The Two Wolves: Which Will You Choose to Feed?

The Cherokee Story of the Two Wolves:

An old Cherokee told his grandson: “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy and truth.”

The boy thought about it, and asked: “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied: “The one you feed.”

Our Inner Wolves

1. The Shadow Wolf: We all have our inner shadow characters fueled by our internal ego-based chatter. Whenever we are not in our heart , we are essentially in a negative, reactive shadow self creating powerfully from our baser emotions rather than from love. We have a whole cast of shadow characters within us that can rear their ugly heads to wreak havoc in our relationships, our body and our life circumstances. This  reflection of our inner conflicts may  be identified as: The Furious One, The Frightened One, The Powerless One, The Guilty One, The Pleasing Caretaker, The Sarcastic One, The Sightless or Blind One, The Fake One, The Inconsiderate One, The Worthless One, The Secluded or Isolated One, The Defiant One, The Dissatisfied One, The Evasive One, The Woeful One, The Critical One, The Mean One, The Scheming One, The Dutiful or Obedient One, The Non-Caring or Numb One, and The Confused One.

Think of the last few negative interactions you had with your partner, spouse, children, boss, friend or family member. Replay the interactions with this person in your mind as if you were observing it on a movie screen. Now review the above list of shadow characters that represent the forms that your Shadow Wolf may take and note which ones closely resembled the energy or emotion that you were in during the entire interaction that you are recalling. (Note: When we get into one of our shadow character energies, the person we are dealing with will often react to us as we push their ‘buttons‘ by jumping into one of their own shadow characters as they either feel threatened or fearful of the energy we are exhibiting. Then we react to their shadow character as they push our ‘buttons‘ with either the same or another shadow character- as if we were on stage and doing quick costume/energy changes in reaction to one another. And so it goes until the reactive dance of the interaction is complete.)

These negative reactive patterns with people often are subconsciously fueled by our ‘pre-programmed buttons’ that we carry around with us from our own internal ego-based beliefs about who we are or what we believe our place is in the universe or in relationship with others. These ‘buttons’ are often programmed from earlier experiences in our families of origin or early adulthood; and they play themselves out in an ‘unconscious’ reactive manner in our lives until we CHOOSE to become mindful and aware of our internal Shadow Wolf. We tend to replay the same shadow characters (i.e., The Angry One, etc.) with a particular person in our life; and we may use completely other shadow characters with other people. You will not become aware of this fully until you decide to SHIFT your awareness, become mindful of your internal eg0-based chatter that takes everything personally, and consciously decide to stop feeding your Shadow Wolf. (We have many tools, meditations and techniques for assisting you in transforming your Shadow Wolf when you are ready or if you need assistance in our books Bye-Bye Self-Sabotage or  SHIFT: 12 Keys to Shift Your Life ).

2) The Light Wolf: We all also have our True Essence, our Inner Teacher or our Higher Self that expresses itself through us automatically when we are fully in our heart in any situation or circumstance. This wolf does bring us inner peace and serenity. When we are listening to the Light Wolf, we do not take things personally; we are able to be the observer of other people and do not ‘react’ unconsciously to situations or statements. We become proactive rather than reactive.

When we are experiencing our Light Wolf, we realize that we are very powerful in our choices: of where we choose to focus our thoughts, what emotions we choose to dance in, and how we choose to act. We do not unconsciously ‘take the bait‘, ‘bite the poisoned apple‘ or ‘bite the hook’ in unconscious reactive scenarios with friends, family, lovers or colleagues. We create from the present moment rather than from our childhood or past fears. There is less drama and discord in our life and frequently in our bodies as well when we choose to feed the Light Wolf instead of the dramatic Shadow Wolf.

How do you feed the Light Wolf? This is best done by being mindful of where you allow your thoughts to go or where your internal chatter goes in your head. When the thoughts appear to be fear-based (which includes any angry, guilty thoughts or thoughts of abandonment, fear of the unknown, heartbreak, powerlessness, hopelessness, resentment, unworthiness, lack of self-love, etc.), it is important to change the shade and attitude of you inner wolf. Meditation on a regular basis- it is very helpful take time to regularly to connect with your ‘inner still small voice’ as this is indeed your Light Wolf, True Essence, or Inner Teacher. We have two SHIFT Meditation CDs to assist you if you are not already practiced in the art of meditation.

Which Wolf will you choose to feed?

Loads of Light to you in your journey,

Tracy Latz, M.D. & Marion Ross, Ph.D. (a.k.a. The Shift Doctors)

**The Shift Doctors (Tracy Latz, M.D. & Marion Ross, Ph.D.) are available for keynote talks, classes, events or for seminars (1/2 day or up to 5 days) on Energy Medicine, meditation, personal transformation, team-building, motivation, anger management, intuitive development, intuitive art, or collaboration for private groups, conferences, corporations or corporate events. Contact them at info@shiftyourlife.com or find out more about their books, DVD’s, CD’s and tools for personal transformation at www.shiftyourlife.com.