There is a Native American parable about a grandfather who says, “I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.” When asked which wolf will win the fight in his heart, the old man replies, “The one I feed”

I have given this parable a lot of thought, relating it to my own life and experiences lately. We are all faced with challenges everyday, they will usually look differently but how we handle and confront those obstacles will truly define us. It would be so easy to be angry at the cards that life has dealt to me at times. Angry that I don’t walk as fast or as easily as another person may.  Angry that I sometimes can’t recall conversations and details that I want to from day-to-day or even minute to minute. While this is my own reality, I choose to embrace the things I can’t do just as tightly as the things that I can do with ease.

Not being as good at something that used to come so natural for me (like walking for example) is an ever-changing challenge for me and one that continues to make me shift my priorities on a pretty regular basis. Being real, it makes me angry sometimes and causes me to throw private tantrums. But I do make a conscious effort everyday to ensure I am wholeheartedly being, and continually upgrading, the best version of myself as I exist today.

In the end, isn’t that really all we’ve got? This is a personal journey and it is one that I can control my attitude toward. I choose to feed the loving and compassionate wolf.