photo from i.ehow.com

Thursday, December 31, 2009 – New Year’s Eve
“New Year's Eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe,

No breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.”
~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Today's Affirmation
I welcome this New Year with a new attitude and new thought.
Today's Meditation
Dear God, Mother, Father, Spirit of the Universe,

Tonight I celebrate the start of a new year.
May this experience be as real for me spiritually as it is on the calendar.
This year, may I open myself fully, more than ever before

to the power of Love to transform my life and my world.
May my celebration of this newness be deep and powerful.
May the dawn bring for me a new way of seeing and being.
I open myself to the truth that in any moment everything can be new.
May I experience the power and love of peace.

photo by Kim Taylor

Look to this day
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
~ Sanskrit Proverb

photo from ehow.com


Elder's Meditation of the Day

"What you see with your eyes shut is what counts."
~Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Another whole world opens up when we close our eyes and calm our mind. Be still and know; be still and hear; be still and see; be still and feel. Inside every person is a still, small voice. Sometimes it is necessary to close our eyes to shut down our perception in order to see. Try this occasionally when you are talking to your child or spouse, close your eyes and listen to them. Listen to the tone of their voice; listen to their excitement; listen to their pain-listen.


Great Spirit, today, let me hear only what really counts.

This Barred Owl came to visit Germantown MetroParks, he usually lives at a bird sactuary due to having its wing shot

"It is our business to go as we are impelled."
-D.H. Lawrence

this photo is from this summer after a fire ceremony, I was doing a model pose joking around

Let the world know I am as I am,
not as I think I need to be,
because sooner or later, if I am posing,
I will forget the pose, and then where am I?
~Fanny Brice

Now a bit of Fibromyalgia info. About 4 weeks ago my holistic MD, Dr. Jonas, had me try some samples of Deplin. He said it has worked for some people with Fibromyalgia. What it does is supplement the folate levels in the body and it can pass the blood brain barrier, which normal suupplements can't do. And Dr. Jonas said that low folate can cause body aches and depression. So I tried my samples and felt it did help some with my aches. I am continuing the trial with a prescription now. Deplin is labeled a medical food. I gave it a try because I trust Dr. Jonas and because how the drug works made sense to me. The website for Deplin talks about how it is a mood elevator, that can be a benefit as well. But it can help with the body aches of Fibro too. http://www.deplin.com/DeplinFacts,HowItWorks
Keep trying things, eventually something will work, DON'T GIVE UP HOPE! What I have found is that we are all so different and what works for you, may not work for me.
Sending love and peace to you all....

photo from www.feedmewp.com

"Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings."
-Victor Hugo

photo from upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Wishing you all love and peace in your life on the bright and merry Christmas day.

photo from an email-unknown photographer

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Believing people can soar beyond ordinary life."
--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

We are created by God to be vision people. First we set the goal and then we see. If we create within ourselves a picture or vision and we hold that picture or vision in our mind, whatever we picture will show up in our reality. If we can see ourselves being educated, then schools and teachers will show up in our lives. If we picture in our mind a positive, spiritual person to be in our lives, we will attract this type of person in our relationships. How big can our dreams be?

Great Spirit, let my visions today be Your vision. Put within me a vision of the being you would have me be. Then help me to keep the vision in my mind.

This inspiration is especially for my soul sistah Hope.
Sending Christmas joy to all!

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"It's not the package and the wrapping which counts but what is inside, underneath the clothes and the skin."
--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Our eyes and ears gather information that is fed to the mind, and we tend to form judgements, opinions, and assumptions which determine our perception. We might see someone act a certain way, then label that person forever, not at all concentrating on what is inside the person. It matters not our height, our size, our facial features, or our gender. What matters is our thoughts. Good thoughts overcome all obstacles.

Great Spirit, let my inside contain Your qualities

photographer unknown to me

Go Away

Yesterday he came to me
I shouted 'Go away'
Grace danced towards me
I shut my door.

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

photo from http://sites.google.com/site/sccphotoclubsite

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"He [The Great Spirit] only sketches out the path of life roughly for all the creatures on earth, shows them where to go, where to arrive, but leaves them to find their own way to get there. He wants them to act independently according to their nature, to the urges of each of them.
--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Every person is created with purpose and with direction. This purpose and direction is written in our hearts when we are conceived. In addition, we are given access to a quiet guidance system which helps us find our purpose and our direction. We need to recognize this guidance system. It's called intuition, the quiet voice, urges, the knowing, or the feeling. Once we locate our purpose and direction, we are given skills, talents and abilities that are unique to only ourselves. We must practice daily prayer and meditation with God to find this information. To be solid and confident in ourselves, we always need to be able to answer three questions: why am I?, who am I?, and where am I going? If I can answer these three questions, I always know I'm OK!

Great Spirit, show me my path of life.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Now the daylight will start to get longer each day. I want to send gratitude to my Windsong family for the love and energy we shared last night at the Winter Solstice fire ceremony. It was awesome! I love you all! I am grateful you are in my life.

photo from http://www.old-picture.com/indians/pictures/Indian-Pottery.jpg

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"My pottery is the handiwork of God."
--Teresita Naranjo, SANTA CLARA PUEBLO

The Great One has given every human being at least one special talent and one special gift. We need to develop and practice these gifts because they are the handiwork of God. Maybe we are artists-when people look at our work it puts joy in their hearts; maybe we are singers- when people listen to our songs, their hearts are happy; maybe we are writers of song or poetry-when people hear or read our work, it may change their lives. We need to honor ourselves and our gifts. We need to thank the Creator for our talents and our gifts."

My Creator, let me use my gifts to further Your work on the Earth.

photographer unknown to me

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Flexible strength is better than inflexible. Let the storm flow over you, and then pop back up."
--Michael Kabotie, HOPI

Flexibility is taught by nature. You will see the trees bend in the wind. You will see that tree branches are flexible. To be rigid is to break. When we have life problems it is good for us to be flexible. Sometimes we need to flow with what is going on. If we resist, it becomes more painful. We need to be on the path of least resistance. Water flows down the mountain through the path of least resistance. Electricity flows through the path of least resistance. Power flows through the path of least resistance.

Creator, I will be flexible today because I know You are with me.

"Without risk, faith is an impossibility."
-Soren Kierkegaard

photographer unknown to me

The Cup of Your Life
The wine of divine grace is limitless:
All limits come only from the faults of the cup.
Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;
How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.
Grant a great dignity, my friend, to the cup of your life;
Love has designed it to hold His eternal wine.

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

I am home after a 2 day trip to DC to visit my oldest daughter Lindsay. We did a bunch of good work getting her organized. It was a fun mini-vaca too. Look in the photo and see the little silouette of the plane. This is in honor of me flying to DC. AirTran did a fabulous job transporting me both ways. I highly recommend Air Tran!

photo from http://2.bp.blogspot.com

Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.
~Logan Pearsall Smith

photo found on photobucket.com

People are like stained-glass windows; they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

photo from http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2008/09/25/rain460.jpg

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
~Langston Hughes

photographer unknown to me

The sail of the ship of man's being is belief.
When there is a sail, the wind can carry him
To place after place of power and wonder.
No sail, all words are wind.

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Peace... comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
~ Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) OGLALA SIOUX

If we are to know peace we must look within ourselves. In order to do this, we must learn to be still. We must quiet the mind. We must learn to meditate. Meditation helps us locate and find the center that is within ourselves. The center is where the Great One resides. When we start to look for peace, we need to realize where it is within ourselves. When we experience conflict we need to pause for a moment and ask the Power within ourselves, "How do you want me to handle this? What would you suggest I do in this situation?" By asking the High Power for help we find peace.

Creator, help me to find peace

photo from an email-unknown photographer

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
~Jennifer Yane

photo from http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200502/r41148_104701.jpg

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
~Danny Kaye

Dreams

photo from the Daily OM

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Sometimes dreams are wiser then waking."
--Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa), OGLALA

The Great Spirit has many ways of communicating with the human being. He talks to us through the five senses; sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. For example, we can observe nature and see a lesson or get an answer. These five senses function primarily in the physical world. But we also have the ability to receive communication from the Unseen World. To do this we have a sixth sense. It comes in the form of dreams, imagination, intuition, inspiration, or a hunch. Along with the dream or intuitive thought there is a feeling, a knowing. We just know it's true without the need for proof. We need to pay attention to our dreams and intuition. Don't cast them off as being silly or useless. Be respectful to our dreams and feelings.

Creator, if you speak to me through dreams, let me know it in terms I can understand.

And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen.
~Ward Elliot Hour

Elder's Meditation of the Day
"And that, I guess, is what it all boils down to; do the right thing, everything goes fine; do the wrong thing, everything's a mess."
--Robert Spott, YUROK
The Elders say every person is born with free will and every person has a specific purpose to accomplish during their lifetime. When our life is relatively free from obstacles we are walking the path of God's will. If our life is full of obstacles, we are not doing the will of God. Often, the Great Spirit guides us through a system of coincidences. We need to pay attention to coincidences. If we are aware of these, we often can recognize the path which God is showing us. We need to pray and ask Him to show us the path in terms we can understand.

Oh, Great Mystery, let me recognize the coincidences.

photo from an email-unknown photographer

"Hope for a miracle. But don't depend on one."
~Talmud

photo gotten from google images

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Listen to the howl of our spiritual brother, the wolf, for how it goes with him, so it goes for the natural world."
~Oren R. Lyons, Spokesman, Traditional Circle of Elders

If we watch nature, we can tell a lot about what is going on in the world. The animals and the plants are great teachers. Some time ago, crops were sprayed with a poison to kill the insects. Other animals ate the insects. The small animals were eaten by the Eagles and the Wolves. We live in an interconnected system. What we do to one, we do to all. If our spiritual brothers are living in balance, chances are we humans are also living in balance.

Great Spirit, let me listen to my Earth teachers, the plants and the animals.

NATIVE BLESSING

MAY YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH OF EAGLES' WINGS,
THE FAITH AND COURAGE TO FLY TO NEW HEIGHTS,
AND THE WISDOM OF THE UNIVERSE TO CARRY YOU THERE

photo from an email, photographer unkown to me

“There is a force within that gives me life--Seek that.
In my body there lies a priceless jewel-Seek that.
Oh, wandering dervish, if you are in search of the greatest treasure,
don't look outside. Look within, and seek That."
~Jalaluddin Rumi

photo from the Daily OM

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence,
and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."
~Helen Keller