nothing but just think.

Except that I must carefully direct those thoughts so never to let them roam to things that serve only to disturb. But where does one find a place these days that affords a time alone?

It doesn’t take much room to think. Some have little special places hidden from view….a hillside maybe….a sunny spot along a path….a closet not so large…..a park bench…..or they may even take a drive.

Here is where thankfulness is stored….here is where love is born….here is where the very life of life is built and rebuilt. This is our retreat when there’s thinking to be done.

________________________________

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

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 October 22nd

“THINK on THESE THINGS”
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The longest face and the saddest cry Always seem to come with the question why. Why did you take what belonged to me?

It has always been mine, or can’t you see That you have no rights, no right to claim,
And you did just that, you’re to blame For all my unhappiness, all of my tears.

Well, perhaps not all, part were my fears. And I suppose if I think I can also say That if I’ve lost anything, it’s really the way That I treated the things that used to be mine. I saw clouds on the days where there was really sunshine, I turned often to darkness instead of the light. I saw all of the wrong, but never the right, And in all honesty I suppose I must say If I’ve lost anything, I gave it away.

______________________________________

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

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 October 21st

‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

There is an old Arabian proverb that if you pitch a lucky man in the Nile he will come up with a fish in his mouth. Just to come up would be enough for most of us, but still we do so many things – perhaps half in jest – that we have hopes will throw off the evil spirits and bring good luck to the rescue.

The tokens we carry we’ve carried from childhood, when we were careful never to step on a crack in the walk, or pick up a pin – the silly poems that fascinate children, and sometimes follow them into adulthood when the laughter is gone.

Who are the wise? Those who can rise with the sun letting yesterday go…..and feel within their hearts the gratitude of being alive…..to have the opportunity to glean from their mistakes something that will take them far over that place if ever they pass it again. They know that luck must have a “P” before it to keep them from waiting, to help them turn up something rather than waiting for something to turn up.

And yes, they are lucky who have love to give and the ability to receive it. They have faith in good. And no small amount of peace when they think not how lucky they are, but how blessed!

________________________

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

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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