One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.  The other is good. It is joy, peace love, hope serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”  The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “the one that you feed.”

This is one of my favorite stories; it has so much relevance in our society today.  The media gladly tells us stories of greed, murder, racism, chaos, and lawlessness.  In looking back on 2014, it seems, more times than not, that evil ruled.  But there were many acts of kindness and goodness as well—small acts that, when added together, far outweigh the evil, for they were freely given.  Considering our current environment, it’s easy to feed the evil wolf; to go along with the crowd and feed off of the anger that it emits, thus allowing it to multiply.  But what could happen if we went against the crowd, no matter it’s numbers, and fed the good wolf? Let’s fight the urge to be negative, mean spirited, cruel and selfish and replace that instead with positivity, compassion and selflessness.  Let’s make 2015 the year of the good wolf and prepare to be amazed at the changes that will occur.  Happy New Year!