Pick the Right Wolf

It is said that what we train our energy on grows. There is a whole logic about focusing on the positive to attract things you want into your life. Whinging and whining about what we don’t have is only going to make things worse.

If you’re broke, imagine what you would be able to do if you had enough money. If you are in a soul-crushing job, imagine what an ideal work environment would look like for you. Anything that we ultimately have in our lives comes true because we first imagined it. It didn’t necessarily have a concrete shape or form or location, but we could see ourselves living that life in our minds. It took me decades to learn that lesson.

It also takes courage and action to get there. You cannot sit in a meditation cell and acquire the house of your dreams. But time in a meditation cell may focus and clarify your mind sufficiently to help you decide if the house of your dreams is what you really want. Maybe a shack on the beach is the house of your dreams. Everyone has different aspirations.

We must believe in what we want to achieve and then aim for it. In young adulthood, I straddled the fence. I saw myself as competent but couldn’t maximize the opportunities that came to me. I was the Queen of second-guessing and self-doubt. I felt I had value to share but didn’t see myself as valuable. I felt external honors that came to me were undeserved gifts and not earned. That ambiguity of purpose and worth creates an internal world of cognitive dissonance. Many women are familiar with “imposter syndrome.” And so, we aspiring (and usually female) professionals were told to “fake it until we make it.” It can take a long time to get it together.

My friend Judee Doyle is an amazing and intuitive photographer. She shoots and posts and shoots and posts. Mostly on her Facebook page for now. She captures amazing landscapes with surreal lighting. All manner of birds and seals and other wild things from the shores and environs of her Vancouver Island home that she treats and presents as her buddies. It is delightful to watch her grow. Slowly but surely, I see my friend Judee’s online repertoire, her talent and confidence evolving. https://www.facebook.com/justjudee/ From our long acquaintance, I know Judee’s current life of light and creativity wasn’t always so. So I celebrate her as much as her achievements. Judee chooses to thrive and pursue her art.

You may be familiar with the story of the two wolves. The story is most often attributed to a legend from the Cherokee tribe, but there are various versions. In this short metaphorical story, a grandfather describes to his grandson how to manage his internal battles explaining that two wolves are fighting within him – with one being good (kindness, compassion, love, patience, et. al.) and the other being evil (greedy, petty, petulant, pathologically selfish). When his grandson asks which wolf wins, the grandfather simply replies: “The one you feed.”

The accumulated insults of living life, missing out, rejection, and/or trauma can interfere with our energy flow and creative output. One day, you accept that the dark history is as much a legitimate part of you, as your higher impulses. By accepting that, we can tame and contain our darker impulses. It is when we acknowledge both the dark and the light within us and around us that we can consciously choose the light and let it lead us forward. In living your life, pick your wolf friends carefully. Inside and out.