Wellness: What wolf are you feeding?

“Hello beautiful, how’s your heart feeling?” This is the re-frame I’ve been using lately to start conversations. The responses have been heavy. Many of you are feeling confused and quite frankly worried for the world. I get it. Your heart might feel like it’s carrying more than you can name, and your body may be feeling the consequences of masking feelings with food, substances or screens.

What do we do when things fall apart? Pema Chodron, an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun, wrote a book with that exact title: When Things Fall Apart – Heart Advice for Difficult Times. In her potent novel, Chodron explains how divorce and hardship broke her apart and how her heart helped her heal.

The current state of things is also reminding me of a wise parable I heard a number of years ago which goes: One day an old man sits down with his granddaughter to teach her about life. “A fight is going on inside of me,” he says to the girl. “It’s a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is full of rage, jealousy, arrogance, greed, sorrow, regret, lies, laziness, and self-pity. The other is good – he is filled with love, joy, peace, generosity, truth, empathy, courage, humility, and faith. This same fight is going on inside the hearts of everyone, including you.”

The granddaughter thinks about this for a few minutes, and then asks her grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old man simply replies, “The one you feed.”

So when the world feels crunchy, it’s important to be mindful of what wolf you are feeding. In other columns I’ve addressed the fact that we don’t want to ignore the “evil wolf” because that just makes him angrier. With compassion and love we want to acknowledge him and find safe and loving ways to help express his needs. This is where strategies such as dance, journaling, therapy or complimentary healing modalities can support you. It’s also important to move into our hearts and see what the “good wolf” needs. To that end, I’m feeling like the world could use more “good wolf” energy so I’m organizing the first ever Creemore Kindness Festival.

This free, family-friendly event will take place rain or shine on Saturday, June 7 from 10 am until 3 p.m. on the Creemore Village Green.  This festival guaranteed to put a smile on your heart will feature activities that focus on kindness to self; kindness in our community; and kindness to our planet. The festival will start with a heart-centered meditation led by yours truly, and a song circle led by Creemore’s Juliette Ainsley will close the festival.  The Clearview Public Library will facilitate letters to seniors, and Imaginarium Adventures in Art will be offering a child focused art activity.  Tools For All Teens will provide youth focused offerings. Get ready to dance to live music provided Hot Pants!  There will be free hugs, Shelley Hannah’s LoveNotes, a community clean-up, connection games and cupcakes!  If you have a kindness activity idea or you would like to be a kind hearted volunteer, please email nicole@purpletentwellness.com.  Together we can strengthen our individual and community kindness muscles. In the end, it’s only kindness that matters.