In one of my favorite movies of all-time (The Wizard of Oz), Dorothy learns that she had within herself the power to return to her home in Kansas all along and that she never really needed the much-touted but empty powers of The Wizard. How many of us have embarked on a yellow brick road, looking for answers from experts on how to solve our biggest problems? Is it possible that we’ve always had the power within ourself to find the answer?
So what gets in the way?
The first obstacle is the belief that someone else knows the answer better than we do. So we keep very busy looking for this “someone else” to tell us. And while we are so busy, we are avoiding the one thing that is most likely to lead us to our answers:
Getting quiet with ourself.
Quiet enough to listen.
Because sometimes it is uncomfortable and we don’t want to hear it. Sometimes the message we get from inside of our deepest knowing and wisdom is:
There is no right answer, or
It is not time to decide.
It is our quest for fixes and answers that leads us down that yellow brick road. But sometimes we have to allow the present to just be exactly as it is right now. Even when that feels bad.
Then there are the times when we don’t like the answer from deep inside ourself, so we continue to ask the Scarecrow, the Tin-man and the Lion. But let’s not forget that they, too, were looking for answers. And they, too, had the answers inside of themselves.
So here are 3 steps you can take to save yourself the trip over the rainbow and access the power inside of you to figure out the answer to any problem:
- Make a commitment to putting yourself and your needs as a top priority by writing time in your schedule to “See The Wizard” (you are The Wizard). Honor this appointment as if it were an appointment with an important client that pays you money. Create a space where you cannot be interrupted.
- We’re off the See The Wizard. Just get still and quiet. Take some deep breaths and focus your attention onto your breathing to help it shift away from the chatter of your mind. Your mind will still chatter, but keep moving your focus onto your breath….. then into your physical body becoming still and quiet.
- Next, recall a time that you felt very, very peaceful and let that memory embody all of your senses until your whole being feels very calm. Now ask yourself the question that you were saving for The Wizard. Just ask and let it go. Don’t search for an answer. Just be still and calm. See what comes up. Maybe nothing. Maybe an idea, or an image or an insight. Or maybe today is not the day. But that’s okay, because this wizard is not difficult to get an appointment with. This Emerald City is open any time you are willing to make the time for yourself.
At the end of the movie, Dorothy learns how to rely on her own power to find her way back and says,
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard because, if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”
So let’s stop traveling over the rainbow and down the yellow brick road and look in our own backyard to find the source of our power!
Next time, I will share another obstacle we face in accessing our own answers when we tell ourselves “big, fat lies”…..Stay tuned for How To Find Your Power, Part II
