What can Maleficent,
Love & Play teach us?
I was on my to Cancun last week for the first vacation that
my husband and I have taken alone in 6 years.
One thing I know for sure, and preach often, is the importance of rest
and repair. Sometimes it is hard to
practice, especially if you are used to working and your healthy ego is fueled
by a sense of success and accomplishment.
I surrendered to play as I watched the movie Maleficent with
my husband (who has no trouble with play). Now I feel renewed energy to write,
something that I love to do, but don’t always give myself permission to
dedicate the time and discipline to do. I so loved the messages from this movie!
First message, from Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), “Don’t believe
the fairytales and everything everyone tells you.” I agree, as written in a previous blogpost titled, Rethink Everything. There are always two sides to every story. This is why one of my favorite Broadway shows
is still Wicked; I have seen it in three different cities. We are neither good nor bad, we are
both. When we get stuck in one belief,
in one dogma, at best, we feel there is a battle or internal struggle to
overcome; at worst, we end in war where everyone loses.
As I said in my book, “What you focus on is what you get”
which is why we will always lose the war. This is true for the war on cancer
and the war on drugs, as proven by rising rates despite the billions we pour
into the effort. When we demonize ourselves, and our enemies we only increase
the conflict. Love heals cancers,
addictions and broken hearts.
How do we best heal ourselves? We recognize that we are
neither good, nor evil, we are both. We are human, each of us have the capacity
for great good as well as great evil. If World War II taught us anything, it
should have taught us this. When we deny
these feelings in ourselves, we deny our humanity.
When we deny the capacity for both imperfection and evil
within us all, in order to support this false belief, we must demonize
others. We are then blinded by our
“position” by our dogma. Also, when we see others as evil or wrong, it creates
suffering.
Instead, if we view others as neither good nor bad, we can
surrender the need to change them, and fall back on the only thing we have
control over, which is our own free will.
We can choose to love or we can choose to hate. We can
choose greatness or we can chose evil.
When you choose to take personal responsibility for your thoughts and our actions,
only then can you realize how you create your own reality. When you let go of the need for perfection, you will begin to practice compassion for yourself, and you can surrender the need to
control others. This allows you the
freedom to focus on your self, the only person you can possibly change. Listen to your body, to your
discomfort and view dis-ease as a messenger, not good or bad, but as a logical
consequence of the need for a course correction. This is how to turn fear into curiosity. This is when and how you determine where it is
that you want to go. This can be fun
and empowering.
King Stefan’s greed (fear of not having enough) caused him
to wound Maleficent. Malefiicent’s hurt, anger, and rage caused her to cast the
spell on Aurora. She did not believe in
true love, as her heart had been broken, neither did King Stefan, which is why
she cast the spell that could only be broken by “true love’s kiss”.
What no one counted on was the power of love. Neither the King nor Maleficent knew how the
love of an innocent child could warm and mend even the worst wounds of the
heart.
When we care for a child, like our beloved pets, we model unconditional,
trusting love. Maleficent discovered how a child could love her even when she
didn’t love herself. We also witness
the power of play and laughter to warm the heart and the spirit. The ability to chose to see the best in
others and to act in faith, to do the right thing and believe that when we
break down our walls the universe will provide what we need. This includes both
the painful lessons that tell us where we don’t want to go and the joy that
ensues from following your heart.
Yes, Aurora was right. It is time to question everything and
then rewrite the script towards love (of self) and empowerment!
Carpe Diem
