"Once Upon A Time ..." That phrase at the beginning of any story conjures up automatic images of times long gone, of castles and royalty and mythical creatures and hopes of happy endings that almost always come true. Almost always. Sometimes, the ogres and evil witches are stronger and more cunning than the heroine, the landscape to be traveled is denser and more treacherous than expected, impossibly high walls have to be scaled, or, and this is the scariest one of all, the heroine falls into hopeless unending self-doubt.
In Disney stories and Grimm's fairy tales, there is always something or someone that pulls the heroine back to her senses. At the very least, some small sign or miracle that allows her to refocus her energies and pull through to believe in herself and save the day, no matter how long the battle. We read these stories as children, watch versions of them on movie screens ... I know that, as a child, I somehow believed deep down that the stories were ultimately true. That good would always win and that I would be able to overcome any obstacle, win any battle, if I just believed in myself and kept up the effort. As I began to grow up, that outlook began to change. Good, it seemed, did not always win, obstacles could loom impossibly large, and that which did not appear evil to begin with sure did seem to turn out to be!
The level of hopeless unending self-doubt that can permeate one's existence is no less suffocating than a pit of quicksand as large as the earth itself. Signs and miracles and knights in shining armor seem to be nowhere to be found. It's then, at the bottom of that all encompassing quicksand, that the true signs, and miracles, and origins of positive energy are revealed .... as it turns out, those are only found in ourselves. The terms "sign", "miracle", and "knight in shining armor" in those stories, are simply metaphors for the inner strength and perseverance that we must find inside if we want to truly overcome the obstacles, the evil, the twists, turns, and conundrums that life throws at us. As for myself, I figure I'm about head and shoulders out of the pit, trying to determine where the strength and positivity comes from for the rest of my self-extraction. Learning every minute ..... wish me luck! I'll keep you posted.
~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress
In Disney stories and Grimm's fairy tales, there is always something or someone that pulls the heroine back to her senses. At the very least, some small sign or miracle that allows her to refocus her energies and pull through to believe in herself and save the day, no matter how long the battle. We read these stories as children, watch versions of them on movie screens ... I know that, as a child, I somehow believed deep down that the stories were ultimately true. That good would always win and that I would be able to overcome any obstacle, win any battle, if I just believed in myself and kept up the effort. As I began to grow up, that outlook began to change. Good, it seemed, did not always win, obstacles could loom impossibly large, and that which did not appear evil to begin with sure did seem to turn out to be!
The level of hopeless unending self-doubt that can permeate one's existence is no less suffocating than a pit of quicksand as large as the earth itself. Signs and miracles and knights in shining armor seem to be nowhere to be found. It's then, at the bottom of that all encompassing quicksand, that the true signs, and miracles, and origins of positive energy are revealed .... as it turns out, those are only found in ourselves. The terms "sign", "miracle", and "knight in shining armor" in those stories, are simply metaphors for the inner strength and perseverance that we must find inside if we want to truly overcome the obstacles, the evil, the twists, turns, and conundrums that life throws at us. As for myself, I figure I'm about head and shoulders out of the pit, trying to determine where the strength and positivity comes from for the rest of my self-extraction. Learning every minute ..... wish me luck! I'll keep you posted.
~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress
