“There are two wolves battling inside of you, one is fear and one is love.
The wolf that survives depends on which you decide to feed.”
~Jaden Wilkes
Namaskar All,
The Two Wolves is a well-known Native American parable which has become a frequently repeated meme. I won’t repeat the whole story, it’s easy to find and you’ve probably heard it before.
Just a reminder: Wolf 1 is filled with anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity and other undesirable qualities; Wolf 2 is filled with love, hope, kindness, generosity, benevolence, compassion, joy and myriad other good qualities.
Wolf 1 and Wolf 2 exist in constant battle in all of us—we all have our strengths and weaknesses, our dark and our light.
Thinking about the legend presents the question, “How are we feeding our inner wolves?”
There’s a lot of food for the bad wolves of our nature in the world around us—stressful daily lives fraying our patience and breeding angry reactions—media dwelling on divisiveness and encouraging comparisons that breed envy or dissatisfaction—news that fosters a sense of hopelessness. There’s no shortage of food for our bad wolf.
Feeding our good wolf takes a more conscious effort from us. We have to make time and space to savor good experiences—big and small. Little negative experiences can turn into full course meals for our bad wolf as we repeat and replay them. The same can be true of positive experiences if we give them the same time and attention.
Feeding our good wolf with gratitude for a beautiful moment or a kind or generous gesture can enrich our life. Shifting our perspective to what nourishes us and savoring it, not rushing past it, can change the world we see. Choosing which of our wolves we feed is choosing the life we want.
So don’t wait for a big moment or a special day—look for a small moment every day when you can just look around and repeat the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” It’s food for the spirit.
Shanti,
Pattie