There is tremendous power in knowing who you really are.
I remember the day my friend Maura (Hi Maura!) had the stunning revelation about who she is in a very fundamental way. She looked at me in horror and said, “Oh my GOD! I am a Hufflepuff!” She totally is.
I said, “Haha, that is totally funny and so true.”
Then it hit me. I am too! Doh!
I love the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Huge fan. I have read every book many times and seen all the movies. If you have too, then I am sure you have asked yourself this question- what house at Hogwarts would you be in? There are even websites that will automatically sort you if you are so inclined.
Your house says a lot about who you are, and who your tribe is. Of course, I wanted to be in Gryffindor, where all the brave ones go, like Harry and all his friends. It would be super cool to be hanging with all the heroes in Gryffindor.
The smarties go to Ravenclaw. The wicked and ambitious go to Slytherin. (Boooo…hiss!) And that leaves Hufflepuff, as sort of a catch all for the rest. The funny thing is that it’s hard to even know anything about Hufflepuff. I asked around. I did a little survey of my kids and my friends, asking them what they knew about Hufflepuff. No one knew anything.
I resorted to looking it up on the Harry Potter fan sites. Good thing there are so many well-informed sites that were happy to educate me on being a Hufflepuff.
It’s where all the nice people go.
“You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,
And unafraid of toil“
—The Sorting Hat
Professor McGonagall says that all of the houses have produced incredible witches and wizards. The founder of Hufflepuff house, Helga Hufflepuff had a policy of accepting any student, anyone who didn’t fall into the more obvious characteristics of the other houses. It’s the house of inclusion, everyone is welcome there. Because they are not terribly competitive, they don’t have the same rivalry that the other houses have with each other. Hufflepuffs get along with everyone.
The good news for us Hufflepuffians (or Duffers as they are sometimes known as), is there were some really cool wizards and witches that came from Hufflepuff, including Professor Sprout, Nymphadora Tonks and Cedric Digory.
The more I looked into it, the better I felt about being a Hufflepuffer. There is nothing wrong with being kind, loyal and hardworking. And there is a lot of wisdom in knowing who you are.
And what does this have to do with anything except an interesting and inevitable exercise for Harry Potter fans?
I think that most of the pain and suffering we have in our life comes from trying to be someone we are not. We suffer when we don’t like who we are and we get a lot of crazy ideas about who we are supposed to be, usually based on someone else’s agenda. How sad is it that so many people actually hate themselves? It is so sad, and so unnecessary.
Our ego ideal owns us and we waste so much time, blood, sweat and tears on contorting ourselves into being someone we really aren’t. Any time you start a sentence with “I should…” you are negating who you are.
I should be more organized and neat.
I should be a vegetarian.
I should be able to do math and spell.
I should be petite and waif-like, or tall, blonde and Amazonian.
I should be a Gryffindor.
Those may or may not be true, but the fact of the matter is that I am NOT. Nor will I ever be. How much time am I going to waste on that? Especially since this is a soul thing. Our souls are who they are. Our lives, bodies, talents, gifts and likings are all steering us to be more our soul. What a relief to embrace who we really are!
I am loyal, friendly and compassionate.
I am quirky and strange and think in a unique way.
I am generous and non judgmental.
I am adventurous and fun loving.
I am Hufflepuff!
