(Pic courtesy Microsoft)
There is a story told about by an old Indian: ”On my shoulders are two wolves. One wolf tempts me to do and say wrong things. On the other shoulder is a wolf that continually encourages me to live up to my very best. “
A listener asked the old man: ” Which of these wolves has the greatest power over you?”
The old man replied: ”The one I feed.”
I thought this was a very powerful story. How often I end up feeding the wrong wolf -
- The wolf of negativity instead of being positive
- The wolf of fear instead of being bold and fearless
- The wolf of loneliness instead of taking the hand of friendship that people offer
- The wolf of selfishness instead of reaching out to others
- The wolf of lethargy instead of being active and energetic
- The wolf of gossip instead of speaking a kind word or complimenting someone
- The wolf of ingratitude instead of being thankful for the abundance I enjoy…..
It’s a good question to ask yourself – which wolf do you feed?
Beautiful! So simple, and yet so powerful. And it’s a wonder that so many of us choose to feed the wrong wolf, sometimes just out of spite.Thanks to this piece Corinne, I’ll now be extra careful to check which one of the wolves I feed.
Wow, that’s so true!
Corinne, such a simple story to explain the effect of our choices. My kids loved the analogy and am sure it will help them to make the correct choices. Thanks!
@Sumit – yeah – I guess it’s all about choices, like Vidya says in her comment.@Mixedblessings89 – Thanks – waiting for a post from you – it’s been a while!@Chris – I’m so glad your kids liked this. When I was growing up I loved to hear another story too – I wrote about it in a post called ‘Beauty is a light the heart’.http://www.everydaygyaan.com/2008/07/beauty-is-light-in-heart.htmlDo you have a blog Chris, I tried to find the link but couldn’t.
Beautiful way to make us think Corinne:)I don't feed any of the wolves
but I do think now that maybe I fee the wolf of lethargy:D:Dneed to stop doing that:))and maybe just maybe I do occasionally feed the other ones perhaps without even realizing it?:))we all have a choice and our choices determine who we are dont they>?:))will be extra careful in future:))(((hugs))))
Wonderful thoughts…….. its so true that we feed the wrong wolves many times…….