So, I’ve been a fan of
cartoons since I could breathe. People
tend to make fun of me because I'm a
27-year-old who regularly watches (and DVRs) cartoons. But not only do I watch them, I enjoy finding
and reflecting on the deep meanings that can often be found in them. Last night, I had a dream that essentially
told me that I needed to clear my head. Well,
today as I enjoyed a bit of Sabbath, I felt that I needed to watch “Kung Fu
Panda 2.” Even though I’ve seen it
before, and I rarely watch a movie more than once, I decided to do so.
Well, I watched it
today, and it blessed my life. In short,
the movie was about Po trying to find himself, considering his father is a
goose and he is a panda. In the
beginning, his Master Shifu is looking to teach him about inner peace, which he says comes through lots of fasting and
meditation (fasting is clearly not for Po as he is all about food) or through
pain and suffering. Inner peace would
allow him to concentrate his energy such that he could catch and move a drop of
water, placing it gently on a blade of grass below him. Before Shifu was able to go into the lesson,
Po is called away. His next assignment
with the Furious Five takes him to a place that allows him to explore his
past. Without giving away the entire
movie, I’ll share some parts in the movie that spoke to me.
·
Shifu says that inner
peace can come through pain and suffering.
We don’t tend to like pain and suffering… for obvious reasons. Yet, Shifu makes it clear that it is the
suffering that we go through and survive that allows us to find the strength
within to push forward. When we can take
the strength needed to get through our darkest days and apply it to our minds
and hearts in everyday life, there is very little that can shake us. This is how faith works – when we trust God
in one situation and see victory happen, we can apply that assurance throughout
life, trusting that God will take care of us.
That trust provides us with peace, even when we are facing crazy
circumstances, because we know that God can make a way.
·
“Stop fighting it and
let it flow.” Po had been having a
recurring dream/vision that was even getting in the way of him being able to
fight. Yet, when he was with the fortune
teller and his nightmare (which she called a memory) came back and he tried to
resist it, she said, “stop fighting and let it flow.” Once he let the memory play through to the
end, he is able to see the whole story and know where he came from and what
happened. In a much broader sense, I
think a lot of times, we try to resist things within us because we are scared
of the depth of what’s in us, the rejection we could face, the pain that we
could encounter (especially when dealing with stuff from our past), or other
things that make us uncomfortable. I
know for me, I can be very reserved when it comes to acting on my intuition or
saying certain things, but as I heard her say that, all I could do was
cry. One of my friends told me recently
that she was proud of me for being who I am.
This statement shocked me, and I have to come to terms with the fact that
part of who I am is an intuitive being whose senses aren’t just my
imagination. Therefore, I need to love
myself (and those to be impacted) enough to stop fighting what I feel/hear and
simply let it flow, despite the fear I may have of sharing something. As long as I deliver it in love, the result
is up to the person (and God), not me – I’m simply to be the messenger.
·
“Your story may not
have such a happy beginning, but that doesn’t make you who you are. It is the rest of your story – who you choose
to be.” Just as his father said to him
in the beginning of the movie, the fortune teller says it again. Po has let the memory play all the way
through and he is able to see where he has come from and the unfortunate
beginning of his life. Yet, as he seems
about to mourn this tragic beginning, she makes her statement. While the beginning of your story – where you
were born, what happened to you as a kid, the assault, the abuse, your parents,
your neighborhood, etc – may have been bad, but if you have made it to the
other side of that and you are still alive, you have a greater purpose to live
out. If your past didn’t stop you, then
you have a great story still to be written.
And you can let that continue to hold you back, using it as an excuse to
hold you back. Or you can choose to
overcome and embrace the greatness within you that can only really be brought
out by overcoming the things that you did.
Let it propel you forward in a positive way and embrace the great things
that your life has brought you since then.
Po realizes that despite being “abandoned” and left to be adopted that
he has become the Dragon Warrior, the greatest warrior in China.
·
“Anything is possibly
with inner peace.” When Po finally is
able to harness his inner peace after coming to terms with who he is, he is
able to use it to catch a cannonball as he had the water droplet and later
defeat the enemy. When you are in
harmony within yourself, it is possible to focus all of your energy on making
positive change in the world. Otherwise,
you will be trying to be fight/deal with your own stuff, which will make it
hard to be productive. This isn’t to say
that you have to be perfectly at peace all the time, because that’s
impossible. It’s just that it is easier
to be at your best when you are not in conflict within yourself.
·
“How did you find
peace? I took away your parents,
everything. I scarred you for
life.” “You gotta let go of that stuff
from the past cuz it just doesn’t matter.
The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now.” In the final showdown of Po and his enemy,
Shen, Shen asked Po how he managed to find peace despite all that had been
taken from him. Po lets him know that
letting go of the past and embracing who you decide to be in the present is the
only thing that matters (and that creates a future). Shen had spent the last 30 years plotting
revenge and being angry at his parents, becoming bitter and further
enraged. This led to his evil quest for
power. And he chose to continue that
path despite what was foretold and despite its consequences. But just as Shen chose evil, we can choose
good, allowing the past to make us stronger (in a good way) and receiving
healing such that we can become a better person from what we experienced. Shen got stronger from his past, but his
strength was based in anger and hatred. He
was never able to find peace or contentment, which is why the fortune teller
told him that his pursuit was a bottomless cup.
Despite what is taken from us, we can find peace and fulfillment when we
allow ourselves to heal and choose to find the blessings that even our trials
bring us.
I absolutely love this
movie…. I encourage you to stop fighting
whatever it is – your emotions, your past, your gifts, your calling, etc – and
simply let life flow out of you. You
will find that you are much happier when you accept yourself and do what you
were created to do/be who you were created to be. Allow yourself to be who you are, even if it
takes time. Releasing yourself bit by
bit will let you get to that place of full flight as the more you embrace, the
more you will release. It may take time
and working through some stuff, but I assure you, you are well worth it. I have begun making some cracks in my own
glass ceiling, and I’ve been seeing tremendous change and opening already. And peace… yeah, I’ve seen more of that. But I will say that peace is definitely a
battle to gain. Yet once you get it,
your life will never be the same, and you will seek with all your heart and
energy to maintain it.
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