This week, I thought I’d have a bit of fun in turning some Harry Potter magic into an everyday tool to protect you from negative people and situations.
Enjoy!
Today I wanted to talk to you about Harry Potter and how he can help you in everyday life from some of the things that happened in one of the books.
Lessons From HP
I’m reading the Harry Potter series to my second son. I’ve already read them twice myself and also out loud to my oldest son when he was younger. And now I’m reading them to my 9-year-old.
We are on book three, The Prisoner of Azkaban. As you probably know, there are Dementors in the book and they have a very strong effect on Harry. He hears his mother’s voice when she is trying to protect him just before she dies and he also hears Voldemort’s voice. Harry faints and goes into a cold sweat. The effect that the Dementors have on him, as well, is that it drains all the happiness and hope out of him.
I was thinking after I read this passage to my son last night, (luckily we ended on a happy note!), that maybe the magic that they were using to try to defend him against the Dementors, we could perhaps use this in our everyday life!
Expecto Patronum!
Professor Lupin’s teaching Harry how to use the Patronus charm on the Dementors. It’s quite advanced magic. The command is, “expecto patronum!” At the same time that he says that, he has to think about a really, really happy thought that has happened. Something that’s happened in his life that made him really, really happy. Where he can imagine all the wonderful things that are associated with that situation.
While he is doing that, he says the command and the Dementor, or actually, the Boggart that has turned into the Dementor, disappears.
The light comes out of the end of his wand, (later on in the book in the form of a stag which was also the Patronus that his father had). It’s this brilliant, silver, misty light that deters the Dementor and holds off all the negative feelings and all of the draining of the energy and the hope and the happiness that stops it draining it out of Harry.
Energy Vampires
Now, I was thinking, how can you apply this to everyday life?
If you sometimes come across somebody that really does drain you – I mean, hopefully, there are no people in your life that are similar to the Dementors that drain you of all happiness and hope – I hope that you’d soon remove them from your life or avoid them.
But if you are in a situation where you’re feeling hopelessness or that somebody’s draining you of your energy – there are people out there that you could call, “energy vampires” – we come across them occasionally.
Everyday Life?
How could you put this into practice?
Think of a happy thought in advance. Which one in your life are you going to conjure up in your mind before something like this happens? Because obviously, if you are in the situation, it’s very difficult to think of something happy and remind yourself. So you need a little bit of practice in advance.
So, think of your happy thought. Which event in your life was the most happy? So that you know this is what I’m going to do if I ever get in this situation.
Maybe in your mind, you could say, “expecto patronum!” at the same time! Well, you don’t need to do that 😉
You could perhaps surround yourself or imagine yourself surrounded by an invisible bubble or light or glass wall between you and the person who you feel had been draining your energy and you want to stop it. Or a situation that is draining your energy, to encapsulate yourself away from the situation and think of your happy thought at the same time. I’m sure it would have a very positive effect on the way you’re feeling.
Of course, the next step is to remove yourself from the situation if it’s not getting any better.
Okay, that’s a thought I had last night while reading to my son and I wanted to share that with you as a tool to help yourself if you’re in a difficult situation.
If you like it or if you use anything else that’s from the Harry Potter books – I’m sure there are plenty of examples – there are a number of quotes going around that are very relevant for everyday life – please share them in the comments below.
And if you’d like to delve deeper into finding out how to protect yourself from negative people, book a chat here and let’s talk.
