Wendy K. Laidlaw

And it's going to stay that way for a while.

In mythological stories, it's often two dragons at the gates or at the threshold.

And you imagine it as the threshold of change.

And if I can cross that threshold, I'm in the other side of things, the bigger world.

And then the dragons get to find the two big fears.

One is the fear of abandonment.

If I take this risk, I'm going to be all alone.

Or if it doesn't work out, I'm going to live my life all alone.

That's abandonment.

And the other fear is the fear of overwhelm.

If I make this attempt, I won't be able to do it, I'll get overwhelmed, it's too much for me.

That's the ego.

And both sides of that is the ego.

The ego is saying, don't abandon me, because I really have to pretend I'm in charge here.

And the ego is also saying, don't give me too much, because I'll get overwhelmed.

And the ego has to let go.

It's a very difficult thing, but it's really difficult if people don't know there's something inside them that is already there, that's unique, that is intended to come out because it has gifts to give to the world.

If a person doesn't know they are unique and valuable, not because they can become somebody, because they are somebody to begin with.

If they don't know that, then they're afraid to go inside.

And yet now you can't get what you're looking for outside because it's falling apart and there's no center.