Friday, December 14, 2012

Two wolves tale revisited

Some stories bear repeating. My May 4 blog was about a fight going on inside us. In another source today I read about that same Cherokee tale, and its point struck the mark once again. It never gets old for me.

This particular telling of the story had a few different twists to it, but the story is essentially the same as what I've read and heard in other places. The crux of it is a conversation between a Cherokee chief and his grandson. When the grandson relates a story about kids fighting at school, the chief tells him that we all have a battle of two wolves going on inside us.

"What?" said the grandson. "Yes," the grandfather said. "We each have two warring wolves inside. One wolf represents anger, envy, jealousy, greed, self-pity, resentment, false pride and ego. The other wolf represents joy, peace, love, hope, generosity, serenity, humility, kindness and faith."

The grandson's eyes grew big, and he asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

"The one you feed," his grandfather wisely responded.

Each time I hear this tale, it reminds me to reconsider which wolf I'm feeding lately. If I'm really honest with myself, when I'm rushing around and when I'm not getting enough sleep, it's easier for the bad wolf to make inroads in my life. So I need to tend to all those self-care practices, and I need to focus on the positive (knowing that whatever I focus on grows larger, too).

Do you need to shift your focus today?

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