Two Wolves Fighting Within-An Old Cherokee Legend.
I do not remember when I first read the story of the two wolves or where, but I printed it off and have had it for many years. The picture above shows another, shorter version. There are also other versions of the two wolves. The message is the same and they are all equally beautiful and powerful.
The story I first read was called “The Two Wolves Within” and the it goes….
A Grandson comes to his old Grandfather full of anger and rage at a friend who had done him a great injustice, the Grandfather says,
“Son let me tell you a story… At times I too feel anger and hatred to those who have taken so much from us without feeling sorrow for what they do. But hate wears YOU down, it does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison yourself and wishing your enemy would die.
I have struggled with these feelings many times. I think that it is as though there are two wolves fighting inside me. One is good, he is love and will do no harm. He is peaceful and lives in harmony and joy with all that is around him. He will only fight when it is right to do so and in the right way.
Ah, but the other wolf! He is filled with anger and hatred. He is greedy, full of envy and self pride. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of rage. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think clearly because his anger and hate are so great, though they will change nothing.
Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside of me, both of them try to dominate my spirit. Both are powerful.”
The boy looks at his grandfather intently and asked, “Which one will win the fight?”
The Grandfather smiles and quietly says…”the one I feed.”
I believe we all have two wolves inside us. Sometimes it is difficult to feed the good wolf, I don’t know how many times over the years since reading this story I have found myself angry or irritated and paused for a moment and thought, “Oh, the big, bad, wolf is having a feast!” I imagine the good wolf laying tired and weary in desperate need of food, whilst the bad wolf parades his strength and taunts him-for me it’s a great way to calm down and take stock of a situation!
We all have ups and downs in our lives, sometimes the downs seem insurmountable, but we do make a choice of which wolf to feed, not always a conscious choice and that is when anger and hatred can take control and gain dominance of spirit, we forget that we are hurting ourselves and our thoughts become tainted and lack clarity.
The more we consciously choose to feed the good wolf, the weaker the bad wolf will become and the easier it is to live in peace and harmony with everything around you.
