8/19 Mental Toughness Thursday

Coaches Nick, Mattias and Micah teach future Marines to feed their courage wolf in our Report Ready program.

Feed the Courage Wolf

By Coach Leslie 
One of my favorite mindset and mental toughness teachers is Navy Commander Mark Divine with SealFit and the Unbeatable Mind project. I have had the pleasure of working out at SealFit, attending Kokoro yoga classes, and reading most of Commander Divine's books. 

Commander Divine is a rare man. He's a retired Navy Seal warrior, a CrossFitter, a yogi, a devoted meditator, and a mental toughness mentor. All things to which I also aspire. 

One of the best lessons I've learned from Commander Divine is to feed the my courage wolf. He writes about this American Indian parable in his blog post What Wolf are You Feeding?

In this parable, we have two wolves who reside inside us. In our mind is the fear (or hatred) wolf and in our heart is the courage (or loving) wolf. What type of person we are is dependent upon which wolf we feed. Doubt, self loathing, negative thoughts, etc., all feed the fear wolf. Compassion, encouraging others, and forgiveness feed the courage wolf. According to Commander Divine:

"Feeding the wolf of love and courage makes us more kind, patient, tolerant, powerful and present. We will avoid conflict and be better leaders.  We won’t hesitate to lean into the hard tasks; fear will cease being an influence in our lives."
​
​The nice thing is that by feeding the wolf of love and courage we will be simultaneously taming the wolf of fear.  How can we feed the wolf of love and courage?

• By taking care of teammates
• By encouraging rather than judging
• By showing compassion for yourself, and forgiving yourself for your personal disasters
• By looking for and finding good in the world

Condition your mind to feed the wolf of love and courage daily.  Pay attention to your mind and witness it feed the wolf of fear. Interdict, re-direct and maintain the positive courage state!

I challenge you to notice which wolf you feed. Which wolf do you feed when you're driving to the gym? Which wolf do you feed right before the coach yells, "3,2,1, GO!" Which wolf do you feed when the workout gets really, really hard? Do you feed the courage wolf and lean into the hard task? Do you feed the fear wolf and convince yourself it's too hard, too heavy, too...whatever. 
​
Feed the Courage Wolf. Feeding this wolf will make you happier, your family happier, your friends happier, your coaches happier, the world happier.