One of my favourite stories has always been the Indian Proverb, the wolves within, I have included it below: An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit." The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?" The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed." source I loved this story for two reasons. One, because it beautifully illustrated how we are in control of the kind of person we become, by the conscious choices we make. The second reason that I loved it is because it showed that everyone is not all good or all bad. We have the ability to be either inside of all of us. I think that this principle can be applied to so many things in our life. We all experience great things and tragic things. How we choose to react to these situations is what decides which wolf we feed. Don’t allow negative things in your life to affect you to the point that you are deprived of truly enjoying the great moments. You miss out on so many wonderful things and the opportunity to be happy. I look back through my life and can honestly say that the truly nicest people I’ve met are the ones who have gone through the worst. I used to look at these people and think how on EARTH are they so optimistic and good natured, given what they have been through? My thought always was that if ANYONE had a “right” to be down about things it was them. Then I realized the reason was because each and every one of them had chosen to feed the right wolf. To me, these people are an inspiration and true heroes. The biggest heroes are the ones who teach by example, and perform small heroic acts every day.

Source Url: http://gobelmont.ca/the-wolves-within/