I am finally coming out of my wintering. Its been a year long process, but in the last few weeks I’ve felt something within me switch. While there is still grief over recent life changes, I felt like the winter snow and ice is melting and the seeds of Spring are beginning to sprout, with the promise of possibilities turning into realities. Still in order to even get to that place, I had to go through the experience of wintering. This proved to be a transformative experience and one of the allies I drew on what Johnny Lawrence from Cobra Kai.
At the beginning of Cobra Kai, Johnny is going through a wintering experience of his own. He’s washed up, just going through the motions, and he has to embark on a hero’s journey to discover himself, but also to help his students. Of course, as with any such journey, Johnny inevitably encounters his share of troubles some of which are created by his own actions. A lot of the times Johnny trips himself up and I could relate to that, because I’ve done the same. It was easy, as a result, to work with him during my own wintering experience.
From August of 2020 to August of 2021 I’ve gone through my wintering experience. A lot of it was a result of my own actions and choices and some of it was because of other factors. Regardless going through a wintering experience is not easy. What helped me get through it was making the choice to find a spirit guide that could understand what I was going through. When I watched Cobra Kai, I found that pop culture spirit and started connecting with Johnny Lawrence.
As with any other spirit, when you work with a pop culture spirit you deal with both the pluses and minuses of that spirit. However what I’ve found with pop culture spirits in particular is that there is more of a human experience with those spirits…which is no surprise because typically the stories are about lived human experiences. When you work with such spirits you necessarily need to recognize the challenges that can come up. For example, when I worked with Lu Bu, I found that his rashness and impetuosity ended up influencing my own behaviors.
In the case of Johnny, his pluses is that he’s a fighter, who’s persistent. He’s got an approach to the world that allows him to find solutions, but his minuses is that he self-sabotages a lot of the time, because he doesn’t believe in himself and lets the wrong people in. I readily identified with Johnny in terms of both is pluses and minuses and so I worked with him because I found it useful to connect with a spirit ally that could remind me that the winter I found myself in wasn’t going to last forever. I saw that in his hero’s journey and I knew the same journey awaited me.
Working with Johnny ultimately proved helpful. There were times I was ready to give up and he would pop in and remind me not to quit. He continually pushed me to keep going, to find solutions and to remember that I would rise again, just like he had. He wasn’t around all the time, but he showed up when needed and occasionally I’d watch an episode of Cobra Kai as well to recalibrate. I did pay close attention to how he showed up. When I self-sabotaged myself a couple times, he’d show up and point out that I didn’t want to be like him and become self-destructive. He kept me on the right track and this was a good example of how you could actually work with the minuses of a spirit, in such a way as to take them and turn them into strengths.
How you work with a given spirit is ultimately a realization of the relationship you form with that spirit. In my case, working with Johnny has helped me get through a tough time of my life, but it also deepened my appreciation for how the flaws of a given being can actually become strengths that help you do better on your own path.
