different, but with the same solution:
A Cherokee Legend
"Grandfather Tells" (also known as "The Wolves Within")
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 that 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 taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no 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, ah! He 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."
From my Kabbalah meditation---
We worry. We think about it. We over-think about it. We wade in our emotions and feelings about it. In the process the problem becomes much bigger than it is - but, in comparison to everything that is happening around us and the vastness of the universe, our problems are really the size of a grain of sand.
And so just like there is often a terrible fight between two wolves - One evil, who is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego, and the other good, who is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith, and the one we feed is the one that wins, likewise, when we focus on our problems, we feed them by thinking and over-thinking about them till they become so big that they block out everything else.
Solution: Feed only the good wolf. Do not feed the problem.
In fact, do not focus on the problem at all.....leave it be, do something else, and take another look at the problem only after an hour (at least) or two (or more).
By not feeding the issues we have in our lives with unnecessary energy, we can stop buying into the illusion that they are huge...