It's hard to believe that it is over 80 years ago since the little girl with the ruby red slippers burst onto the big screen in a film that would capture the hearts of so many generations. As a little girl, I remember settling down on the sofa at Christmas each year to watch "The Wizard of Oz". I cheered as the wicked witch got squashed by a house, sang along with the Munchkins (yes, I still know all the words) and hide behind the cushion as the flying monkeys took to the sky. As a parent, it has long since become a rite of passage for each of my children to watch this fantastic tale of friendship, bravery and good verses evil and is still to this day a firm favourite in my household. This feel good film offers an escape from the harsh reality of modern life but perhaps there is more to the film than first realised and even bigger lessons for us to learn.
The Power within...........
One of my all time favourite quotes from the film was this wonderful line from Glinda towards the end of the film, where she finally reveals to Dorothy that the ruby slippers were simply a ruse and that the real power for her to return home had been with her all the time. The power was Dorothy herself! Like Dorothy many of us spend a huge amount of time believing that the answer to all of life's questions is somewhere out there and that the key to finding peace and harmony in our life is something we have to go looking for. But just as Dorothy discovered, we wont find this "over the rainbow" or in fact anywhere apart from within ourselves.
Don't give your power away...... But the film doesn't stop there in providing us with some important lessons about how we manage our inner power. For instance, lets turn our attention to the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz himself, in reality he was neither great or indeed powerful but he was certainly very wise. Dorothy and her friends were all searching for something that in reality they already had - a home, a heart, a brain and courage, yet they willingly gave away their power to the Wizard of Oz, believing him to be the only person that could give them the things they believed they lacked. In fact what the Wizard of Oz did was set them a challenge to retrieve the witch's broomstick to "prove themselves worthy". The real purpose of this challenge was in fact for them to realise that they already possessed the things they were looking for, within themselves. It was not for them to prove their worth to the Wizard of Oz but to themselves.
The power of limiting beliefs........ The famous 4 began their journey, searching for things they believed they didn't already possess; Dorothy was searching for a happier life, the scarecrow a brain, the tinman a heart and the lion wanted courage. They had convinced themselves that these things were missing and even when, after they had successfully completed the mission set by the Wizard of Oz, they continued applying these limiting beliefs despite all the evidence to the contrary and continued to seek what they believed they lacked from outside of themselves. In this way they continued to disempower themselves by simply being unable to see past the negative beliefs they held.
And now as I bring this blog to a close, I will leave you with one of my other favourite quotes from the film. When Dorothy is talking about her "backyard", we can interpret this as "ourselves" and how true it is that if you are looking for the things that contribute to your "personal power" then the only place to look is within and if it isn't there then it was probably never for your highest good!
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