Jess Craven posted this on her Substack CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you. I imagine, if you’re here reading this, you already know the ways you connect with your “green dog.” This is a reminder of how very important that is, now more than ever.
“There’s a thing they talk about in recovery circles—I call it the parable of the red dog and the green dog*. It’s simple, and goes like this: We each have two dogs inside of us, a red one and a green one. The red dog is all of our dark impulses—self-hatred, fear, addiction, anger, isolation, etc. The [green] dog is our “light” impulses—love, connection, honesty, sobriety, and the like.
The two dogs are in constant battle. So what determines which one wins?
It comes down to which one we feed.
Our country is having its own red dog and green dog moment. We have a red dog that is fear, exploitation, greed, racism, hate, dictatorship. We have a green dog that is love, justice, tolerance, empathy, community, democracy. Both dogs are extremely powerful. They have battled for the duration of our country’s existence. That battle has now grown internecine—perhaps it always was.
So which dog will win?
Again, the one we feed.
That’s why I look at this work not so much as fighting the “bad guys” as helping the good ones. I try not to fight the red dog. Because doing so, in many ways, helps it, not me.
Instead I just feed the green one. Because doing so helps it and me.
That’s what our actions here are about. Feeding the proverbial green dog. It’s how we sustain this work, but it’s also how we win. And, ironically, how we care for ourselves!
So when things get overwhelming, when it seems impossible to track the plethora of evils we face, when hate seems to have taken a million forms, I quiet my mind and focus my purpose by remembering “that’s the red dog. What can I do for the green one?”
Friends, the green dog is better fed than ever these days. It is thriving. So instead of worrying about every instance of evil coming out of this administration, let’s channel our righteous energies towards growing love. Growing justice. Growing tolerance. Growing empathy. Growing community. Growing democracy. There are literally countless ways we can do these things. All of us can find a few that work for us.
And that’s a great thing. Because the more these things grow, the more our opponents will wither, falter, and fail.
It may seem counterintuitive, but this approach works—I have lived experience to prove it, and I’m not alone. Best of all, it strengthens us. Because it turns out feeding the green dog also feeds us.”
So tell me, how are you feeding the green dog today? Comment below.
ARTWORK: Keith Haring Pop Shop Dogs
*I only found references to a Red Dog/Blue Dog recovery technique, and someone in Jess’ comments mentioned that this approach is originally a native Cherokee parable about two wolves (see more). Either way, you get the point. I hope.
Please follow and support Jess’ CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER. She is a beacon of light and action in this dark world. Click here.
randomactsofwriting.net 