In the movie The Wizard of Oz Dorothy is whisked away by a tornado, and lands up in a beautiful color-filled land, full of interesting and adventurous people, but is she happy? Nope. All she can think about is that she wants to go home.
After being given the red slippers by the good witch, she starts her journey to find a way home. She meets along the way the tin man, the scarecrow, and the lion. They become good friends, but is she happy? Nope, she just wants to go home. Adventures await her, some good, some very frightening, does she pause and reflect on the meaning of any of them? Nope, she just wants to go home.
When she finally gets to Oz and meets the great Wizard, her only wish is to go home. She misses the boat (balloon), but is finally told by the Good Witch that she had the ability to go home all along. All she had to do was to say “There's no place like home,” three times.
So here we are in the middle of a tornado (pandemic) with stay-at home orders from our leaders, but many are finding out that that isn't where they want to be!! Many are convinced that there is another place that will make them happy, Just like Dorothy sang “Somewhere over the rainbow,” I, too have sung that song so many times wishing for a magical wonder land, knowing that any place is better than this place.
As a member of a 12-step recovery group we are frequently reminded that geographical moves aren't the cure. We take ourselves with us wherever we go looking for that magical cure. Although many of us have tried it over and over again: if I move there, I'll be happy. Seattle is so much better, only to find the rain and drab so discomforting once we are there. We wallow in dissatisfaction, and self-pity and contemplate a move to someplace else. And if we can't physically move the desire for escaping leads to the promise of drugs and alcohol that they are our friends.
As I sit on my patio watching the morning sun come up and seeing the birds peck at the feeder, I am reminded of Ram Das's words that we all must learn to BE HERE NOW. In this moment of contemplation there is a sense of peace that erases all my desires to be someplace else, doing something else, with someone else. That is HOME, the attitude within myself that I am at exactly where I am meant to be in this moment.
Over the years, with all my moves, all my adventures, and all my friends, male and female, it has taken me a long time to discover that I am already there. Home isn't a place or a time or an experience, it is a state of mind that I carry with me wherever I go. I just need to click my heels together and say, “There’s no place like home,” three times, be in the present moment, and I'm there.
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