Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time in a faraway land….

It's a familiar beginning isn't it?  There is something very powerful about those words.  We hear them first as children and then later read them to the next generation.  Still there is something that grabs at our imagination when we hear them.  We know something magical is about to follow.  As children we really do believe a magical adventure is just around the corner, at the edge of the backyard, or down at the bottom of the deep end of the swimming pool.

As we grow up (a bad idea if you ask me), we are told that life is not a fairy tale.  Reality is drummed into our heads.  We are programmed for what is not possible, so stop wishing and trying for it.  All of this is done with the best of intentions, well okay perhaps some of it is well intentioned.  Mostly it is because we are navigating a world of the broken dreams and shattered hearts that have come before us. We are told to not get our hopes up, and so after a time we learn not to hope, not to dream, and to simply accept the world as it is.  Some people embittered even go out of their way to prove to others how cruel the world can be for their own good, or so they say.

Well my friends on my sojourn this summer I received several important messages from spirit.  One of them was that life is a faery tale (note the spelling difference…spelling counts especially in magic).  Now at first I thought maybe this was wishful thinking, but as I was making the last leg of my round a bout way home I found myself behind a van while I was pondering the spirit messages.  When I looked at the license plate it had one of those vanity plates.  It was Cinderella.  Spelled to fit the plate but very obviously that ashy little princess.  Spirits do tend to have a sense of humor at least the ones that work around me do, I might have rubbed off on them over the years.  So in my mind the message that life is a faery tale was real.  So how to reconcile that with the world?

The thing most people remember is the happily ever after part of the story.  In narratives particularly simple ones we skim along to the pertinent events.  What we miss is that many of our protagonists go through many trials and suffer for long periods of time (try reading some old versions of Rapunzel if you don't believe me).  It was not a brief struggle and then onto true love with a side of royalty.  Most of us are not valiant knights, or secret princesses, but we are beings of great power capable of changing our world if we believe we can.  This is why the faery tale is important.  It speaks to our heart and how we wish the world could be.  (No I don't mean pushing carnivorous old women into ovens).

The world is what we make it, and the changes that happen are the ones we believe that we can make.  This is the faery tale,  the magic of our hearts dreaming combined with our actions and perseverance.  A faery tale is not meant as an escape from the details of life, but rather a compass to navigate them.  The washing up will have to be done whether or not you make it all the way down the yellow brick road.  There will be challenges, but the biggest one is you.  You have to stop believing that a better more meaningful world is impossible or not realistic.  You just can't afford that belief if you want to live  in a world of wonder.

So how about you?  What's your story?  What would your happily ever after look like?  What sort of world would you need to create to have that ending?  Think on it for a while.  If you don't know where to start it's easy.  It always starts the same…once upon a time.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle