Nuudawn

"It's a little bit like Dorothy in Oz, who couldn't get home until she accepted herself for who she really was."

Ya. wow. Those words just left up off the page of the book I'm currently reading. All my life I have deeply, deeply resonated with the classic Wizard of Oz. I have bastardized many a metaphor with some movie reference or another. I do remember Mizzuno and I sharing some laugh about "not being in Kansas" anymore a time or two. I think you were in on that conversation Soberjennie (hope you're safe Mizz...).

I have actually googled the meaning of the Oz tale on more than one occasion. I think I even desperately sought reference of it in Jungian psychology. I have had NO idea why I have felt there is just soooooooo much meaning and symbolism of that ole movie in my life. I even know far too much about poor ole Judy Garland..and well, Liza for that matter : )

I have noted previously how the word "Home" became very, very symbolic in my earliest of recovery efforts. I have a special place in my heart for the song that shares that name after an extremely bright lightbulb shone in my heart and soul when I heard the song on a run by the sea.

Finally...somebody has said something that makes me understand my connection to the the tale. Maybe you all got the moral of that story a long time ago... maybe I did and didn't truly absorb it...

But that's what this is all about...radical self acceptance.... about coming home. Making your place...your interiors..your home.

I know this may all come off as wildly self indulgent..but it's something I wanted to share today as it all means so much to me.

biminiblue

I love that song.

ElleDee

Me too... love that song... brings up lots of emotions. Sniff, sniff.

SoberLeigh

My device won't play the video; what song did you post, Nuu?

Soberpotamus

Nice post, Nuu. I too hope Mizz is doing alright.

That song has a bit of a Celtic feel to it, I think.

ando68

Nice nuu,, nice.

awuh1

Thanks Nuudawn. That's just what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it.

Nuudawn

Home by "Phillip Phillips"..or "Phillipson" ..or Phillipscrewdriver ..lotta Phil in there...

Yes..definitely Celtic SJ. Gotta Mumford & Sons feeling or basically...how all bands coming from Nova Scotia or east coast of Canada sound lol.

Soberwolf

Thank you Nudawn

Kaneda8888

Nuudawn

I think its sort of half right. Acceptance of who you are AND forgiving yourself !

Nuudawn

I dunno Kaneda. I think acceptance implies you have already forgiven yourself. No?

Thepatman

Thanks Nuu, keep trucking girl!

Kaneda8888

Hmmm, it depends on how you define acceptance. I guess you are right if acceptance means fully embracing your past and moving on.

VikingGF

I found it interesting that Phillip Phillips' two big songs were "Home" and "Gone, Gone, Gone." Not sure which one resonated more with me. So contrary to each other.

SoberLeigh

Yes!!!! I should have guessed; great song.

fini

can't even see a link in your post; never mind a video.

but no matter.

what you're saying sounds kinda like what i mean when i say i couldn't embrace sobriety until i could embrace my alcoholism/myself as an alcoholic - is that how you mean?

Nuudawn

For me I was speaking of self acceptance about ALL that I am...not just the addiction within in. I have other issues that require acknowledgement or compassion or understanding outside of my addictions. I believe it is my unacceptance of who I am that allowed me find solace or escape in my addictions.

JanieJ

Ahh Nuu, that made me cry. Thank you for posting.

As so often happens here, it what was I needed to hear today

Aellyce

I just saw this post; nice one, Nuu. And something I also identify with very much.

All that identity search... projected into moving from one place to to the next, one way of living to the next, one area of research to the next... feeling endlessly that I am never quite there so need to go on searching... Searching for "home" (in many ways, location is just one) is pretty much a reflection of this for me. One of the most important lessons on the journey for me has been that all the searching leads nowhere really unless and until I realize that I am already "there". I think this is a similar idea to self-acceptance and compassion, but not identical.

All the compulsive searching for the "self" (or "human nature") that we human beings tend to do is like threading water... we want to see the depth of it but it stirs up all the junk and the water becomes so murky that we cannot truly see anything and don't know where we are so we go on threading. We need to stop threading and stand still in order to allow everything to become clear, and then we will be able to view the underlying depth we so compulsively looked for and see it's actually quite simple.

Another nice metaphor for these things in popular fiction is Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I think. That does not have the nice outcome and closure as Dorothy's story and is pretty... well, "dark" and obsessive. In my mind it's like the cynical version of a similar idea where the cycles of searching and suffering never end.

Nuudawn

Agreed. The "Home" tune sparked something in me regarding that very concept...home is ..within. That day on Vancouver's breathtaking seawall...I heard the lyrics (I had actually heard them before but hadn't registered them) and it was like there was some sort of inner cry of "yes!" within..and it was like I realized I needed to say..do that...for myself "I'm gonna make this place your home!"...my very own thoughts and interiors...

And that same theme resonated even more deeply when I picked up the book "Spirituality of Imperfection"..as it too speaks to the notion that "home" is ..within.

Recently I chucked when I heard someone say something similar to that zen adage but it was "wherever I go, I'm the first one there".

Yup.