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An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, “Let me tell you a story. I, too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like drinking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings myself many times.”
He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does not harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing.”
“Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”
The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”
A Tale of Two Wolves, from a Cherokee legend as re-told in The Mindful Mood Management Workbook by Charlton Hall
Thinking Wolf and Sensing Wolf
The more energy we spend on sensing, the less energy we have to spend on thinking. Based on the tale of two wolves above, we could see the two wolves as “thinking wolf” and “sensing wolf.” The more energy you give to the sensing wolf, the less energy you give to the thinking wolf. The less energy the thinking wolf receives, the weaker the thinking wolf becomes. Conversely, the more energy the sensing wolf receives, the stronger the sensing wolf becomes. By shifting from thinking to sensing, you’re not trying to ‘kill’ the thinking wolf. You’re not engaging in doing by trying to make the thinking wolf go away. You’re simply depriving it of energy so that it may eventually go away on its own. Even if it doesn’t go away on its own, you’re not focusing your attention on it. Since your attention isn’t on it, thinking wolf can’t grab you by the throat, refusing to let go.
The Wolf You Feed
It could be said that focusing on what your senses are telling you is a type of thinking as well, and that is partially true; however, the difference is that focusing on what your senses are telling you is a type of thinking devoid of emotional content. If you’re in a thinking cycle that is causing you anxiety or depression, then anxiety and depression are emotions. But unless you hate trees for some reason, simply sitting quietly in a forest and observing a tree as if you are an artist about to draw that tree is an exercise devoid of emotional content. By focusing on the emotionally neutral stimuli found in nature, we allow ourselves to feed the sensing wolf.
How Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy Helps Nurture the Sensing Wolf Over the Thinking Wolf
The metaphor of the two wolves offers a useful way to understand the tension between present-moment awareness and the mental habits that fuel anxiety, stress, and depression. The “sensing wolf” represents the part of us that experiences life directly through the five senses, grounded in what is happening here and now. The “thinking wolf,” on the other hand, is the part of the mind that ruminates, analyzes, spirals into what-ifs, and fixates on problems. Both wolves have value, but in many people, the thinking wolf grows overfed, dominating the internal landscape with worry and mental noise. Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy creates conditions that allow the sensing wolf to regain strength, balance, and presence, shifting the center of gravity away from constant mental churn.
Natural Environments Favor the Sensing Wolf
One reason this works so well is that natural environments naturally favor the sensing wolf. When someone steps outdoors into a wooded area, a park, a shoreline, or even a garden, the sensory field becomes richer and more inviting than the world of internal rumination. Leaves move in the breeze, sunlight flickers, birds call, water flows, and colors shift. The brain is gently nudged toward sensory engagement, which quiets the internal monologue that the thinking wolf thrives on. In this state, attention moves from the world of thoughts to the world of direct experience. This transition alone can reduce stress and interrupt the cycles that reinforce anxiety and depression.
Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy builds on this natural shift by offering structured practices that actively engage the sensing wolf. Techniques like mindful walking, breath awareness in natural settings, sensory-focused grounding, and observation of ecological patterns encourage participants to connect deeply with what is happening in the moment. When the senses are occupied and awake, the thinking wolf loses some of its grip. Rumination is harder to maintain while noticing the texture of a stone, the temperature of the air, or the scent of pine needles. Over time, this repeated redirection strengthens neural pathways associated with presence rather than worry.
Chilling Out with the Sensing Wolf
Another benefit of nurturing the sensing wolf is the way ecotherapy interacts with the body’s stress physiology. Rumination activates the sympathetic nervous system, keeping the body stuck in low-grade fight-or-flight. Sensory engagement, particularly in nature, stimulates the parasympathetic system, which promotes calm, digestion, and restoration. As the body calms, the mind follows. When the nervous system shifts into balance, the sensing wolf becomes easier to access, and the thinking wolf becomes less dominant. This physiological support is one of the reasons nature-based mindfulness is such a potent intervention for chronic stress and mood challenges.
Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy also provides a corrective to the thinking wolf’s habit of interpreting thoughts as facts. When individuals practice noticing sensations without judgment, they simultaneously learn to observe thoughts with the same attitude. Thoughts become passing mental events rather than urgent demands for action or attention. This distances the self from the thinking wolf’s tendency to catastrophize or rehearse negative narratives. Instead of wrestling with thoughts, participants learn to acknowledge them and return to sensory experience, strengthening the sensing wolf through repetition and compassion.
Sensing Wolf and Connection
Finally, ecotherapy nurtures the sensing wolf by cultivating connection—connection to nature, to the present moment, and ultimately to one’s own internal experience. The thinking wolf often thrives in isolation, spinning stories without grounding in the wider world. The sensing wolf grows stronger when individuals feel part of a larger ecosystem, rooted and supported by the living environment around them. This sense of belonging reduces the vulnerability that fuels rumination and helps reinforce emotional resilience.
By feeding the sensing wolf through mindfulness-based experiences in nature, individuals create healthier internal balance. The thinking wolf does not disappear, but it no longer runs the entire show. Over time, present-moment awareness becomes more accessible, anxiety decreases, and emotional well-being improves. This is the core strength of Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy: teaching people how to live more fully in the present while gently quieting the mental habits that keep them trapped in stress.
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