Spring has arrived with an energy of new beginnings and action. We are all immersed in deep changes, karmic patterns rising to the surface over and over like so many waves. I can find it challenging some days to stay really balanced. I love my yoga practice but then I feel impatient. I see progress with myself and with people and issues that are important to me ... and then again the impatience. 'It's not enough.' 'It's not fast enough." I am reminded of the need to stay present and fully alive with the beauty and connectedness we can find in each moment. One moment, the news, the stresses, financial restructurings, and the next -- a baby smiling, beautiful weather, love and meaningful abundance.
I remember the old Native American story about the grandfather talking to his grandson about two wolves living inside of us. He says there are two wolves within each person. One is angry, jealous, hateful and greedy. The other is loving, peaceful, generous and kind. They are always struggling to win. The boy asks 'Which one will win?' 'The one that we feed' replies the wise grandfather.
It is true that the one we feed with our unconscious thoughts and energy will win. When we focus on fears and anxieties, allowing anger full unexamined power, acting from a place of grasping and controlling, these feelings gain power and momentum. They eat us up. They are a wild wolf. But the wolf is known as the teacher. These feelings can show us a great deal about what is unresolved within us, the parts of us and past life energies that are wishing to emerge for healing. Quiet conscious contemplation of our dark wolf side can be healing and empowering. What does the wolf really need? Why is it snarling? Are the fears of loss and abandonment stemming from a lack of worth. Can our compassionate observer self love and accept even these crude and wounded parts?
It is easy to give the loving wolf energy, but when we ignore the struggling wolf he will slip into our consciousness in the form of strong emotions in ourselves and others, events and drama.
We may choose which wolf we feed but I would say we actually need to feed both with consciousness and care.