Movie Review: “Wild”, Crises and Ordeals
The movie “Wild” has much to teach us from the point of view of self-development. Cheryl is in a crisis. She decides to seek resolution to her crisis through a self-imposed ordeal. Her crisis is precipitated by the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother. Before these precipitating events she behaved in a self-destructive manner. Cheryl’s ordeal presented her with “do or die” situations. As she found the courage to “do”, she did what was necessary to survive. Beyond survival she transformed herself through the crucible of fear. At the end of her transformation she was triumphant.
Crises and ordeals are part of everyone’s life. They are complex phenomena. If we chronically neglect important aspects of our lives that require and demand our attention, we can cascade into a crisis. A crisis may or may not develop into an ordeal. Hopefully we pass through the ordeal (self-imposed or “imposed by life”.) We say: “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” How we deal with an ordeal determines the outcome and who we become after it is over. Do we emerge triumphant, developing more of our abilities as a human being or do we retreat into a fearful terrified place where merely surviving is our goal?
Point of Empowerment: There are crises and ordeals in our lives.
Practice: Look at your life. Identify if you are in a crisis (totally overwhelmed by a situation). See if you are experiencing an ordeal. Discover what you need to resolve the crisis or come triumphantly through your ideal. (The Operating Manual for the Self can offer you information about what you need.)