There is an old teaching story I’ve always loved about a Cherokee elder who is teaching his grandson about life… “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, deception, false pride, superiority, and ego…
There’s an old Martin Mull comedy song I’ve always loved called They Never Met, which tells the story of a couple who would have been perfect for each other but for the fact that, as the title says, they never met – not even briefly, because she worked the day shift and he worked the night….
I was teaching a seminar a number of years ago when a woman stood up, dripping with disgust, and pointed an accusatory finger at me. ‘The problem with you,’ she said, ‘is that you give people hope.’ She had a point, although in my defense it had never occurred to me that this might be perceived as a bad thing…
When I first saw something about the link between our thoughts and our feelings, I thought the realm of thought worked a bit like a Dr. Seuss poem:
Black thought, white thought
Dark thought, light thought
Happy thought, sad thought
Good thought, bad thought
A number of years ago, I met with a potential client who was interested in getting coaching for his nascent business. During our first meeting, I couldn’t help but notice that despite his friendly demeanor, his leg was bouncing up and down so much that it made the sofa shake.