If you are working with me, you might, during our time together, hear the following story:
One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
“My dear one, the battle between two ‘wolves’ is 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 moment and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”
The story is short and yet very powerful. Every day from the moment we open our eyes to the time we put our head back on the pillow to sleep we can make conscious choices about the food (thoughts) we feed ourselves. Examples are multiple as we go through the day. You can wake up and think about an unsolved problem our you can simply be thankful you woke up and you are still alive. When your bread roll drops on the chocolate side you can laugh or be angry. You can push your fellow commuters, or you can slow down. You can help your work colleague, or you can gossip and bad mouth. And so, it goes on throughout the day.
Often when I bring the example, I am being told I am unrealistic, or I am not in someone shoes. Granted, sometimes, I can’t share the same experience but trust me I can mostly share the emotion. I do laugh, I do feel sad, I do grief, I do love and so on, at that’s what we have in common.
My point is, I am rather being unrealistic and believe in a positive way of seeing things. I try to look at what’s the learning here, what does the situation tries to teach me. If you really be brave, you might even ask yourself what’s funny about it. Trust me you’ll find something if you open up and look deeply.
In December last year I met Alex Lewis at a conference. I have included the link to the Channel 4 documentary here. (simply click on the hyperlink)
I can only beg you to watch it. Alex is a quadruple amputee and went through what most of us would describe as hell of hell. And yet, the last sentences of his speech went like this: If this didn’t happen to me, I would still drink 10 pints a day and be a mediocre person. Now I do things I never thought doing but even more I do make a huge difference in the lives of so many other amputees.
Nobody knows what happens tomorrow but whatever will be thrown at you, when you always feed the good wolf you will make it easier for you and the universe will carry you.