Week 1

Start the meeting by sharing some good things that happened in the last week, any problems and their proposed resolutions (remember to accentuate positives and don’t dwell on negatives)

Choosing to live as a being of light and life – consciously choosing your life path

 

Purpose: Make a conscious choice to live the life you want to live by putting thought and conscious intention towards a positive life, discuss what this means and how to fully choose/foster it. Also discuss how to cultivate our inner wisdom and what our ‘Inner life’ and ‘Outer life’ are.

Teacher/parent background info: (read before lesson to familiarize yourself with topic):
This lesson is to help show there are 2 paths in life. One of more Positive choices, Life & Light, and LOVE and one of Darkness, Fear, and Anger. We can choose a path and try to choose it fully with amazing results. If we try to serve two masters and live in a gray area of not consciously choosing the life we want, we feel can feel lost and maybe even hopeless at times. Consciously choosing our path and holding these INTENTIONS and helping foster this for each other helps us feel strong, confident, and have the courage to stand up for how we want our lives to be. Cultivating our inner wisdom is a big part of this and understanding our ‘Inner Life’ and our ‘Outer Life’ are tools that help us foster all of this.

Preparation: Read over lesson, listening to your intuition for guidance.

Suggested supplies, songs, resources: poster board, 2 different colored markers

 

PART ONE

Suggested Lesson Plan: Tell the story

An old Cherokee told his grandson: “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, and resentment, inferiority, lies and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.”

The boy thought about it, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

 

http://zenpencils.com/comic/94-the-two-wolves/

Discussion: What are the two sides?

Possible activities: Get out poster board and markers & create poster of Being of Light and Life/“Good Wolf” traits on one side and Lost/Misguided “Dark Wolf” on other side (have kids tell all info with parents only helping a little)

Examples:

 

Journal: Have each participant enter in their journal – a small chart or picture or reminder – of these two sides

Discussion: Everyone has free will to choose who they want to be, what they want to do, and how they want to act. If you are not trying to make these choices consciously and with good intentions, you may walk through life trying to “serve two masters” and in a state of great confusion. If we make a conscious choice to live as a Being of Light and Love and remind ourselves consistently of our intention to be this way, the more and more this way we will become. There’s no need to point out the faults of others or be hard on yourself, if fear or anger overcome you – even though your intention was to do the opposite. Forgive and just keep trying. We are but human beings on a long journey to become a wise Being of Light and Life and Love through our many experiences and failures. Keep learning and growing and keep your head up.

Challenge: each participant to write down times in the future when they have an experience when they chose to either feed the “Good Wolf” or “Bad Wolf” and what happened.

PART TWO: Cultivating My Inner Wisdom

 

Fostering a strong inner life – Paying attention to building my inner life. My inner life, which is separate from my emotions, is where my values and meanings are rooted. It is also where I have the most control over my life. My outer life interacts with people, things, and institutions that are not under my control. No matter what I encounter in my outer life, my inner life can be strong and satisfying and can enhance the health of my emotions.

Focusing on what is ideal and right – My inner life is where I am free to define what is ideal and right for me. What is ideal and right is what I am inspired to support and advocate in my outer life. Loyalty to my ideals will reliably lead to contentment and satisfaction with how I live my life.

Feeling thankful – Making a habit of looking for things to be thankful for, from the smallest to the largest. Counting my blessings elevates my mood and helps me recognize what is important to me, how I can contribute to others, and what I can do to foster my own happiness.

 

What is our Inner Life?

My inner life is the environment where I choose and develop how I want to act, think and who I want to become. No one else has any control over my inner life. I develop my inner life by choosing the values by which I want to live. My loyalty to these values determines who I become.

The inner life is the realm of our existence we can learn to control. While we make choices in our minds that affect our outer lives, the choices we make are what determine the quality of our lives. In our inner lives we can choose to let go of the outside forces that try to control us. In doing this we find a sense of contentment.

To work on our inner life – to choose values and to learn to become loyal to them – is to deepen this contentment.

My inner life teaches me that when I stumble and fall I can recommit to the path that I’ve chosen.

 

What is our Outer Life?

The outer life is a canvas on which our inner self is reflected. Our outer life is where we put our values into action. It is our playground where we interact and become who we are.

Everything we say and do is a reflection of the values we are choosing. Our outer life challenges our values with the influences we face every day. It can be a distraction or an enhancement, depending on our focus.

Our mind is a bridge between our inner and outer life. Our thoughts directly affect how we react to the outer life. The mind is a tool that we use to apply the values we have chosen from our inner life to our outer life. If we don’t consciously bring our values forward, all we are doing is reacting, not thinking.

We influence our outer life by the decisions we make. We have a choice. Some of us allow outer influences to define who we are consequently suffocating the wisdom of the inner life.