Which Wolf are you feeding?

The Cherokee Story of Two Wolves

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”  The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

This is a well-known Indian legend that illustrates the ongoing battle of between good and evil, between peace and anger, hope and resentment, and between the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty. It is a battle that is essential to life’s journey; it is a struggle that everyone needs to face some time in their life.

Indigenous people know how our thoughts of anxiety, anger, jealousy, and resentment – in other words, negative emotions – can have an impact on our lives. Sure, it’s hard not to feel some of these negative emotions occasionally; the danger happens when we feed them, and they begin to take over our lives. Have you ever noticed how people who complain a lot, seem to have a lot of bad things happen to them?

The good news is that there is a way to train your mind to reinforce a positive state of mind over a negative state of mind. We all have the power to do this.

Easier to feed peace and joy when you meditate

Buddha once said, “your own worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.”
Meditation has been proven to change your brain varying from changes in gray matter to lower levels of stress and improved attention and concentration.

There is all sorts of evidence and studies pointing to the benefits of this long-studied practice but one study that sticks out stems from a 2015 report published by The Washington Post. A neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School names Sara Lazar conducted a study into the effects of meditation and how they change the human brain.

In the study, Lazar had a group of people who’d never meditated before participating in an eight-week stress reduction program. Lazar conducted brain scans on the participants prior to the study. Long story short, Lazar discovered that the participants who practiced meditation exercises had changes in the brain and were also better able to cope with difficult situations. In fact, even four months after the study, the inflammation levels in the brains of the participants who meditated were lower than those who didn’t.

Meditation and You

Even adding just 10 minutes of meditation to your day can make a difference. Whether you practice meditation in a group setting in the form of yoga or take time to sit in a park or a quiet place in your home by yourself, it will help you practice mindful positive thoughts. Think about all the things you are happy for, grateful for and the good things in life.

Meditation won’t just happen by sitting there and thinking quietly to yourself, it takes focus, concertation and patience. This is a tool to help you feel better and think better and maybe even get to know yourself better, too. At first though, your mind might be all over the place, thinking about the bills, the errands and the dishes piling up.

But stop.

Take a breath – here are three tips to get the most out of your meditation session.

• Proper posture – It’s important to be comfortable. Many people like to sit cross-legged on the floor but remember to stay up straight. You want to feel as though you are touching the sky with your head rather than slouch. It gets easier with practice.
• Breathe – Breathing is an integral part of meditation and it’s important to focus on your breath going in and out naturally, without force. Soon this will just happen without even noticing but at first you may need to train yourself.
• Thoughts – This is the hard part, believe it or not. Don’t force your thoughts but try to let the bad ones out and the good ones in. It’s better to try not to force yourself to think and let it happen naturally but this takes practice. It’s important to have a quiet space to allow your thoughts to happen naturally.

Questions for reflection

1) Do you practice meditation now? If not, have you tried or what is stopping you?
2) When you find yourself thinking negatively, what are some ways you try to pull yourself out of those thoughts with something more positive?
3) What are some mantras that you think could help you think more positively that you could repeat during a meditation session?

Christina Becker

July 2018

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