Good Wolf Vs. Bad Wolf

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all"

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed".

I keep stumbling across this story over and over again. On top of that, a dear friend of mine often brings out that story whenever we have a heart-to-heart talk and she can see that I am struggling with some issues.

For the longest time I thought this was an internal struggle, and a solitary struggle, between our independent selves, our personal daemons, our critical inner voices. The thing I know about wolves though is that they are not passive creatures, they do not wait around for someone to feed them, when they are hungry they eat.

Mostly your wolves will eat whatever you provide them with, and you determine their fate, but your wolves will eat what ever they get from whoever is near you, or whatever situation you find yourself in; it is not only up to you.

If you surround yourself with people who demonstrate anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego; then guess which wolf gets fed the most. If you surround yourself with people who embody joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith; then a different wolf gets fed.

And it is more than the people who surround you, it is also the situations you find yourself in. If you work too hard, you will get too tired, you will make too many mistakes, you realize too few goals, you will too often feel like a failure; guess which wolf feeds. If you take time to find something you are good at, take some more time to get better at it, take enough time to master it, and maybe even the time to be the best at it; then a different wolf gets fed.

But the story does not end there, we are not responsible for only our own lives or situations. We also feed the wolves of others, and we often contribute to the situations others find themselves in, and sometimes we even put people in situations they are not ready for.

We should not avoid all situations where our evil wolf is fed, otherwise we will not know how to respect that wolf; otherwise others will never know our good wolf, especially when they need it the most.

The story of the two wolves is a great story, but it is a never ending story.