I Believe in You

One of my favorite movies of all time is Hook. It's the story of what happens several, several years after Peter Pan. Peter Pan actually comes to live in the real world, gets married and has children and has no recollection of his Neverland past. When visiting his wife's grandmother, Wendy (played by Dame Maggie Smith), in London, Peter's two children are kidnapped. Wendy reveals that Peter is the real Peter Pan and thinks she is crazy until Tinker Bell comes and takes him to Neverland and he has three days to remember who he is and save his children from Captain James Hook.

It is one of my favorite movies. If it is ever on television, no matter where it is I will watch it to the end. There is one part in the movie that always gets to me. At one point, Captain Hook and Peter Pan are sword fighting and Hook has Peter in a difficult predicament. Hook then says to Peter that this is all a dream and he will go back to his miserable life and lists all the negative things of his life in the real world that he has succumbed to from his absence from Neverland.

In the real world, Peter DID grow up. He lost his happy thoughts. He was a workaholic who deprived his time with his children, his wife would argue with him because of it, and he was always on his cell phone. He was also a class act worry wart. Going back to Neverland, he rediscovered his child like wonder for adventure, his inability to fear, and of course the important Peter Pan traits like how to fight, fly, and crow like a rooster.

While Hook has Peter in this difficult position, the lost boys all gather around watching and one by one just say one thing: "I believe in you." They all say "I believe in you, Peter Pan." One by one they each say it with admiration on their face, watching in awe, no doubt Peter can get out of the struggle. They believe in who he is, what he stands for, and what he can do. Then his kids each say they believe in him, and finally his best friend flys over with her pixie dust as Tinker Bell says in a whisper "I believe in you...Peter..Pan.."

One of the most uplifting feelings you can ever receive is when someone believe in you. When they say it with such conviction and admiration, it builds an energy so great inside of you. It fuels your soul that allows you to go on. It reminds you that you CAN do something. It also fuels your ability to believe in YOURSELF. Its amazing how we can be so sure of things within others, but when it comes to our own selves we stop believing. Sometimes it takes others to believe in us in order for us to begin believing in our own selves.

But one of the worst feelings in the world is not when people don't believe in you, but when people say they believe in you and then at a later time deny and reject you. That must be one of the most damaging and hurtful feelings that can actually disable you if you allow it to. The physical sensations that come with that are unreal. Especially from people who are close to you, or people you had strong connections with. What you end up wanting to do is stop believing in yourself, even if it's only a few people. You can have 100 people believe in you! But when it's your own children, your best friend, people you surround yourself with everyday, those people have a greater leverage over you with their words and feelings.

In a previous blog about 88 yr old Gladys, she says to keep on keeping on, which is one of the greatest pieces of advice of all, but also one of the most difficult ones to implement. Push through the struggle, and yes it will be a struggle, but if you have enough people believing in you, like Peter's lost boys, his children, or his best friend, it will give you enough surge of energy to push a pirate off you, and continue your sword fight. (BOWS)

Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO