I am currently infatuated with quotes and hadiths (short moral stories). My chalkboard wall is weekly changing with a quote that has caught my fancy or reminds me of the bigger perspective on life. There is one Native American hadith that has worked itself into the bloodstream of my parenting.
It goes;
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside of 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, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee replied, simply, "The one you feed."
I love the simplicity of it! Often times I catch myself reacting negatively to life and simply tell myself to stop feeding that evil wolf. More often I can see the battle going on in my kids and with empathy to their frustrations, I can encourage them to feed the good wolf and starve the evil one. It has become a regular saying in our home, "Who are you going to feed, right now?"
It is always our choice, who we feed. We can not control the frustrations and let downs but we can always control which wolf we are going to feed, in response to those frustrations. What a potentially beautiful thing!
I want my children to walk through life with a great, fat, good wolf, howling inside of them.
It goes;
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside of 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, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee replied, simply, "The one you feed."
I love the simplicity of it! Often times I catch myself reacting negatively to life and simply tell myself to stop feeding that evil wolf. More often I can see the battle going on in my kids and with empathy to their frustrations, I can encourage them to feed the good wolf and starve the evil one. It has become a regular saying in our home, "Who are you going to feed, right now?"
It is always our choice, who we feed. We can not control the frustrations and let downs but we can always control which wolf we are going to feed, in response to those frustrations. What a potentially beautiful thing!
I want my children to walk through life with a great, fat, good wolf, howling inside of them.
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