I wanted to share another story from, Think Like a Monk, then a couple of personal stories…
A senior monk once told me an old Cherokee story about these dilemmas which all of us agonize over:
“An elder tells his grandson, ‘Every choice in life is a battle between two wolves inside us. One represents anger, envy, greed, fear, lies, insecurity, and ego. The other represents peace, love, compassion, kindness, humility, and positivity. They are competing for supremacy.’
“‘Which wolf wins?’ the grandson asks. ‘The one you feed,’ the elder replies.”
“But how do we feed them?” I asked my teacher.
The monk said, “By what we read and hear. By who we spend time with. By what we do with our time. By where we focus our energy and attention.”
Which wolf are you feeding?
Controlling our mental dialogue is one of the greatest battles we can win. We can become our own worst enemy if we allow it.
Just like we track what we put in our body from a nutrition standpoint. Take note of what is going into your mind.
Is it all negative from media sources or negative people around you? Try to reduce your exposure.
Find positive people to surround yourself with, people who are doing what you want to do, or achieving things you have only dreamed of.
One of the best tools I was taught years ago was talk to yourself vs listen to yourself.
When I was running my second marathon, I kept listening to myself and did not perform the way I would have preferred. “You are in pain.” “You missed your mile time to qualify for Boston, give up.” And so on…it was defeating. I struggled to even finish that race.
When I was getting ready to speak on a national stage in front of thousands, I talked to myself behind the stage. “You have prepared for this moment.” “You have a powerful message.” “You are a strong and confident woman.” I nailed that presentation and inspired so many people.
Two times in my life. One where I fed my mind negative self-talk, listening to all the negative thoughts, and another time where I intentionally put positive uplifting talk into my mind. I am sure I looked silly behind the stage, but it was affirmations I had been telling myself over and over in preparation.
Feed the positive wolf.
Read the information that will encourage you. Put yourself around positive people who are achieving things you desire. Focus on the good in our world today…it does exist.
Peace,
Arin
