Feed The Courage Wolf

Cherokee culture believes and tells the tale of two wolves and how they reside in us all. For those of you who have read my other books or gone through my programs, yes, I’m retelling this resonant Indigenous parable. It’s the best darn metaphor out there for our purpose in evolving how we show up in the world and lays the foundation for all our work. 

The fear wolf lives in our minds. It’s nasty, dark, gloomy, cynical, envious, and in constant need of attention and feedback. It’s responsible for all our jealous, judging, angry, and doubting thoughts. It’s always finding fault with self and others and thrives on false beliefs that lead to self-limiting concepts. The fear wolf eats “I’m not enough” for breakfast.

The courage wolf resides in our hearts. It’s associated with feelings of goodness, abundance, optimism, compassion, gratitude, and high self-esteem. It feeds on positive imagery and kind words of forgiveness and encouragement. When fed over time, the courage wolf transforms into the unconditional love of self and others and a limitless self-concept.   

The parable tells the tale of a grandfather teaching his grandson about the two wolves that live inside us, and he explains how they’re at war. The boy then asks, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”  

“The one you feed the most,” the grandfather replies.

To not feed fear, we must understand how it shows up and what types of fear we manifest internally. Once you uncover this, you can understand the difference between real and irrational fear. More tools to come in on how to eradicate irrational fear next week. Hooyah!