FEEDING THE WOLF, REBUILDING THE ALTAR

There is an old Native American tale.  An old man is talking to his grandson about good and bad things in the world.  He tells the child that all people have the ability and the choice to have good or bad behavior.  “We all have a great fight going on within us.  It is a terrible fight to the death between two wolves.  One wolf carries the energies of anger, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, guilt, inactivity, hatred and arrogance.  The other wolf  embodies hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, faith, love, peace and  joy.  The same fight goes on within every human, and sometimes it lasts for a whole lifetime."

The boy considered this for a while and then asked the grandfather, “How  does a person know which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee man simply said “It depends on which wolf you feed.”

Which wolf do we feed?  How do we translate this idea into our daily lives.  I was reading something recently that seems to resonate to this idea.  It was about ALTARS.  We were asked to identify and explore the idea that within our own value system we can SEE WHAT WE PLACE ON OUR OWN ALTARS.   Our own metaphorical altar.  The altar then is the way we value or nourish things within us.  Much like the wolves in the story above.

We can call the altar BEAUTY, FINANCIAL SECURITY, SICKNESS, REVENGE, RESENTMENTS, FRIENDSHIP, CLEANLINESS, CREATIVITY, INTELLECT….to name a few.

The exercise today is to ask yourself what wolves you are feeding?  Where do you place your energy?  What occupies your mental spaces?  Is it self centered, altruistic, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, physical… really take a moment and ask yourself for YESTERDAY how many minutes or hours did you put in the above categories.   It might surprise you.  Make the above list into your own.  List the categories that you did  give time to. 

Now spend a moment and imagine that those things are all on your altar.  See them as words or images or actual things that represent what you nourished yesterday?  Take a good look and then consider if this is what you really want in your space.

Know that you can refurnish, rework, rebuild, move, paint, destroy, or begin again with a new space for nourishing yourself.  You can change which wolf you are feeding. 

But know that you can only do that if you spend time looking at what is there.

SIT WITH YOUR ALTAR.  ADD SOMETHING NEW TODAY.  TAKE SOMETHING AWAY.  

Blessings to you and your family of wolves.  Have a great Saturday.  Misty