What do you do when life gets you down

[Whateverist]

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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."


Answering your question of "what to do when life gets you down":

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Don't feed the evil wolf who's responsible for negative thoughts. Choose not to be down about life.

I like this story. But I don't know that feeling or emotion is anything we can choose. If you notice you're down and you try to choose otherwise but can't, that can just drive you nuts. What we can do is choose to meet each day on its own terms. If the favorite parts of your psyche are hibernating or ill or just unresponsive you can be patient and savor whatever psyche makes available for you. We are none of us as much in charge as we'd like to think, but is easy to think so until what we take for granted is withdrawn.