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.”
-Author Unknown
So what does it mean? This battle of two wolves, well we aren’t talking about literal wolves inside our brains but a sense of conscience, right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable and not acceptable. Often the battle is about our behaviour; will it upset someone? will telling our truth mean that someone else does not get to tell their truth? Often we find ourselves in situations in which the outcome or decision is not clear and is dependent on our action or inaction.
We all have an internal voice or internal wisdom, it is one we listen to when we are small but are gradually taught to ignore as we get older. When parents and teachers and peers all get in on the act to influence our choices and decisions to ones that suit their needs and not necessarily your own needs or wants.
As adults we have a choice about who we listen to, there are of course some times where we will take the counsel of others purely because it makes sense to us. However there are many more times by which we chose to ignore our instincts and face a negative outcome or consequence.
There is a need to find your inner voice and learn how to listen to it and take it seriously again. I am not saying that this is easy, especially after years and possibly generations of ignoring it to favour others in our lives. Standing up for what we believe and what we feel is right for us against tradition, against opinion and against societal norms can set one up for ridicule or contempt. As an adult who wishes to be their own person it is necessary to stand up for what you believe in even if it isn’t popular or doesn’t fall in with your families wishes for you.
Choices like who you date or marry are your choices to make, take counsel but the decision is ultimately yours. Listen to your instinct, if it doesn’t feel right, or there is something “off” about the other person that is your instinct speaking. If you are on time and they are always late are they really respecting you? Will this small thing fester into a larger less manageable itch in your mind? When people show you who they are, believe them, they are not lying. Your gut knows this and it will send signals to your brain or body to alert you to these ambiguities.
Walking home alone at night on a quiet street (well why would you do that anyway) and you have an instinct to turn into a house that isn’t yours to avoid a person following you, that is smart, good listening for ignoring this urge could be detrimental and end in tragedy. Or choosing to not get in the car with someone you know has had one too many drinks even though they insist they are fine, may be common sense, but also instinct plays a part as a warning system.
How do you find your inner voice? What if you don’t think you have one anymore? There are some tricks to working it out and building it up. First you need to be still, close your eyes, sit in a quiet space and clear a path for your subconscious mind to start working. Acknowledge how your body feels in this moment, calm, at peace, safe. Get to know your body and reactions in this emotion.
When you are out shopping or out of the house, pay close attention to your body as you are walking along, does it feel relaxed? Or stressed? Does it feel like it did when you knew you were safe? If not what is it making you aware of? Take notice, be mindful of your surroundings and how your body is feeling. Acknowledge the emotions in this moment.
The more mindful you are of the changes in how your body feels in a given moment the more likely you will be to find your inner voice and learn how to listen to it and put into action the correct response to the stimuli.
Get chatting with your inner voice and let me know how you go.
Namaste.
Restoring my soul. 