Most anything has some distortion. Living today is a little like standing in front of a trick mirror that stretches the legs to the size of sticks and puts kneed where ankles should be. What is real? Even nature affords some illusion. Arid desert has mirages of water standing in pools. It looks real, but approach it and it disappears. We must be aware of illusion - of distortion, because some businesses practice it. When our own eyes squint against truth we are creating distortion. If we can't trust ourselves to recognize the truth, who can we trust?

~ I could cheerfully hope that those of another age and generation may not feel the effects of those oppressive measures. ~

GEORGE HARKINS - CHOCTAW DISTRICT CHIEF

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

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 3

"A sundance woman is like the morning star, filled with spiritual beauty, wisdom and knowledge. Men and women are the most powerful of the polarities. We walk beside men as equal partners. It takes men and women who have respect and love for one another to live within the embrace of Father Sky and Mother Earth."

--Dr. Henrietta Mann, SOUTHERN CHEYENNE

Our ceremonies bring out the best in us. It's in the ceremony that we find the place of honor and respect for each other. The place where the men honor the women and the women honor the men. We dance for each other. The ceremony helps us remember our responsibility toward each other. Men and women need to be strong, to love one another and be faithful. Only by doing this can we give our children knowledge of good relationships.

Great Spirit, today I will notice the power of the women; today I will notice the power of the men.

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'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 of 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 being 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.