The Power of Choice

Hey friends, welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. You know, we make decisions every day, from the seemingly inconsequential choices to the larger ones that can really affect the course of our life. And part of the power of mindfulness is that it allows us to make wiser choices, the ones that lead us towards living a more healthy, meaningful and fulfilling life. So there's a famous parable about this. It goes like this.

An old Cherokee Indian chief is teaching his grandson about life. He says to him, "There's a fight going on inside me. It's a fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is envy, anger, selfishness, greed, resentment.

He is ego." He continued, "The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace awareness, kindness, compassion. He is loving awareness. The same fight is going on inside of you, grandson and every other person in the world too." So the grandson thinks about this for a minute and then says to his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" To which the old man simply replied, "The one you feed." The choices that we make each day are powerful. They can nourish us or they can drain us.

They can pull us into negativity, suffering, and disillusionment, or they can wake us up. They can disconnect us, or they can cultivate more love, joy, peace, and play in our lives. Our daily choices are precious moments in time, where we make a statement about who we choose to be. And they're a creative force, creating a future for ourselves, our communities and the world. So today and beyond, you're going to make many small decisions, from what products to buy to how you speak, what you eat and where you choose to hang out.

And these choice points can be thought of as mini meditations of a sort, times when you tune into your values and what matters, what makes you happy and feeds that good wolf. So here's the invitation. Today and beyond, see if you can be aware of which wolf you're feeding and as best you can feed that good wolf. And when you do that, gradually watch as your life becomes more and more infused with happiness, purpose, meaning and fulfillment.