.png "Active_choices_horiz_wh (1)")
The Wolf You Feed: One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." - Native American Parable.
I've always found this story particularly meaningful and graciously simple. Lately, as I witness my clients make big beautiful shifts in their lives and organizations, and as I make shifts in my own (as we transition the business and the lives of 4 people and a dog cross country), I find myself thinking about this story a lot. I notice the wolves that come for food, I notice the impact and the energy of whichever wolf we choose to feed, and I notice the power of choice and consciousness in the matter.
It's really quite cool (though it may not always seem it at the moment of choice), we (as individuals or groups) can experience a traumatic or stressful event, engage in a difficult conversation, or take on a huge task (that is not a ton of fun) -- do the "work" to get through it (which is often just feeding the good wolf despite challenge), and come out okay -- most often truly the better for it. Or, on the flip side of this, we can go through the exact same/very similar experience, resist it, feed the dark wolf, and in the end come out wounded, angry, blaming, and holding onto it (even for years to come.) Same situations... completely different outcomes. As I write this, I'm struck by how so much of the work I do with clients is about helping them increase their awareness that they even feed a wolf, have a mindset, impact others with energy, or have the power to influence their outcomes by being intentional about just these things. If they can first identify their wolves, they can then make productive shifts to move them out of the way and create the results and relationships they want.
