Would you call yourself brave or stubborn? Do you ever call yourself either of those things, or do you usually leave it up to the people around you to judge your behavior and attitude when questing? How much more might you accomplish — and how much more help might you Read more…
I am not nor have I ever been a very big fan of Aesop. What I mean to say is that too many of our long-held misperceptions of various animals, and by extension our fellow man, are stupid-harmful. So many of his fables would progress and end in ways very different from the originals if a creature’s behavior were based in what we know now.
If a boy continued to cry wolf when there was no wolf, he would be replaced as shepherd by someone the villagers could trust. If a talking lion is willing to file down his teeth for the sake of love, essentially disabling himself, it’s because he knows something about his bride we don’t. Aesop’s fables have spent a lot of time being admired for how — in his day — he was able to so succinctly portray societal ills which continue to pervade in today’s landscape.
(more…)My sister once told me I should go out with a particular guy because he would treat me like a princess. She meant that he would spoil and pamper me and put my wants and needs above his own. I responded to the meaning of her sentiment by saying “I don’t want to be treated like a princess, I want to be treated like a human being.”
Many women and girls out there share my sister’s opinion about what it means to be treated like a princess. Some add additional meaning such as being eternally in love (thanks for setting that bar, RomComs) or always being taken care of by a man (which I’m sure we all know gets the most flack for good reason). Yet this definition of being treated like a princess centers on the end of the story, on the wedding bells and feasts and especially “happily ever after.”
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Sometimes we’re so focused on a desired outcome that we try to nudge it a little force it and just end up frustrating ourselves. Sometimes, while respecting the fact that we can’t always get what we want the exact minute that we want it, we forget that spending a good amount of time having reasonable expectations will not guarantee that we will be “rewarded” on those occasions when we want a little more than usual. Sometimes we just don’t know how to be satisfied with what we’ve got going on right here, right now.
We want more stuff because we deserve more stuff because we deny ourselves. We want more money because we deserve more money because we never rock the boat by asking for a raise (to be fair, minimum wage is not a wage). We want more time because we deserve more time because we fill all our time with the wants and the needs and the expectations of others.
(more…)It’s hard asking for help. It’s humbling admitting that we aren’t 100% self-sufficient at any given moment day or night. It’s another opportunity to compare ourselves to others, perhaps even denying someone else the help we could so easily give.
We’ve talked about donors here before, right? Those teachers who come along to test us, show us who we are and give us the tools/lessons we need to complete an impending quest. We should always be our own donors first, but surely there’s room to help others.
(more…)Have you ever gotten a tarot reading? Did you go in curious for what future might be revealed for you, or prepared to wage war against a charlatan? I have, and I’ve given plenty of readings myself.
Rule One: There is no such thing as “fortune-telling”. When someone tells you your future, they’re really telling you just how predictable you are. The more they’re right, the more predictable you are.
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