Down deep, you are precisely who you want to be. Sounds farfetched, doesn’t it? But, oh so real…
Think about it. Here is an old story to get at how and what you are.
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego “ He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on onside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”
The message is clear. It is also true. In this case you become what you eat. What you take in. What wolf you feed. If you take in self-pity, sorrow, regret, the bad wolf will grow within you. If you take in joy, hope, peace, and faith the good wolf will grow within you. You have a choice. You provide the nourishment for either of those two alternatives. It comes from you, and from all around you.
Relighting Us is here to help you grow the good wolf. Let us count the ways. Count them with the understanding that you have to do the feeding. You have to go out and about and find the food and take it in. In this case a good way for providing the food can be found in the Relighting Us website.
The basic function of this site is to encourage you to go back and revisit joyful places and events. If possible, take someone along who was a part of that event, and relive to the best of your ability what took place at an earlier time. Then write about it, share it with whoever was, or has been, there, and put it on the site. The very act of writing transforms it into physical form.
In that sense, a relighting takes place. A memory, in that process, takes on a physical presence. It has been relighted. It has been brought into the world for all to enjoy. Joy is where we all want to go.
Further application would be to find and develop other tangible elements of memories you want to relight and make them a part of your stories. There are so many. Attaching supporting pictures to your writings brings back another support element to share with others. Adding pictures makes your writing even more effective.
For example, here’s a picture of a personal element that I carry in my wallet. It is a mini-rosary that Jean kept close to her at all times. It so reminds me of her deep faith, and makes me content with my memory of her close contact with God. That manifestation of her contact helps keep me close to both of them. Whatever ways one can add pictures, adds to the inspiration of your words to others. Relighting Us provides the communication vehicle for that to happen. More food for the good wolf.
