Sometimes inner conflict lies in discerning reality from illusion.
For example, when we are trying to achieve a goal and face an obstacle. The goal or the obstacle can be real or illusory. Discerning reality from illusion or fantasy will resolve the inner conflict.

Sometimes we have ambivalent feelings towards the same object. There are no obstacles on the way to or from the object, but we have two opposite forces towards it: attraction and repulsion. Finding the root of the opposite forces and emotions would help with resolving the inner conflict.

Sometimes we want two incompatible objects at the same time and are faced with the choice problem. Understanding our deep drive, not the craving, but the underlying unmet need, one that is often coming from early childhood would help in making that optimal and adequate choice.

When I read the Cherokee Story about two wolves, I think about our ability to attend to our inner conflict, not to run from it, not to deny it, not to displace it, not to distract from it, but to attend to it in a loving way.

“You see, if I only choose to feed the white wolf, the black one will be hiding around every corner waiting for me to become distracted or weak and jump to get the attention he craves. He will always be angry and always fighting the white wolf. But if I acknowledge him, he is happy and the white wolf is happy and we all win. For the black wolf has many qualities – tenacity, courage, fearlessness, strong-willed and great strategic thinking – that I have need of at times and that the white wolf lacks. But the white wolf has compassion, caring, strength and the ability to recognize what is in the best interest of all.

“You see, son, the white wolf needs the black wolf at his side. To feed only one would starve the other and they will become uncontrollable. To feed and care for both means they will serve you well and do nothing that is not a part of something greater, something good, something of life. Feed them both and there will be no more internal struggle for your attention. And when there is no battle inside, you can listen to the voices of deeper knowing that will guide you in choosing what is right in every circumstance. Peace, my son, is the Cherokee mission in life. A man or a woman who has peace inside has everything. A man or a woman who is pulled apart by the war inside him or her has nothing.

“How you choose to interact with the opposing forces within you will determine your life. Starve one or the other or guide them both.”
–Cherokee Story