A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”
-Reported by many as “an old Cherokee legend”, but which chief of old times had the Freudian word “ego” in his vocabulary? The quoted version above is from Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, by New York Times best selling children’s book author Wendy Mass.
An interesting essay based on this meme/legend is on the Psych Central site at http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/the-one-you-feed-helping-your-children-find-their-way/