“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.”
THE TWO WOLVES EXPLAINING THE LAW OF CHOICES
A Native American grandfather and his grandson sat in the morning sun, enjoying the gentle warmth on their skin. The elder always takes this time to share his wisdom, initiating his offspring into a meaningful and kind life. Today, he teaches him the fundamental Law of Choices.
This morning, he told him the story about the two wolfs. “Do you know, son, two wolfs live inside each person. One represents love, kindness, and peace. The other represents anger, greed, and hatred.” The grandson asks, “Which one wins the battle?” Gentle, the grandfather replied, “The one you feed.”
This story is a powerful reminder that we define which qualities inside us we want to cultivate by our choices. With every choice, we feed either one or the other wolf. Even if we mostly fed one wolf, we always have the chance to nurture the other wolf with our next choice.
HOW DO YOU WANT TO EXPRESS YOURSELF?
The Law of Choices tightly entangles with our response and our expression. The former tells us that how we react or respond to any situation is always up to us. We might not favor the consequences, but we always have a choice. Humans are unique in that respect compared to other living beings. Most creatures have a narrow range of conscious decisions since their instinct drives them. Contrarily, humans have a vast range of choices and must remember that with great power comes great responsibility.
Often, limiting beliefs, impure thoughts, or emotional overreactions distort our choices. The first two steps of Alchemy, Calcination, and Dissolution, help us to clear ourselves by purging these impurities. As a result, we turn back into the innocent vessels of pure love and kindness with likewise responses.
This purification further helps us when making our choices concerning expression. We start to trust our intuitive message from our higher guidance. Furthermore, we take responsibility for our direction and actions. Yet, we always remember that we have the choice to change anything in an instant. With expression, we can always choose to expand or contract, build or destroy. Expressive energy tends to flow whether we want it or not. That is why it is essential to consciously decide to use it for constructive purposes; otherwise, it gets discharged in destructive ways.
Expressing positively does not mean we can’t voice our fear, anger, and other destructive patterns anymore. We can still express all our feelings honestly, but through choice, we don’t come from a space of compulsion but reflection.
