Elder's Meditation

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 19

The Old Man said, `you are both ugly and handsome and you
must accept your ugliness as well as your handsomeness in
order to really accept yourself."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA


My Grandfather told me one time that any person who is judgmental
to another is also judgmental to themselves. If we want to be free of
being judgmental, we need to first work on how judgmental we are to
ourselves. If we quit judging ourselves and start accepting ourselves
as we are, we will start accepting others as they are. Then we will
experience a level of new freedom.


Great Spirit, let me accept myself as I am --honoring both my strengths
and my weaknesses.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 20

"When a community does something together, that community
is very happy, jovial, connected and unified."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

The Indian People have always been able to adapt. If the
hunting changed, we found new hunting grounds. If the earth
changed, we moved to a better place. If the river changed
course, we followed the river. But with every change, we kept
our Indianness and spirituality. Our culture and spirituality have
always been our strength. Our culture and spirituality taught us
to live in harmony. We must change with the times, but we must
maintain our culture and spirituality, always living in harmony.

Great Spirit, You have taught us to survive. Let me always maintain
my Indianness

[liveweyerd]

thank you, me kickapoo

[laurie6781]

Live its good to see you here on this site.

You are welcome.

Me lakota

Love and hugs,

[Kellie]

Little bit Cherokee here...

[Kellie]

Thank you so much for posting The Elder's Meditation of the Day

Big Hugs

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 21


"Every thing or living being that exists in this world, be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks, soil of the earth, or human beings, has its unique manner of existence --its essence, its spirit that makes it what it is. That is what is meant by connectedness."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

Scientists are finally realizing what the Elders have taught for thousands of years-every- thing is connected. Because everything is interconnected, whatever you do to any one thing, you do to everything. If you poison any part of the earth, the poison eventually affects everything else. If you poison the plants, the birds will eat the plants, which poisons the birds. The birds are eaten by humans which poisons the humans. The humans will have babies who could be deformed because the plants were poisoned. We must learn to live in harmony with the earth. We must learn to think good things. Every good thought is felt by everything, which causes everything to be happy.

Creator, let my thoughts only be good thoughts.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 22

"In the Indian way, we are connected to that
flower if we understand its spirit, the essence
of its life."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

Everything on our Earth is alive. Every rock,
every plant, every animal, every tree, every bird,
every thought is alive. This is true because every
thing is made by the Great Spirit and the Great
Spirit is alive. We need to slow our lives down each
day and realize, consciously, that this is true.

First we need to realize it, second, we need to a
cknowledge it, third, we need to appreciate it and,
finally, we need to go on.

Great Spirit, let me see life through Your eyes.
Today let me be alive.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 23
"We've got to learn what's going on today in
the world, and we've got to get an education so
we can survive."
--Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWA

Indian people have the ability to adapt. In these
modern times, we Native people must walk two roads.
We must get educated so our people don't lose. We
need lawyers, doctors, nurses, foresters, scientists,
educators, carpenters, welders. These skills are needed
to help the people. While we are learning we need to
remember to keep our culture, learn our dances, sing
our songs, learn to speak our own language and maintain
our culture for future generations.

Great Spirit, let my education never lack the meaning
and value of Indian spirituality

[Kellie]

An Indian Friend used to tell me "Don't let your education get in the way of your learing"

I really like the meditation today Laurie....

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 24

"But each of us must find out for himself or
herself what their gift is, so that they can use
it in their life."
--Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY


The old people say, everyone has a song to sing. This song
is the reason we are on this earth. When we are doing what
we came on this earth to do, we know true happiness. How
will we know our song? Pray. Ask the Great Mystery, "What is
it you want me to do during my stay on earth?" Ask. He will
tell you. He will even help you develop yourself to accomplish
His mission.

Great Spirit, help me find my song and let me sing it.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 25

".the Creator was responsible for the existence
of everything, a part of the Creator's spirit exists
in everything and thus all things are connected."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

The Creator designed nature, people, and all things
as an interconnected system. Everything is connected
to each other. This connection exists in the Unseen
World.

The same way our body parts are all port of the body-
the parts are separate but also connected. If a part of
our body is in pain, the rest of the body recognizes this
pain as its own. In other words, the pain of one is the pain
of all. This is also true of every interconnected system.
Because we are connected, we should respect and take
care of our Earth and each other.


