Rock'N'Realty

For along time I’ve used the pseudonym Evangeline in various occasions – I picked it from my favorite Los Lobos song of the same name – Evangeline is “the queen of make-believe” – I took it as a sort of ironic take on the parallel story of my life, where things are slightly different, where scenes end differently, or change according to my whims…not total fantasy/denial, just playing with alternatives to reality, what could be.

Along those lines….I’ve also referred (in my mind) to the alterna-story of me in relation to the Wizard of Oz – that relationship is obvious right? Oz is pretty, ultra color-fied, full of magical stuff, plus what girl doesn’t want Ruby Slippers

As I grow,  in age, in wisdom, in intellect - I re-evaluate my story – I find I want it truer, I want the hard, ugly, gorgeous, sparkle, fear, adventure, challenge – to be part of it all. With the alternative endings to be the actual achievable outcome.

So as the universe is wont to do – around this time my yoga teacher started one a Wizard of Oz rant for a few weeks, using the Scarecrow, Tin Man & Lion as metaphors, it’s fairly obvious, we all need brains, to think and make decisions, we all need hearts with which to love ourselves & others, and we need courage to face all of our challenges.  In my thoughts I took this further…we all have a Wicked Witch, that which seems to put all obstacles in our path, we all have a Glinda that inspires, and guides. And of course we are all Dorothy right? Thinking sometimes we want one thing, learning lessons on the way to what we need to know.

This all resonated big time with my current real story of “working single mom” – a story I constantly struggle with wanting to re-write and make easier. I was finding it kinda hard figuring how to be successfull at that whole package, and the writing of stories in my head wasn’t making it happen.

So – this is my story NOW (in a nutshell):

Feeling somewhat dis-satisfied with the current status-quo, need a change, set off to seek in ON MY OWN (humph), enter into the unknown sorta by accident, find some guidance from someone wiser, find  some super good supportive friends that are on the same seeking journey, fight some adversary, succeed, learn a bunch of stuff about yourself & others, realize that not everyone is what they seem, find good anyway, then come back “home” where all that stuff is right there where you are – and find that it’s GOOD.  There’s no place like home….

Here’s what I did to make my story part of my life:

In December I went to the bookstore and bought 2 matching Wizard of Oz journals, I scooped up my best friend Beth, partner in crime, super cheerleader and fellow Oz obsessor (she’s my Glinda, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion & Dorothy all in one AND her real name is Dorothy & she’s from Kansas hellooo magic). And on the second day of 2010 we sat down and wrote our stories, and how we we were going to live it and do it , right in those Oz books. We were inispired by Chis Brogan’s post My 3 Words for 2010 as a frame work and the Wizard of Oz to make it ours.

We now continually add to it, we try to meet regularly to write  more, assess what has worked, fantasize, plan, re-work, and ACT. We call em Land of Oz meetings. We lift ourselves up, the motivation is ca-ray-zee.  Already our dream stories are becoming our true stories.  Both of our lives have changed immensely since we made the effort for this true-ness, both in attitude and concrete facts.  It honestly wasn’t till I wrote “I wanna be an amazing Realtor into my story that I really it really became that, and not something I just did. I love my job as a Realtor, I embrace and am forgiving to all the challenges single parenting brings, and all of it makes for a kick-ass story.

….there’s no place like home…..home is where your story lies – what I learned above all else…

PS – a picture of Ruby Slippers with “there’s no place like home” make a GREAT moving announcement card or house warming card, i’m thinking this is gonna be my new catch phrase…

PSS – I have had scratch notes on this theme since the first Oz meeting, but it was this post The Importance of Story in Your Life from Chris Brogan that oomphed me to write it. I’m very curious to read Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years  aren’t you? I am looking forward to reading more posts on this concept

Tags:   chrisbrogan.com · Wizard of Oz24914 Commentshttp://rocknrealty.net/blog/yellow-brick-road-reality-wizard-oz-changed-lifestory/The+yellow+brick+road+to+reality+-+how+the+Wizard+of+Oz+changed+my+lifestory2010-04-11+22%3A34%3A53Nanette