There’s that moment at the end of Harry Potter 7. For two books Harry has been tormented by the flashings of Voldemorts actions, and feelings. Harrys scar has got more painful, the dreams more harrowing. Snape and Dumbledore giving harry time and education to try and help him control his mind, and not react to the dreams, to the pain, to the torment.
The memories were being used against Harry. Harry felt subject, submissive to the torment.
With limited other internal resources, and having had a umber of years trying to fight the energy sucking dementors, Harry struggled to do anything but not believe the lies of Voldemort, the tales being sown into his mind, the lies.
The Lies that got a reaction. The lies that tormented.
And yet… at the very last… Harry worked out what he needed, what he needed to do, that the Voldemort was not tormenting him, but giving himself away, giving away his own weaknesses of need and power, and Harry let the voice enter, Harry wanted to see, Harry took control, Harry spoke to the lies.
Is the message of Harry Potter that love wins? That at that critical moment, the deep magical love passed down from his mother filled Harry with such energy to keep him going? Was it that fighting the voices and torment only gives it power?
The lies only have power if they are believed.
Don Miguel Ruiz (The Fifth Agreement)
They have even more power if we act on them, as Harry did, becoming Hero and being manipulated by the visions.
I wonder, what are the lies that dominate your life?
Is it about your body – not being big, tall, thin, fit enough?
Is it about your job? – not being good enough, earning enough
Is it about your family? not being as good as _____ (insert other family member you get compared to)
Is it the voice of perfection, the voice of criticism, the voice of shame, the voice.. the judge, the tyrant, the victim in your mind..?
It may be there…. but it is lying to you.
It is lying to you in the same way Voldemort lies to Harry, to manipulate you to become hero, rescuer, to feel victim or bully even (to become like Voldemort himself).
It is lying to you so you can spend extortionate energy fighting it.
It is lying to you so that you can stay stuck
It is lying to you so that you can feel small
It is lying to you so that you continue to feed it back again
It is lying to you so that you can stay scared, scared of the power you actually have, and scared to make a choice.
Is Harry Potter a lesson in mindfulness? Does it take the destruction of the external world and its system to generate this level of inner power and resource? We don’t mourn the end of Hogwarts castle at the end do we, at the end of the film? We don’t mourn the end of the Ministry of Magic being revealed for what it was?
The voice in our head, mine; self critical, doubt, fear, disbelief, had been believed for far too long, had tormented my dreams, as had those whose presence in them caused nightmares.
A few years ago, I started instead to hide and try and ignore my dreams, I wrote them down, as much as I could remember, letting them out into the light, seeing what my subconscious was processing, without any self judgement for how weird they were. And, over the last 5 years I have noticed something.
I have got stronger in my dreams.
Far from waking up shaken and sweating as before, they would end with me acting bravely, determinedly, to put into practice in my dreams my own self respect and power. I know, it’s not just dreamwork alone that has enabled me to do this, but the ongoing slow process of inner healing, with therapy, journalling, and the process of change. But bringing the torment of the lies to light has been instrumental. In all the ways.
They are just that. Lies.
You have a choice, like you do with any lie.
You can give it weight, give yourself over to it, keep living a life in accordance with it, react to it.
Or fight it, ‘im not listening, go away’
Or cover it with something else
Or maybe:
You can listen to it.
Yes thats right, you.
Because you are not the voice.
You are you. The voice is the lie.
You can listen to it, talk to it, calmly, and then make a choice…
It can be doubted, it may not be true. ‘do I carry on believing you and continue this way of living’ or ‘what if instead, I believed the opposite?’
Thats right, I said.
It can be doubted.
Because its told you it was truth for so long, and now that you’ve given it a moment to consider it, maybe it wasn’t, after all.
What instead of thinking I am in trouble, I believed I am not in trouble
What if instead of believing I am not good enough, I believe that I am
What if instead of trying to be perfect, I just allow myself to be who I am
What if instead of ____________, I start to believe the opposite
You are more powerful that you realise, it is a lie that you feel so small sometimes.
And then act as if this new actual truth… is true.
There will be more lies, like ‘you can’t change’ , ‘it won’t last’ …. just listen… and believe the opposite…
Like Harry, it is possible, to change how we deal with the lies.
The lies keep us trapped in the nightmare.
The truth will set us free.
Truths about ourselves.
Because, you’re reading this, and have got this far.
I’ll tell you one.
You are incredible.
You can be proud of yourself
You are amazing
You are love
These are true. Dont believe me…
Maybe you’re not ready to… but they are true….
Might it be better to believe these than the lies so easily believed?
What different might it make in your life if you did? What risk might it take to do so? What kind of new life for you might awaken in front of you, with this belief about yourself?
Dont give it thought, accept the truth. The truth of who you actually are, not the voice of those who kept you small, and trapped in their chosen image of you. You are worth much much more than this.
It’s time to believe.
It’s time to use the power you have.
Your Heart. Your beating Heart of love.
That beats love for you a million times a day.
Love believes in you. Love angers away the lies. Love finds you hurting and wants to heal, and love loves you. Love is your truth, if you can open up to let it, and then let its truth heal the lies.
It’s time.. to doubt the lies…and live in the truth.
References:
The Four Agreements, Don Ruiz
The Fifth Agreement, Don Ruiz
The Untethered Soul , Michael A Singer
The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle
James Ballantyne 
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