MENTAL HEALTH
You’ve Always Had the Power, My Dear
A Psychotherapist’s perspective on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz characters.
“You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
I believe you must be familiar with the iconic American tale ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by L. Frank Baum.
After a tornado hurls through Kansas, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are swept away from their home to the colorful and magical Land of Oz. To find their way back home, they must embark on a journey to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz resides.
On their way there, Dorothy and Toto are joined by three characters: a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. They are hopeful that the Wizard will be able to fulfill their wishes.
Everyone has put their faith in the Wizard. When they arrive at the Emerald Castle, they are certain he could help them. Their illusions get shattered when Dorothy’s little dog Toto reveals the wizard’s magic is a scam.
The all-mighty Oz proves to be just an old man who uses disguises to appear to be a great wizard. Oz does give the Scarecrow a new head filled with a brain made of bran, pins, and needles. He gives the Tin Man a silk heart stuffed with sawdust. He gives the Lion the courage potion. And Dorothy travels back to Kansas by knocking her heels together three times at Glinda’s advice.
I intentionally left out parts of the plot since I am only going to focus on the above-mentioned aspects for the purpose of this article.
There have been many interpretations of the Wizard of Oz throughout time. From it being a political parabole to being seen as a hero’s journey, or an allegorical tale of the soul’s journey along the spiritual path.
In this article, I am going to focus solely on analyzing the limiting beliefs of the characters from a psychotherapist's standpoint.
Interesting fact: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, the same year as The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud. Whilst Freud analyzed what drives us to meet primal needs and fulfill unconscious wishes, Frank Baum spun Dorothy Gale into a Technicolor dream to help her journey companions find the brains, heart, and courage they thought they were missing and to find their way back home.
Certain interpretations also state that the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man are aspects that Dorothy needs to integrate along her journey. Integrating the subconscious and conscious minds is essential for our healthy and thriving existence.
For instance, I grew up with the belief that children were expected to be seen and not heard. The fundamental message was to keep my head down and not rock the boat.
As a result, I learned quickly to deny, repress, and hide parts of myself that did not comply with those expectations. Thus, my self-esteem took a hit, I repressed my emotions and creative aspects I perceived as not being acceptable. By being disconnected from those parts I experienced a lot of suffering. It took a while to be able to process everything, but when I did, I felt like I finally got reunited with long-lost parts of myself. I felt whole again.
According to the article The Wizard of Oz: A Parable of Brief Psychotherapy, The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion are perfectly describing aspects such as low self-esteem, restricted emotional expressiveness, and anxiety.
These are some aspects that most of us deal with in our own lives. Some of us might have lacked the emotional support of our parents or primary caregivers. Others might have dealt with harsh criticism that has made us doubt our skills and suppress our creative expression. Others might have been subjected to high expectations that we are still trying to achieve thinking we are not worthy of love otherwise.
According to Psychology Today, the Wizard of Oz perfectly illustrates the concept of connecting with our true inner self. We are aimed at becoming ourselves, but we are also uniquely adept at standing in our own way.
Our limiting beliefs sabotage us from achieving our true potential: not being good enough, smart enough, loveable enough. Always lacking something, experiencing a void inside of us that we try to fill in by looking for things on the outside.
We put others on a pedestal thinking we lack the qualities they have. But that’s not actually true.
What we see in others is also a reflection of ourselves.
Seeing something desirable in others also means that we possess those qualities inside us. Qualities that are still dormant. But that we can awaken through learning and practice.
Of course, there are aspects we see in others and we don’t like but that is a great opportunity for self-reflection and healing those parts of ourselves.
Looking at others to entirely validate us is not feasible. Because it means that we are always at the mercy of external subjective opinions. We
live in a society where seeking outside validation has become our second nature. Being caught between the lack of validation we received from our primary caregivers in childhood and social media’s strong pull, the need for praise and acknowledgment is more prevalent than ever.
We are social creatures who need social interaction to thrive. The problem is, the more dependent we are on external circumstances to offer us praise, the more prone to disappointment and low self-esteem we become. Perhaps we look up to an authoritative figure that resembles one of our parents. We believe that if they gave us what we thought we lacked, we will finally be seen and heard. I wrote an article offering 5 tips to drop your external validation, you can find it here.
Another notable aspect: the Scarecrow cleverly deciphered riddles along the way, the Tin Man expressed profound empathy toward the creatures they encountered, and the Cowardly Lion overcame his fears time and again over the course of their journey.
This tells us we tend to lose sight of the bigger picture. We believe that someone outside of us has the answers and can give us the rite of passage for stepping into our power.
Instead, we should focus on the steps we take along our journey, and give ourselves a pat on the back for every progress we make, even if it’s small.
At the end of the book, the Wizard does give the Scarecrow a new head filled with a brain made of bran, pins, and needles. He gives the Tin Woodman a silk heart stuffed with sawdust. and the Lion, a courage potion.
The film version spins it a bit, with the wizard giving the Scarecrow a diploma, the Tin Woodman a ticking heart-shaped clock, and the Cowardly Lion a medal.
Some of us do believe we have to follow certain rituals and pursue higher education in order to prove ourselves. And there is nothing wrong with that. I myself believe in certain rituals that allow me to better connect to a Higher Consciousness such as prayer, grounding, or meditation. And I enjoy continuous learning which allows me to become more knowledgeable in my field.
The problem comes though when we obsess over these things and depend solely on these external things to fulfill our deepest needs. I have met people who do many spiritual rituals but who lack taking action due to self-esteem issues. And people who enroll in course after course and earn degree after degree but they never give themselves permission to profess in their dream field due to limiting beliefs such as not being good enough yet.
Toto revealing the Wizard’s magic was a scam is another metaphor for us to break away from the illusion that someone else has to give us permission to be our true authentic self and go after our goals.
Dorothy’s desire of going home could be seen as a wish for accessing our inner resources and reintegrating all of those aspects we have been disconnected from.
How can we give ourselves permission to be our true authentic selves?
We talked earlier about the void or emptiness we feel when we believe we are not worthy, not capable, not enough.
Margaret Paul, Ph.D., says it best:
“There is only one thing that truly fills the emptiness. Love. There is only one cause of inner emptiness: a lack of love. But it is not a lack of someone else’s love that causes your emptiness. Inner emptiness is caused by self-abandonment — by not loving yourself.”
Loving yourself is the key to unlocking your greatest potential. If you truly love and accept yourself, perfectly imperfect, you are not going to betray yourself and your dreams anymore.
Another takeaway is to be more service to others oriented.
Dorothy faces her journey with courage, heart, and brains. She finds her way home and became more of herself as she helps others along their way. As we help, we are helped.
On your journey, you are going to meet different people. People who share similar dreams, hopes, fears, disappointments as you. They can help you grow, and you can help them grow as well. You never know how many things you might have in common with someone else unless you give them the chance to share their story. And in return, they will listen to yours.
Final thoughts
Everything you seek on the outside is already within you.
Drop your importance for external validation and go more within.
Bring awareness to aspects of yourself that are not integrated. Accept these aspects or behaviors and thus you can work towards integrating them.
Self-love is crucial. You are your own best friend. Being there for yourself through thick and thin is the best thing you can do.
Be more service-oriented towards others. It will bring a greater sense of fulfillment to your life.
Don’t forget:
You are the one who has to grant yourself permission to pursue your dreams.
“You’ve always had the power my dear, you just had to find it for yourself.”
— Glinda, Wizard of Oz
You already have everything that you need inside you, you just have to use it. You are just as capable as anyone else to achieve everything you put your mind to.
You can do it, you can have it, you can be it! You are it!
And that’s your power.
Reclaim it and take it back.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what the Wizard of Oz story represents to you.
Thank you for reading! I appreciate you!
