Thrive and Awaken® Tip

What if some of what you believe about yourself and life isn’t quite as real as you think?

In many ways, life parallels The Wizard of Oz. Like the Scarecrow, we can spend years believing we aren’t intelligent enough, while overlooking the wisdom we already possess.

Like the Cowardly Lion, we can believe we lack courage, even as we repeatedly demonstrate courage by facing the challenges of everyday life.

And like Dorothy, we can search far and wide for something that, in some deeper sense, has been with us all along.

This is what our ego does. It creates stories to help us understand ourselves and navigate the world. In Survival Mode, those stories are often shaped by fear and past experiences such as, I’m not good enough. I can’t handle this. I need others to approve of me. I need to be in control. Something is missing.

The stories feel real because we’ve been telling them for so long. Awakening doesn’t mean that everything is imaginary or that the circumstances of our lives aren’t real. It means becoming aware of how much of our experience is shaped by the stories, assumptions, judgments, and meanings we have added to what actually happened.

We begin to peek behind the curtain. And sometimes we discover that the great and powerful story that has been running our life isn’t quite as powerful as we imagined.

As we Thrive and Awaken, we become increasingly able to recognize these stories without automatically believing them. We can bring Compassionate Curiosity to them and ask: Is this really true? What am I assuming? What might I see if I loosen my grip on this story?

Then something wonderful happens. We don’t have to destroy the story. We simply stop confusing it with reality. Perhaps that is our own yellow brick road. We follow it inward, gradually discovering the intelligence, courage, and love that were never as absent as we imagined.

And along the way, we find our way home to the land of our heart, where we can love ourselves and others more fully.

Reflection

Think of a story you have carried about yourself for a long time, such as:
“I am not _____ enough.”
“I have to ______ in order to be okay.”
“I could never ______”

Now become curious: “What if this is a story rather than the whole truth?”
You might just discover that you already have your ruby slippers.