The Two Wolves
Which of your wolves fight hardest at work? 🐺
The secret lies at the heart of this Native American folklore tale...
📖
An ancient Native American folklore tale tells of an Elder sharing wisdom with a child:
“A battle rages inside me between two wolves.
One wolf is Hate, anger, sorrow, pride, fear and ego
The other is Love, kindness, joy, compassion and truth
…and the same battle rages inside You”
The child reflects and asks
“Which wolf will win?”
The Elder replies
“The one you feed”
🐺
The Two Wolves
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The Two Wolves 🐺
We all recognise this.
One day we’re responsive, empathetic, inclusive and empowering.
The next we’re reactive, fearful, judgemental and blaming.
Every action, decision or reaction feeding our wolves:
LOVE →💙 = Balance + Safety + Belonging
…or
HATE →💔 = Toxicity + Distrust + Division
Few of us consciously feed the ‘Wolf of Hate’
Yet do this, when we:
- Overstep boundaries
- Ignore our stress
- Self-criticise
So why not just feed the ‘Wolf of Love?’ 🤷
⚔️
Because our ’In group VS Out group’ wiring once ensured our survival.
We evolved to be fiercely loyal towards our ‘In’ groups and fiercely aggressive towards “Out” groups.
This gave us a survival advantage. And this wiring is still active today!
Resisting this only fuels stress and toxicity.
So what can we do?
We can bring mindful awareness to this struggle.
Soothing the Wolf of Hate
Nurturing the Wolf of Love
→ Grounding in difficulty
→ Gratitude in ease
And instead we can:
- Inspire healthy competition.
- Talk openly about In/Out groups.
- Resolve conflict inclusively
More balanced awareness of our two wolves.
Less battle within.
Which wolf will you feed this week? 🐺
Derek
Waking Waves
📧 hello@wakingwaves.com
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