A Dog Named Love & A Dog Named Fear: Which Are You Feeding?

There is a native american story I heard many years ago about a young brave who had bad dreams at night. In the dreams, he owned two dogs, a white dog named Love and a black dog named Fear. Every time he went out to feed them, the black dog snarled viciously and started attacking the white dog, such that the dreams turn into nightmares.

Desperate, the young brave went to the medicine man, the wisest man in the village. "The black dog in my dream keeps getting bigger and more ferocious. I'm afraid if he kills the white dog, it means love is going to die in my heart, and I will lose my courage as a warrior. What should I do?"

The medicine man thought for a moment. "It's simple," he said.

"What?" the brave pleaded.

"Just feed the white dog."

Which Energy Are You Feeding?

Feed the white dog. Focus on love, not on fear. Stop giving energy to the dark, fearful thoughts inside your head and feed only what is positive and true, what makes you feel inwardly confident and whole.

The lesson of this charming story is good to remember when you are struggling with issues of self-doubt, personal conflict, fear, or suffering. Just like the religious stories we were told when we were young, whether Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, or of some other tradition, this story has the power to shift our state of consciousness and give us a sense of peace and wholeness, if we let it.


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But a story is still a story, no matter how charming, beautiful, or true it is. So long as our inner peace and well-being is dependent upon a story, it will always be conditional.

A Different Approach To Transformation

I present a radically different approach to transformation — a simple yet revolutionary practice, the essence of which is learning to face your inner conflicts, self-doubt, and fears without any story whatsoever. Here it is:

Step 1: Be Present with Your Experience

Resistance to what is happening is the cause of personal suffering. When facing any inner conflict, struggle, or upset, be aware that that is your signal to become very present, very alert, and open to what is. Ask yourself, "What is my experience right now?" Better yet, you can even welcome the upset. After all, it is showing you where you are still not free.

Step 2: Notice the Story

Behind every reactive emotion, whether it is self-doubt, guilt, anger, envy, loneliness, anxiety, or depression, there is always a story, belief, or thought. Notice the story you are telling yourself. If it helps, you can affirm, "Uh-oh, I'm getting caught up in a story again..."

Step 3: See the Truth

A Dog Named Love & A Dog Named Fear: Which Are You Feeding?Observe how the thoughts, beliefs, and stories, just like the feelings and emotions they trigger, are ever-changing, appearing and disappearing, but you are the awareness that is always present, always here. So, breathe and be the clear, unchanging awareness you are . . .

When you do this practice enough, you eventually realize that what you are is simply clear, radiant, present-time awareness itself. When you are no longer identifying so much with the contents of your mind — with thoughts, beliefs, and stories — you are freer of emotional stress and reactivity, and you experience more ease and harmony.

However, in order to pass through the final door to awakening or inner freedom, you have to use this practice to face everything in yourself, including all your demons. You have to face fear itself. To use the metaphor in the story above, you have to confront the black dog.

If you truly face it and stay with it long enough, you'll discover it isn't real. Nothing in your mind or in your dreams is real. Only what is timeless, changeless, and always here is real.

Step 4: Letting Go Of The Identification With “I” And “Me”

Yes, you have thoughts, including the I and me thoughts. You have a personal history. You have concepts, beliefs, ideas about your life and what you want to achieve or accomplish. You have memories and stories about your life. You have feelings and emotions. Events and circumstances come and go in your life.

But because they are always changing, none of these manifestations of consciousness can possibly be who and what you are. Who and what you are is the consciousness, the radiant presence that is aware of all these ever-changing phenomena.

Realize the liberating truth of this notion, and you will be free; free of attachment to and identification with the personal pronouns I and me. Letting go of this identification, which is the fourth step of the practice, marks the final shift into freedom. You will be fully awake to your true nature. You will know yourself as consciousness, as an expression of the divine, the one Reality behind creation.

You will clearly see beyond all doubt the person you always considered yourself to be doesn't exist. It never did. It was only an idea or story in your mind that you had bought into, believed, for a lifetime. Then you will be truly present — naturally, easily, effortlessly.

Finding Your True Identity

After awakening, you will find your identity not in stories, not in thoughts or beliefs, not in emotions or feelings, and not in events and circumstances, but in being itself, in the beauty, harmony, and fullness of existence. You will still have an identity, a story in the world, as a business or professional person, as a laborer or mechanic, as an artist or musician, or as a mother or father. But now you will know, that who and what you really are is much, much more than this.

The mind, with all of its thoughts, will no longer be a distraction. Instead, it will be a true ally, a magnificent tool for solving problems, communicating with others, and setting intentions about what you want to create. Your purpose will become clear. Love, gratitude, and affection will guide you in every aspect of your life. This is the realization awaiting you.

Reprinted with permission of Hampton Roads Publishing Co.
©2010, 2011.
Dist. by Red Wheel Weiser.
www.redwheelweiser.com

Article Source

End Your Story, Begin Your Life: Wake Up, Let Go, Live Free by Jim Dreaver.End Your Story, Begin Your Life: Wake Up, Let Go, Live Free
by Jim Dreaver.

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About the Author

Jim Dreaver, author of: End Your Story, Begin Your Life--Wake Up, Let Go, Live FreeJim Dreaver has been guiding others in the fields of mind/body integration, stress-management, and personal mastery for twenty-five years. He is a speaker and teacher who has appeared at conferences and workshops across the country, including the Esalen Institute and the Whole Life Expo. Jim is also the author of "The Way of Harmony", "The Ultimate Cure", and "Somatic Technique". For information about his work and speaking schedule, please visit his website at www.jimdreaver.com