Friday, July 15, 2011

I AM THE WIZARD: WHAT "THE WIZARD OF OZ" TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE

The MGM classic “The Wizard of Oz” just might be the definitive movie metaphor for life. If you think about it, a lot of us are a lot like young Dorothy-running away in search of what we think is missing at home. We make it all so super-dramatic and complicated. And like the characters that she meets along her journey to Oz, we are in search of those things like courage, brains and a heart that will make us “better” people. If we were braver, smarter, or more loving and kind, all would be well. There is something that we are in need of that is missing. Without it, we are incomplete.

And often, we spend our entire lives on that same journey. We fight against all obstacles that stand in our way while we ignore the fact that we are actually BEING, in our most honest, vulnerable, and authentic moments, those things that we wish we had. We seek out our very own wizards; hoping that they will grant us with the gift of what we most desire. But on our journeys, the wizards are many. And even though we find ourselves continually disappointed once the curtain is pulled back and the fakery is exposed, our belief is not diminished. On the contrary, we curse the wizards for their deception and their inability to grant our wishes. We swallow our disappointments and we move on in our search for the “real” one person or thing that will fix us and make us whole. And, that fix is always around the next corner. It’s in the next relationship, the next job, the next course, the next book, the next……..

But like the characters in the movie, at some point we must allow ourselves to know the truth. And that is we already possess what we are looking for. We don’t need a wizard to grant us courage, brains or a heart. In fact, no person or thing or institution can give us something that we believe that we lack.

There are still times when I find myself in search of that magical Wizard. But I know that if we would only believe, we would see that what we have been searching for has been in us the entire time.

-Written by Angie