Your Word for Today is "WIZIMS"

For years, I strove to uncover the ism's we live with. Those are race-ism, sex-ism, and collectively they are other-ism's. They divide us from the world, they make us feel different. Of course, that is not a good feeling as we all have a need to belong. However, today I want to introduce you to wizims. The name wizim is based upon the scarecrow in the Wiz. I love that movie!

The difference between an ism and a wizim is we have no power over ism's. Chiefly because ism's are placed upon us by other people. We cannot change others, but we can change ourselves. A wizim is inside of us, and it is up to us to recognize it and 'make that change'. The scarecrow could have come down all that time, but he never believed in himself. This is not to say that there weren't dreadful lies pressed upon him by the crows ( ism's). It simply is that no matter what, he had the power to come down. He just didn't know it. He had been taught that he had no worthy quality for as long as he was there. Worse than that, his purpose was to scare the crows away, but he became a prisoner of the very ones he was given power over. He did not know his purpose or power.

The scarecrow lacked the confidence he needed to come down, he really needed someone to tell him that he had the power. Sometimes we need people to talk to us, and sometimes we have to just confide in ourselves. We have confided in others before...but there are truly times we must confide in ourselves. In fact, the root word of confidence is confide. We confide in ourselves and say what is true, what is positive and what empowers us the be strong. That is how we gain confidence. The Scarecrow believed it when they told him he was a loser. He confided his desires in them, he never believed in himself.

We are a nation of people who are fascinated by people with hang ups. We especially like to watch them as the remain wrapped up in their hang ups! Pretty much like the scarecrow. The crows had a party watching him in distress. I suppose many of us are hanging on our own poles somewhere in our lives. we all have our own wizims. Sadly we don't see them, so we don't own up to them. All the little crows in our lives are acutely aware of our shortcomings. It is a celebration for them. Carl Jung, who is appreciated by a multitude of people explained it with archetypes. These were simply elements of our personality that we may or may not recognize. One element he called Shadow. I say wizims, but he says Shadow. Psychologist's can make something simple sound so complicated! Here is how Jung describes it. I see this as the scarecrows 'wizim', and maybe one that we can relate too.

Shadow is the archetype of darkness and repression, representing the 

qualities that we do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from 

ourselves and others. 

o The shadow consists of morally objectionable tendencies as well as a 

number of constructive qualities that we are reluctant to face. 

o We must continually strive to know our shadow and this is our first 

test of courage. It is easier to project this dark side onto others that 

we refuse to see in ourselves. 

o To come to grips with the darkness within ourselves is to achieve the 

realization of the shadow. Most of us never realize our shadow and 

this leads to tragedy in our lives and feelings of defeat and discouragement. 

Well then, what can we do? We simply have to admit our fears. We cannot let anyone define us, as we are already defined by God, as we understand Him or Her to be. The most wonderful thing is that often God works through people. Scarecrow was blessed that Dorothy showed up. The striking thing is that Dorothy was even more afraid of life than Scarecrow! She was unable to leave home just as Scarecrow was unable to come down from the pole. It took an entire tornado to move her. It is perhaps possible that she saw her fear in Scarecrow.Just as Jung says, she came to a point of self realization. She truly saw her own wizim in Scarecrow, thus she was able to help him.

Of course we all know what happens next! Together they are able to find the path that will change their lives. They are seeking transformation like all of us. However, many of us have wizims that hold us back. What is your wizim? Michael says it all in one paragraph. He was really quite wise for his age.

"Others can't overcome fear for you; you have to do it on your own. It's hard, because fear and doubt hold on tight. We are afraid of being rejected, of being hurt once more. So we keep a safe distance. We think separating ourselves from others will protect us, but that doesn't work, either. It leaves us feeling alone and unloved. Trusting yourself begins by recognizing that it's okay to be afraid. Having fear is not the problem, because everyone feels anxious and insecure sometimes. The problem is not being honest enough to admit your fear. Whenever I accept my own doubt and insecurity, I'm more open to other people. The deeper I go into myself, the stronger I become, because I realize that my real self is much bigger than any fear. In accepting yourself completely, trust becomes complete. There is no longer any separation between people, because there is no longer any separation inside. In the space where fear used to live, love is..."

Michael Jackson in his book "Dancing the Dream"