The aspects of one’s spiritual life my readers suggest I blog on always intrigue me. The N words suggested for this week’s blog included negligence, negativity, naïve, and nonjudgmental. I was very tempted to write about being nonjudgmental as it is something I have been working on in my own life. It has assisted me with being impeccable with my thoughts and words. However, negativity seemed to beg me to look at it, especially as I strive to be intentional about being positive at all times and in all situations. The reality, however, is that there are memories from my past which do not always elicit the most positive of reactions. Perhaps it also intrigued me because we tend to, in this culture, think about negativity, or negative energy, as the polar opposite to positive attitude or energy. However, they are both parts of our lives and are interrelated and connected.
It also helps me to be clear on what I mean by negativity. I might be thinking about it in a way that is completely different then the person who suggested I write about it. For me, negativity is about anything that is limiting the soul from evolving.
What I have come to realize is that negative attitude or energy is not something I can just pull out and release; rather it is as integral a part of me as positive energy. It is the positive energy, which enables the negative energy to diminish in its strength and presence. It brings love and light into the situation and facilitates our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual healing.
For me the story, which best illustrates this is one I have written about many times. It is the Cherokee tale of the Two Wolves. For those of you who have never heard the story, here it is.
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 though about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one that you feed"[1]
The “negative” part of each of us is that which is really asking for the love and light, the positive energy that will enable us to move through the negativity and heal. Those areas of our life, which are negative, are warning signs and symptoms of where we most need to heal. It is as if a part of you is jumping up and down, although not in the way you would like, screaming at you "heal me. “ heal me. Heal me. It is pay attention time.
I have found that what helps me know how to heal myself is to look at how the hurting part of me wants to be treated, what it needs from me in order to heal, and am I consciously or unconsciously contributing to the perpetuation of this wound.
What facilitates our healing is also about our working on being nonjudgmental. What we view as positive or negative is about us, and the way we perceive things. Sometimes we make something so much more then it is. Other times we take something, which can feel negative or like an annoyance and not see how it is a blessing and a way for us to grow and evolve in our journey.
My wheelchair, for example, has a yellow light that tells me my wheelchair needs to be serviced. It is just a yellow light. It is not a negative or a positive; it is just doing its job. It is saying, "It is pay attention time." if I pay attention, I can prevent something much bigger from occurring. It is like this with life as well, when we pay attention to a situation, not judging it as positive or negative, then we can facilitate the healing and develop a greater love within and for ourselves. Be feeding the right wolf, as the tale would say, we are enabling ourselves to heal and evolve spiritually.
[1] http://www.nanticokeindians.org/tale_of_two_wolves.cfm