In life, there are two very important decisions you need to make each day.
Decision 1 — How can today be better than yesterday?
Decision 2 — Which wolf will I feed today?
I remember a few years ago listening to a pastor at my church talk about the symbolic story of the two wolves. To shorten this for you the story went something like this.
A father and son were spending time together one day when the father attempted to explain the difference between good and bad. Between right and wrong.
The father attempted to explain that there are two wolves inside each of us. One wolf is good, the other bad. Each day we have a choice to feed either one wolf or the other. If we feed the good wolf, we do good things. If we feed the bad wolf, we do bad things. The more the bad wolf is fed, the easier it is for the bad wolf to grow bigger and stronger and to do more bad things. Whereas the more the good wolf is fed, the more good things the wolf will encourage us to do. The choice to feed either wolf is ours to make.
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Although this story may seem dark and gloomy it is a powerful way to articulate why people do the things they do. It explains positive behaviour, negative behaviour and our ability to be mindful and responsible for both.
Every day when I wake up I think about this story and about the good things I do in life.
Writing is one of those things.
The next time you feel like your life may be a bit off track or that you are not reaching the goals you wish to reach, I encourage you to think about this story. Think about all the positive energy and negative energy that is in your life and find ways to create more positive energy (feeding the right wolf) and reducing the negative energy (feeding the wrong wolf).
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Here are some strategies for feeding the right wolf each day:
Get clear with what you want out of your life
If you don’t know what you want you will always feel frustrated and unheard. Define you and that definition will demand respect, energy and time. Once those three things come together, you will begin to feel a high sense of accomplishment and be able to continue to feed the right wolf.
Reduce Your Time With Negative People
Super hard to do yet super important. Gaining positivity and an ability to feed the good wolf will require you to hang less around those who choose to feed the wrong wolf. Simply math!
Win The Day
No matter how awful or negative your day was, take time at the end of each day to reflect on the big wins that you gained. It will take you further in your ability to feed the right wolf regardless of circumstantial negativity.
Get Quiet
Whomever you pray to, do more of it. Set your compass on true north and get focused spiritually. This will rejuvenate you and give you the energy you need to conquer the wrong wolf while simultaneously feeding the right wolf.
Remember You Are Not Alone
Everyone has these two wolves. You are not alone. Taking peace in this fact will allow you to be less critical of yourself and give you the strength you need to feed the right wolf.
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Ryan
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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Photo credit: Ben White on Unsplash
