Discussion on Butterfly Mondays on The Healing Station Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88324556318?pwd=QlNsT3lLWnc0alo3K09nN0JoaFNxQT09
Running Away, but Never from Ourselves
Bob Marley’s timeless wisdom reminds us of a truth we spend lifetimes avoiding:
“Ya running and ya running, and ya running away, but ya can’t run away from yourself.”
Many of us are searching for peace, healing, and purpose, but in the wrong places. We have convinced ourselves that the answer lies outside us, in the next relationship, career move, city, or spiritual practice.
But the truth is that no matter how far we go, we always carry ourselves. We chase the illusion of escape, thinking that if we move fast enough, we can outrun the pain, the fear, and the wounds that linger beneath the surface. We follow false promises, hoping that:
🔹 If we reach the Wizzo, everything will be okay.
🔹 If we find the right partner, we will finally feel loved.
🔹 If we get the right job, we will finally feel valued.
But just like in the Land of WizOz, the Wizzo is an illusion.
The Hard Truth: Healing is an Inside Job;
Running will never save us.
Numbing will never save us.
Validation from the outside world will never save us.
The only thing that will bring us home is the decision to stop, turn around, and face ourselves.
How Do We Stop Running?
Acknowledge the Patterns – Recognize what we have been chasing and why.
Let Go of the Illusions – Understand that nothing external will ever fill an internal void.
Build Home Within Ourselves – create a Brave, Affirming, Secure Environment (B.A.S.E.) within our own hearts.
Commit to Inner Healing – Choose wholeness over external distractions. Because, at the end of the day, home is not a place. It is a state of being.
And the most powerful thing we can do is welcome ourselves home with Love.
The Journey Back to Self
The Journey Back to Self is the road less traveled, the pathway many fear to take because it requires vulnerability, introspection, and a willingness to dismantle illusions. It is easier to keep moving forward and searching for external solutions than to stop and turn inward. However, true healing is not about finding something outside of ourselves but about reclaiming what has always been within us.
Running Away, but Never from Ourselves: The Journey Back to True Home
The echo of Bob Marley’s voice reverberates through time, carrying the weight of an ancient truth: “Ya running and ya running, but ya can’t run away from yourself.” Like a sacred chant, the lyrics expose the paradox of the human experience, our restless pursuit of escape while carrying within us the very thing we wish to leave behind. It is a journey that mirrors the Yellow Brick Road, a road we walk in search of belonging, healing, and home, only to find that what we seek is never a place but a truth buried deep within us.
Many of us have spent lifetimes running, running from pain, running from memories, running from who we were told we were and what we feared we might become. The road takes us through illusions, offering distractions, temporary comfort, and fleeting validation. The Wizzo promises us answers, just as every false prophet before him did. But the mirage always fades, revealing that no matter how far we run, we are always met with our own reflection.
The Weight We Carry: Who Feels It Knows It, Lord
“Every man thinketh his burden is the heaviest,” Marley sings, capturing the essence of personal struggle. We believe that our pain is unique and our suffering is insurmountable. The wounds of our past, neglect, rejection, and betrayal, become the stones in our pockets, the weight we lug down the Yellow Brick Road. We wear resilience like a badge of honor but are running from the work we must do to release what no longer serves us.
The truth of the Journey to Joy is that it requires us to stop running, face ourselves, hold space for our pain, and recognize that healing is not found in the next destination but in the confrontation of our own reflections.
The Illusion of Escape: The Wizzo’s False Promise
We may find temporary refuge, relationships that distract us, jobs that validate us, and substances that numb us, but all these are like the Wizard’s promise of salvation. They cannot give us what we do not first find within ourselves. We see this mirrored in the illusions of WizOz, where Journeyers believe that if they can reach the end of the road if they can just find the Healer’s Stone, can just get the Wizzo’s blessing, then, and only then will they be whole.
But what does the Wizzo genuinely have to give? A projection of our longing. A mirror of our desire to be made whole by something external. The hard truth is this: we cannot run away from ourselves. There is no other home, healer, or remedy but the one we discover within.
The Decision to Stop Running: Returning to True Home
“I made my decision, and I left ya, and now you comin’ to tell me that I’m runnin’ away.” The song takes a turn here, revealing another layer of the journey: what happens when leaving is necessary? When the place we once called home was never truly home at all? When do we realize survival in toxic environments is not the same as thriving in a Brave, Affirming, Secure Environment (B.A.S.E.)? Marley’s words remind us that sometimes what others call running away is us choosing ourselves for the first time. It is not escape but liberation. It is a journey not toward illusion but toward authenticity.
And so, we face the final question: Where do we belong?
Not in the false promises of WizOz. Not in the grasp of a Wizzo or a Pied Piper playing the melody of manipulation. Not in the cycles of trauma we inherited or the survival patterns we’ve outgrown. We belong within ourselves. We belong in the sacred space of healing, in the frequency of Love, in the vibration of hope, in the elevation of divine purpose. The real homecoming is not about finding a place but about reclaiming the Love we were always worthy of.
The Journey Back to Ourselves: Reflection & Action
Pause and Reflect – Are you running away, or are you running toward something? What patterns in your life keep leading you back to the same illusions?
Identify Your Yellow Brick Road – What has been your Wizzo? What illusion of salvation have you chased, believing it would complete you?
Reframe Your Concept of Home – What does it mean for you to create a Brave, Affirming, Secure Environment within yourself?
Commit to Stopping the Chase – Write down one belief about yourself or your healing journey that has stuck you in an external search. How can you shift this belief to an inward transformation?
Because at the end of the day, no matter where we run, we are still carrying ourselves. And the greatest act of Love is to stop, turn around, and welcome ourselves home.
Exercise: Confronting the Illusion of Escape
Objective:
This exercise will help you explore how you may be running from yourself, identify the illusions that keep you chasing external validation, and begin returning to your true home within yourself.
Step 1: Reflection on Your Running Patterns
Take a moment to reflect on areas in your life where you have sought escape rather than healing. In your journal or on a blank sheet of paper, answer the following:
What have you been running from? (Pain, past experiences, emotions, relationships, responsibilities?)
What methods have you used to escape? (Distractions, overworking, unhealthy relationships, substance use, avoidance, excessive busyness?)
What illusion have you chased? (A new city, a new partner, a promotion, a material goal, spiritual bypassing, etc.?)
Have these escapes ever truly brought you peace? If not, why?
Step 2: Identifying Your “Wizzo”
The Wizzo represents external illusions of healing, things we believe will complete us but never indeed do. Think about what you have sought as your “ultimate fix.”
Who or what have you placed as your Wizzo? (A person? A job? A status? A material goal?)
How has this Wizzo influenced your choices?
What false promises did it make?
Now, write a “Breakup Letter” to your Wizzo. Thank it for the lessons, acknowledge its illusions, and release its hold over your healing journey.
Step 3: Creating Your B.A.S.E. (Brave, Affirming, Secure Environment)
What does a true home feel like for you? Describe the emotional, spiritual, and psychological qualities of your ideal home within yourself.
What practices can help you cultivate this internal home? (Self-love, setting boundaries, affirmations, therapy, meditation, community, etc.?)
Commit to stop running from yourself and start building your inner sanctuary.
Take the Quiz: “Are You Running or Returning”?
https://welovemore.typeform.com/Running
Scoring:
🔴 35-50: You are likely running in circles, still seeking external solutions. It’s time to pause and redirect inward.
🟡 20-34: You recognize some illusions but may still struggle with fully trusting your inner home.
🟢 10-19: You are on the path of self-realization and are beginning to stop running.
We Love More Dr.Bruce 