As a kid, and even as an adult for many years, I was always super annoyed when Glinda told Dorothy that she could have gone back to Kansas anytime she wanted – that she always had that power. The Scarecrow asks her why she never said anything about this earlier, and Glinda replies, “She wouldn’t have believed me – she had to learn it for herself.”
I would always think to myself, “Listen, Glinda, if you had said that to me, I would’ve believed you and been on the first flying house back to Kansas in a hot second.”
But of course it goes much deeper than that. Glinda knew exactly what she was talking about, and now I finally get it.
We are all born with that power. Not the power to fly over the rainbow with a click of your heels, but the power of knowing that we are whole, we are enough just as we are. That power gets buried soon after birth as we are told what we should and shouldn’t do and think, as we are burdened by familial and societal pressures and begin to doubt ourselves. Or worse yet, we end up not believing in ourselves.
So how do we get back to that place where we are truly ourselves –- the place that feels like home?
For me it was about gaining self-awareness through my yoga and mindfulness practices. In the stillness of meditation, I am able to reconnect to myself and my sense of inner peace, gratitude, and abundance. I am able to let go and know that all is as it should be. As I move through yoga poses, I feel grounded and strong in the present moment, again connecting to my inner peace.
All of that was always there inside me, but walls that built up over time kept it hidden. If you had said to me even 10 years ago: “You got this – you know what to do,” I would have laughed and disagreed – I wouldn’t have believed you. I had to learn it for myself.
What if Glinda had told Dorothy she could go home right away? She never would have taken that strange, silly, scary excursion down the yellow brick road where she learned about true friendship and love and how to be brave, and encountered a wizard who turned out to be just as lost as the rest of us. Didn’t home have much more meaning after journeying to Oz and back?
Don’t get me wrong – I haven’t figured it all out – self-doubt can be insidious and I sometimes still hear those voices telling me I’m not good enough. But I spend less time stuck there. In stillness, I find my way back to that pure light, the core of me, where I feel like I’m truly home.
