Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power. -Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
“Today I will be master of my emotions…I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny…I will become master of myself.” –The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino
I see all my dreams come tumblin’ down
I can’t be happy without you around
So alone, I keep the wolves at bay -song, “Train In Vain” by The Clash
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
There’s an old Native American story that goes like this:
A grandfather takes his grandson on a walk to share his wisdom for life.
“A fight is going on inside me,” he tells the boy. “It’s a terrible fight between two wolves. One is bad, he is anger, fear, hate, jealousy, and envy. One is good, he is hope, kindness, joy, love, and optimism.”
The boy asks, “Which wolf will win?”
To which the grandfather replies:
“The one you feed.”
Every single day when you wake up, you get to choose which wolf you will feed.
Choose wisely my friend.
