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The One You Feed

A wise old man 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 man simply replied, “The one you feed.”

A common adage today is to “be your best self.”  The above proverb and many others illustrate the duality residing in us all, and how we must make the choice daily and sometimes hourly which one of you is going to show up!  Your best self, or someone else?

I have battled the evil wolf within myself for decades, there were times I was ready to give up because I seemed to be fighting a losing battle.  I worked so hard at getting stronger, and I applied greater and greater self-determination, yet I still came up short.  I kept losing, one battle after another.  One day this wise old man entered into my life in the form of a mentor I spent some time with about ten years ago.  He didn’t tell me this exact story, but he taught me the same concept, and when I stopped feeding the big bad wolf I started winning.  Relationships got better, I stopped sabotaging myself in my leadership, and things started clicking across the board in my life.

In each of us, there is boundless potential, colossal capability, and world changing power.  It reminds me of raw power of the rocket boosters used to launch the Space Shuttle into space.  They deliver 5.6 million LBF of thrust which is the greatest payload ever used.  Could you imagine if all that potential just sat on the launching pad because they we scared to press the launch button?  We’d be watching on the TV saying, “come on, MASH the button!”

The Big Bad Wolf inside me scared me for over half my life, I often failed to launch, out of fear, and a feeling of un-deservedness.  My message to you is, don’t make the mistakes I made, thinking that getting stronger will win the day for you.  Yes, feed the Good Wolf but STOP feeding the Bad Wolf, and watch the battle start turning to your favor.  The old man would say, “use your time wisely, listen, read, watch, and associate with the good, the positive, and the powerful.  Then close yourself to the negative, cynical, defeating things of this world.”  This is when you’ll start lifting off like you ever have before – don’t try to change others in your atmosphere, change yourself, then you’ll make an impact upon the world like you never imagined you could.

Let’s mash the button and blast off into our amazing journey of discovery, and purpose.  Our world needs you!

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