Wolves and Meditation

Funny thing meditation. Basically, it is nothing but simply sitting down, doing nothing, and being aware.
By strictest definition, it's nearly pointless. Yet that pointlessness make it a radical act as it totally flies in the face of what the world demands of us. The paradox is that this radical act of stopping, doing nothing, and just being mindful can be the most transformative, healing, and positive thing we could ever do... paying attention.

Only the items I notice shape my mind.
Ultimately, what we allow ourselves to notice literally determines our experiences. Attention determines our degree of awareness with our ordinary experiences and shapes the world around us.

Our level of awareness determines the content and quality of our lives.

There's an old Native American story.

A grandfather tells a story to his grandson, "I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is vengeful, fearful, envious, resentful, deceitful. The other wolf is loving, compassionate, generous, truthful, and serene."
The grandson asks which wolf will win the fight.
The grandfather answers, "The one I feed."

However, if we refuse to deal with or acknowledge what's difficult and painful - ignoring it; pretending it doesn't exist - whatever we neglect withers and retreats below our consciousness, where it may still affect our lives. In a twisted and perverse way, ignoring the painful and the difficult is just another way of feeding the wolf. So it is not only a simple matter of which one we focus on.  Meditation brings us all human experiences and all parts of ourselves - to be aware of both wolves.