As Soon As You Trust Yourself

As soon as you trust yourself,
you will know how to live.
* Goethe *

I always forget this story about the Hindu diety Hanuman.

As a young demi-god, he was full of vast power and great mischief.
In fact, he was enough of a brat that he continually irritated the usually implacable sages in his vicinity, even though there was little they could really do since Hanuman was, after all, invulnerable.
And so they tolerated Hanuman’s bad behavior — things like interrupting ceremonies and breaking religious ornaments — until he pushed things a little too far and tried to swallow the sun as though it were a ripe mango.
That’s when the sages succeeded with a minor curse:
From that moment on, Hanuman would forget his powers, forget his divinity, except when he was reminded of his glory by others.
This crafty mystical loophole kept him out of mischief but allowed his powers to be useful in times of need.
When the locals required someone who could fly and literally move mountains, they just had to remind Hanuman of who he really was and SHAZAM, the Magic was back.
What I find so compelling about the story is how often that’s true for all of us.
Like Hanuman, without support we often completely lose touch with who we really are.
Left to our own devices, as Marianne Williamson wrote:
We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’
That’s why we need to surround ourselves with people who remind us of our accomplishments AND our potential, who keep us from “Playing Small.”
If we want to set our lives our fire, as Rumi says, we must seek out those who Fan Our Flames.

Especially with all the intensity of the Holiday Season, make sure to keep those people around, the ones whose awareness of you re-inspires you with the truth of who you really are and what you’re capable of becoming.
Like young Hanuman, we all need that reminder.