Love…loving people truly, for exactly what they are, and exactly what they aren’t. We often get caught up though in seeing things through our eyes. There’s really only two options for many of us: seeing things through the heart or through the mind. Emotional vision vs. realism. I couldn’t really tell you which one is more beneficial, because I think that both of them have very strong positive attributes. Trying to balance out these views, or at least tapping into the other side can help you really see the way things are…and that has made all the difference.

The song above tells a profound story, and if you have the chance, you should listen to it pretty carefully. While it does tell the tale of a young man and a woman, the artist can also be telling the tale of what is going on inside each and every one of us. Because I truly believe that for many there is a battle going on inside that dictates the direction we go with our lives. That battle is between the positive and the negative. The dark shadows vs. the bright lights. These thoughts and emotions throughout time have been represented by two wolves following you around each and every day.

Whichever one we feed is the one that survives. It will feed off of our mind, the only true substance it needs to become stronger. And as we continue to feed its strength, it attracts followers, more negative emotions. We start running from these emotions, the people around us start chasing us because they are worried about us…we run off into the thicket…hiding…and when our loyal friends finally find us, they see that you weren’t swallowed up by the wolves chasing you, but rather, your footprints became wolf tracks. You became the wolf…and every step you took was deliberately taken to get to that place.

A long time ago, I had turned myself into a wolf, but there was one day I saw someone, the white wolf, the wolf with a positive life, and made my way back through the forest. Through the thicket, the thorns, the snapping jaws of my fellow wolves, and when I got there, I was given the chance to shed the fur and become a man again. I made my own tracks into the woods where not many have traveled before, and now I have attracted other wolves, the ones who are interested in the same thing.

There will always be the dark wolves who see me, they smell that familiar scent, and will snap there jaws…trying to rip and tear away at what I am now in order to see a retraction into what I once was. But these colors don’t run anymore. There was a reason why I chose this WordPress theme…manifest…the clean sheet of white paper – because that was exactly what I wanted for myself. To create something pure each and every day and not worry about the dark colors surrounding me.

Everyone around you has their own path. They will travel down this path and as much as you run after them to save them, you will never quite catch up. All you can really do, is no matter how far down the path they travel…you must stand there, watching from a distance, in the line of sight for them to see when they are ready. Stand there strong as what you are. If you run away, they will never see you there…waiting for them, even with everything that is going on. If you run, they will never turn around one day and see the color of your fur.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project