CHOICES
My father lives in New Delhi, India. For the past 10 years or so, each month without fail he has snail-mailed me packages filled with clippings from newspapers and magazines. When he first started sending them, they were filled with food news from local Delhi papers. The stories varied from being about the newest restaurant to open in Delhi to the health benefits of drinking tea to how to eat like a Maharaja.
Opening the envelope each month is like getting a Christmas present: I have no idea what I will find, what will inspire me, which new eatery will make me want to get on a plane and head back. I love that he sends me real paper that I can touch and feel and smell, and not email forwards (which I tend to delete).
About five years ago, I remember, a package came, just as the one before it and the one before that. I remember one small clipping, it was a cartoon about six inches by six inches. The cartoon showed an old man sitting on a stone talking to a young child.
The child says, “Grandfather, there are two wolves knocking at my door. One is the wolf of abundance, pleasure, blessings, generosity, wealth, and bounty. And the other one is the wolf of anxiety, grief, sadness, lack of abundance, stress, and pressure.”
The child continues, “They are both knocking hard, Grandfather. Please tell me who will come in? Who will win and gain entry into my home?
The grandfather answers, “Whichever one you feed.”
The cartoon struck a chord. It is so easy to let the stress in. At the time I received this package, I had been having a hard time finding work and created all the excuses in the world about why I would never be successful. My negativity was fulfilled by the Universe; misery attracted misery. The more I thought about lack, guess what I got? Lack. I wasn’t able to sleep, my writing lacked sparkle, my spirit lacked vibrancy.
After seeing the cartoon, I began to focus on what I could do well, and on doing instead of worrying.
I chose which wolf I was feeding.
Success, abundance, prosperity, love, [insert your own need] come from what we choose to let inside our minds and then let out as actions and thoughts. The key word here is choice. No way our lives are easy. Things are rough with most everyone I know, but how we react, whom we let in the door, is our choice.
So tell me, who is knocking on your door today, and which wolf are you going to feed?
YOU ARE READING
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Non-FictionIn January 2014, I completed ten years of following my dream to become a writer. In Jan 2004, I changed from a full-time consulting job that paid six-figures, to live my dream of becoming a writer. These ten years have taught me a lot about life, th...
