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Dear Hearts,
I believe the story of the Wizard of Oz to be one of the most powerful teaching parables ever written. Through its charming characters and challenging situations we can learn much about who we are, what we’ve got, and how to more successfully travel our own pathways of life.
The Cowardly Lion may be the most lovable character of them all. Most of us can see a little bit of ourselves in that Lion because we all have our own fears. In his gentle and compassionate way he shows us that most of our fears are unfounded, and he demonstrates the many and often times inappropriate ways we respond to fear.
The Lion is King of the Forest, the icon of manhood, he is supposed to be hard, and tough, and rule with an iron paw! Not our guy, he’s gentle, compassionate, and not just a little effeminate (do those look like iron paws to you?).
His greatest and most crippling fear is that he won’t be able to MEASURE UP to what he thinks others think he should be. What kind of behaviors do you think this powerful fear would motivate?
See if you can relate to any of these fear behaviors that might arise from the Lion’s fear:
1. Overly aggressive attitude “bullying” to compensate for or mask the fear . . .
2. Compromised health . . .
3. Talking yourself down in front of others . . .
4.Being to afraid to ask for what you need . . .
There are many more, but you get the picture. The point is if we don’t learn how to move through our fears they can become a prison which prevents us from going out into the world and enjoying life. I know this to be true because that’s the way I spent the first 45 years of my life. Freedom sure feels good!
That’s about all we can say on the topic of fear in a short HeartBeat, but if you want to learn ways of rising above your fears, Susan Jeffer’s book Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway is the best way I know of to start. Or better yet if you’re in the UK check out the Feel the Fear workshop in London.
Ultimately, of course the Cowardly Lion discovered that he already possessed all the courage he needed; he just had to learn how to access it. And so it is us all.
Make it a fearless week.
Love and blessings,
Rick and Patricia
Namaste
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