No one on our planet really knows themselves right now. There has never been a version of you that has dealt with a pandemic and the resulting moment-by-moment fallout. A new you is required, one with new wisdom, more compassion, and the courage to surrender to a new unknown reality. This new reality looks different for everyone.

This pandemic has shown the depth of our interconnectedness, and your choices now serve a greater good—an uncertain one that you can’t see. You are working for the needs of an invisible whole desperately in need of your care.

In my early work on Be Meditation’s corporate curriculum, Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz featured prominently in the vision. Her journey from Kansas to Oz and back is a model for the journey of a new leadership paradigm—a journey that takes the feminine from a sense of separation and anxiety to self-empowerment.

And it’s also an apt metaphor for our collective journey through this uncertain time.

Traveling far from home—or leaving our safe habits and ways of living behind—is a required first step on the road to transformation. And sometimes it isn’t voluntary. COVID-19 is like the tornado, ripping each of us from the stable foundations we believed in and trusted to persist. We, like Dorothy, have landed in a new world, the landscape strange and ever changing, with the end of the road hidden in the distance. Despite these uncertainties, like Dorothy, we must walk forward.

Early on her journey, Dorothy encounters aspects of herself she must address to continue forward along the yellow brick road: the Scarecrow (the mind), Tin Man (heart), and the Lion (courage). Over the weeks and months ahead, as we travel together on a new path, we will all be called to develop and expand our own understandings of these areas, moving from a self–oriented perspective to a global perspective of mind, heart, and courage.

As challenging situations arise, identify who you have encountered along your own yellow brick road and consider the lesson:

  • Scarecrow or mind: What do I know? How do I know it? Does this serve my own view or does it take into account the whole of our planet?
  • Tin Man or heart: Compassion for the suffering of others. People next door and people on the other side of the world. How can I show more compassion for myself and others? How can I use my privilege as a way to lift others who are struggling without discounting my own suffering?
  • Lion or courage: Patience and stillness in the face of fear and anxiety. Discernment and developing a knowing before acting. Making personal sacrifices for the peace and prosperity of the whole of our world. 

With her awakening mind, heart, and courage, Dorothy navigates through villains like the witch, fears like the flying monkeys, and distractions like the poppy fields. She must finally confront everything she thought was real and understand it was a façade before she can fly into a new future. And that’s what we must do in order to make it through these uncertain times—awaken and deepen our own mind, heart, and courage.

“You always had the power.” These are the words from Glinda the Good Witch to Dorothy at the end of the story. And I leave them here for you.

You have everything you need to transform and thrive, creating a better home for us all.