Many years ago, I was told a legendary tale of great wisdom that originated more than two centuries ago and has passed through the generations.

The power of the story is contained within its simplicity and its message is as poignant today as it was back then. I predict it will continue to be relevant for the next 200 years.

Legend has it that an old Cherokee grandfather was guiding his grandson through the lessons of life. “Young man,” he began, “inside each of us there is a war raging. It is a ferocious battle between two wolves.

“And these two wolves are constantly fighting, vying for us to do their bidding. One wolf represents evil. He is mean, always angry, filled with thoughts of vengeance and destruction, envious, greedy, critical, untruthful, egotistical and evil. Negativity is his driving force.

“The other wolf is kind, ambitious, warm, welcoming, generous, empathic, truthful, friendly, disciplined, hard-working and driven to succeed.

“This same fight is going on within you as it is within me and within everyone else.”

The young grandson listened intently to the story and spent several minutes deep in thought, absorbing the content.

Finally, he looked up at his grandfather, “Which wolf will win the fight, Grandfather?”

The wise man stared down at his grandson and answered, “The one you feed.”

How true.

Within many of us there is an ongoing battle of two opposing desires, each strongly urging us to follow their lead. One guides us to chase our dreams, the other fills our heads with reasons not to.

One emboldens us to take action, the other directs urges us to stay as we are.

One highlights the positive choices available to us, the other intensifies our fears and anxieties

When we worry and stress ourselves over things happening in our lives, we are feeding those thoughts and all the emotions that accompany them, and, in so doing, we are constantly breathing life into them and strengthening them with each new supporting thought.

Life is a mind game and the rules dictate that victory goes to where our focus to flows.

The thoughts we feed precede the emotions we breed, and those emotions drive our actions and, thus, our results.

That wise man taught us all a lesson we ignore at our peril. We feed what we focus on and what we feed grows bigger and stronger.

Make sure you feed the wolf you want.

Till we read again.