The Wizard of Oz is filled with wonderful archetypal images representing the parts of us that we all carry, better known as powerful roles that embody the collective unconscious. As we continue this conversation about the symbols in this story I hope we use them to explore the psyche and the varied emotions discussed as we go down the “yellow brick road” of life. Please allow yourself the time to think about how each of the small aspects from this story affects you and are part of you
Let’s go back to when Dorothy runs from her Auntie’s house. She is in distress, filled with angst, filled with spoken and unspoken words. She runs away with her dog “Toto” in hand, somehow believing that as long as she has her faithful, loving dog, she will be safe. Yet, when the winds pick up, really a symbol of just how distraught she feels and a tornado forms, she tries to run back home. Her anger, represented by the tornado, prevents her from getting back home. She really cannot go home until her anger is resolved.
What makes you feel anger? Think about this for a moment.
What is your relationship to anger.?
Do you get angry when things don’t go right ?
When someone has emotionally hurt or wronged you?
When expectations don’t come to fruition?
Of course, there are other reasons for anger, start to identify them. Begin this conversation with yourself. This conversation is the beginning to you learning how to cope with your anger while knowing that you do not need to run from an emerging tornado to be ok. When you face it, speak it and honor its presence, it does not have the steam to grow into more than a simple storm. Certainly, a storm is far better than a tornado!
How does an emerging tornado feel to you? Does your stomach get tense? Are you more hungry than normal for you? Do you become very quiet? Are you grinding your teeth? Does your face flush? What are the signs that develop for you?
These signs are your tells, and can help to prevent the tornado from occurring. When you know that your anger is being tapped into, you have the ability to stop the movement of it. You have the power to be in the moment and tend to what you are feeling instead of letting it fester and grow into that tornado.
Stop running from your anger. Begin to identify it. Identify what fosters it identity. The archetype of your anger stems from a thought, a disrupting memory, or a feeling that holds you stagnate, lingering in a place that creates an angst of being stuck.
Know that as you explore your anger, find a voice to what is going on for you and share it, either with yourself or others, you will honor the emotion of your anger and it will surely dissipate.
