I have 2 wolves inside of me. One is a good wolf that is patient and understanding and loving and would not hurt anyone.
But the other wolf also lives in me. This wolf is full of anger and hate. This wolf is always ready to fight and always acts without thinking. This wolf is full of hate.
The young man asks his grandfather, "which wolf wins?" And the grandfather says .... "the one I feed." I love this story! I have no idea why I never heard it before, but it is so very very important. I want you to remember that we all have battles in ourselves. Nobody here is all good or all evil. We have both wolves living in our hearts and souls.
But you can make one weaker and allow the other to become dominant. And it is the input you give these 2 wolves that allows the one to become dominant and the other to weaken and lay quietly without strength.
That is exactly how I pictured my quit, from the very beginning. I knew that if I "fed" the addiction (smoked just one cigarette, maybe just a puff????) that it was a tiny bit of reinforcement, of food, of nourishment. I decided to feed it nothing. Not one tiny bit. And it weakened quicker.
If you allow this nicotine wolf to have nourishment every so often, every day, every couple of days, every week or so, ... you do feed it. If, however, you give it nothing, and continue to stand strong on that conviction and continue to resist feeding it, it lays quietly and weakens.
And of course, there is mental food also. Every time you allow yourself to believe that one puff, one cigarette, just this one won't hurt ... you feed it. Every time you say "I can't do this!" you feed it. Every time you say "I'm not strong enough!" you feed it.
Every time you say "I'll never make it!" you feed it. Decide which wolf you feed and then remember that food comes in many different presentations. Good luck and feed the right wolf today.
"Change your thoughts and you change your world." --Norman Vincent Peale