Great Spirit, let me treat everyone, today, as if they were You.

[laurie6781]

Have decided to make this a "sticky" and just post to the same thread every day instead of a new thread.

Hope that is agreeable to everyone.

Love and hugs,

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 26

"The Great Spirit is the one that's looking after us."
--Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY

The only place our minds can find peace is when
our focus is on the Creator. Daily we need to ask
the Creator to direct our thinking. When we look
at our brothers and sisters, we need to see the
Creator in them.

When we look at the trees, plants and the animals,
we need to realize the Creator is within us. Our
attention needs to be on the Creator. When we
work, we do it for the Creator. When we are troubled,
we need to pray to the Creator. When we are happy
and joyful, we need to realize we are feeling the
presence of the Creator. Thinking God thoughts will
produce peace.

Oh Great Mystery, let me focus on You today

[Chy]

Thanks for these Laurie, you can merge the others here as well so you have them all in one place!

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 27

"The Old Ones have always said that no matter who
despises or ignores you, no matter who keeps you from
entering their circles, it is right to pray for them because
they are like us, too."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

You don't know how an apple tastes until you taste it.
You don't know what a fish tastes like until you eat it.
You don't know how it is to be a woman unless you are
one. You don't know what it means to have a baby until
you have one.

So it is with the natural laws. An example: the natural
law of forgiveness says, if you hate someone, pray for the
person to be blessed with happiness, joy and all the blessings
of the Great Spirit. You will not know about this law unless
you do it.

The natural law says love others as you love yourself. If you
hate yourself or feel guilt in some area of yourself, you will
tend to judge and condemn your neighbor. You cannot give
away what you don't have. You teach your children by your
example, not by your words. The natural laws are written in
our hearts.

Great Spirit, teach me how to look into my heart.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - February 28

"Ultimately, nature will do the teaching."
--Tom Porter, MOHAWK

There are things man has control over, and there are
things man does not have control over. No matter how
smart we get, whether it be in technology or science,
there are things we will never control.

The Great Spirit carefully protected and hid the control
over certain things in the Unseen World. There are forces
in the Unseen World that make sure humans don't mess
things up. The bottom line is, no matter what we do,
nature will have the last say. Nature is the teacher, we
are the students. May we honor and respect our teacher.

Great Spirit, today, help me to live in harmony with people,
principles, and life.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 1

"The beginning is purification, that's the first step..
And purification means purification of body and mind.
You don't purify the body without cleansing the mind;
that's the way it works."
--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE

If we have bad thoughts or poison in our minds, they
will eventually show up in our bodies in the form of
headaches, pains, and stomach problems. It works this
way because we are interconnected. Our minds and our
bodies are one system. So when we start to grow, or
commit to the Red Road, we need to start cleaning up
our thoughts and start showing respect for our bodies.

We start purifying our minds by prayer and meditation,
and we start cleansing our bodies by getting the right
amount of sleep and developing good eating habits.

Today, I'm going to observe my thoughts. Will my thoughts
be clean today?


Great Spirit, let me focus on Your love today so my mind
will be pure.

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 2

".the voice and the heart are not working together."
--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

We can say any words we want with our voice but we
cannot hide the true meaning and the true spirit behind
the words. The true meaning is always understood.

The voice is heard in the physical world, but the meaning
is transmitted in the spiritual world. if our voice says one
thing but the heart is saying something else, it's the some-
thing else that is heard. It is said that the truth will set
you free.

Reaching the truth means your voice and your words will be
in alignment with the heart.

Great Spirit, let my tongue, speak the truth today

[laurie6781]

Elder's Meditation of the Day - March 3

"For me writing has become prayers that say,
`Great Spirit, return to us our freedom, our land,
and our lives. We are thankful for the present from
which to learn how to be thankful for the past,
and how to be hopeful for the future."
--Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

We Native people have really been tested. This testing
is having our land taken from us, our culture challenged,
and our way of living altered. Gratefully, we have not
lost our spirituality. our spirituality has been the key for
our people making it through all of these tests. Our prayers
are strong. Indian people have also been able to adjust to
change and still keep their culture and spirituality. Today,
we should be grateful to the Creator for the present, and
for the lessons of the past. May our future be guided by
the Great Spirit.

Great Spirit, thank You for Mother Earth and Father Sky.
Thank You for my life.