Conflict within Families: Talents that set us apart vs. Our need to Conform

The family relationship is often one of the most difficult to resolve. In times of old teachers would make use of stories/ fables/ parables to teach our Great Lessons. Here, I have attached the story of The Princess and the Shoes which highlights that difficult transition of being 'the same' as your family/tribe/social group and grasping the New, Risky, Never been Done Before aspect of our God-given gifts.

For anyone who has ever wanted to kick, kill or run away from their families...or is terrified to show their most glorious, magnificent, talented part of themselves!

THE PRINCESS AND THE SHOES

Once Upon a time, in a kingdom far distant from here, was born a beautiful princess, Asra. At her christening, her Fairy Godmother presented her with the most beautiful pair of white magic shoes. These shoes sparkled and glistened and were the envy of the whole kingdom.

As little Asra grew, the magic white shoes grew too. Molding her feet into fine and dainty form. Now each night, the little Princess would remove her white shoes and store them in a special glass box beside her bed. Each morning, before rising from her bed, she would don the white shoes and skip from her room.

The magic white shoes allowed her to walk and dance and run better than anyone else in the kingdom. Over time, Asra’s family became jealous of her white shoes. They were barefoot; their feet being broad and rough and slow. They hatched a plan to steal the white shoes from her. Each night as she slept, one after the other, they crept into her room to take the shoes from her. On each occasion the glass box sang and awakened her as they attempted to take the shoes.

On the first night, it was her father who tried to take the shoes. As the glass box sang and awakened her, he patted her brow and told her he just wanted to check that she was okay as she slept.

On the second night, it was her mother who tried to take the shoes. As the glass box sang and awakened her, her mother brushed her lips to Asra’s brow and told her she wanted to tell her one more time how she was loved.

On the third night, it was her brother and sister who tried to take the shoes. As the glass box sang and awakened her, they told her they simply wanted to play with her one last time that day.

As time wore on and Asra grew older and more beautiful, her family became increasingly bitter towards the white shoes.

‘Why do you continue to wear those old things?” Her sister asked.

“What do you want to wear shoes for?” Her brother asked.

“I hate how those things have deformed your feet.” Her mother said.

“Why do you want to be different from us?” Her father insisted.

Asra ignored them all. She saw only how beautiful the shoes were and reveled in the dainty steps the shoes gave her.

Finally, her family devised a plot to steal the shoes from her. They commissioned the help of a witch to take the shoes.

One afternoon, as Asra was dancing and skipping down to the river in her beautiful white shoes, she came upon a young woman like herself. This woman was as beautiful, but beaten and bruised by thugs who had robbed her.

Asra’s heart flooded with compassion for the poor woman and took her back to the palace with her. She fed her and had her bathed in her own bath. She prepared a bed for her near the fire in her room and gave her the finest nightgown to wear.

In return the, lady gave her a token. Asra thanked her for the token and wore it round her neck. Unknown to Asra, the token was bewitched, and would deafen her ears as she slept.

In the night, her guest stole into the room. In the glow of the moonlight it could be seen that she was a witch. Opening the glass box, she removed the white shoes. The glass box sang and sang, but the token about Asra’s neck prevented her from hearing the plea.

Upon waking, Asra was distraught that her white shoes were gone. She tried to walk, but her dainty feet were too tender and she fell to the floor. Repeatedly she tried to walk, but the pain was so sharp she could not bare it. Finally her mother and father came to her room to ask what kept her from the family breakfast table. Finding their daughter in a heap on the floor, tears glistening in her eyes, they were troubled at what they had done.

Her parents vowed they would hire the best teachers in the kingdom to train her in walking and dancing and running.

It took many months for Asra to learn how to walk. It took many more months to learn how to dance. And still more months to learn how to run. Finally, Asra was able to walk and dance and run like others in the kingdom. Her feet were still slender and dainty after many years in shoes, but finally her family was happy to see her barefoot like them.

One day as she played in the river, a handsome prince from a far kingdom walked by. He wore the finest pare of leather boots she had seen. His arches were high and his step firm. He was of a family of shoemakers. They cobbled the finest shoes in all the kingdoms. He was taken immediately by the beauty and daintiness of her feet and asked her hand in marriage.

She is thrilled and the special date is set. As a gift to his bride, his mother and father craft the finest pair of silver silk slippers ever made.

She is wearing the new slippers on the day of her wedding when she is overcome with guilt. Her family is barefoot beside her at the ceremony and although she is thrilled to wear such fine slippers, she can’t but notice that her feet are so different from those of her family. Her new husband is proud to walk with his beautiful slipper clad wife, but as they prepare to leave, she removes the shoes and gives them to her mother “to remember me by.”

As the happy couple near the home of the Prince in his distant kingdom, he asks why she gave her precious slippers away.

“When I am with you, I know you will make many fine slippers for me. My mother had none. Now, she may know a slight comfort in owning a pair of fine silk slippers. Each Day she dons the slippers, I will be remembered and so our bond continues. I am then free to love you and your wonderful family, knowing that I can do so without remorse.

He smiled and they lived Happily Ever after….

Meaning:

The white shoes represent that which makes us special and ‘different’ from our families. They were given by her ‘Fairy Godmother’ – or divine source. The Family both covet and want to destroy the unique spark that is within us. It sets us apart from the Family | Tribe | Social Group.

Conflict within Families: Talents that set us apart Vs. Our need to Conform

‘Rescue’ by public appreciation that allows us to express ourselves authentically.

We intuitively know that we need to safeguard our unique gifts (protecting it in the ‘glass box’ of our hearts). Our intuition naturally warns us when our gift is threatened. We manage to hold on to our gifts through our childhood just long enough that it can form us.

Those closest to us are most prone to belittle our gift as it marks us as different to them. Envy and jealousy reign in any family.

The ‘witch’ represents a close ‘best’ friend who oftentimes has evil intent. Be warned against those who have a two-faced role in your life. The little princess gave her new ‘friend’ the best she had to offer. In return, the token she was given was merely the tool the ‘friend’ needed to take the talents from the princess.

In succeeding in removing the white shoes (innate talent), the family were ‘troubled’ by what they had done and made amends by ‘treating’ her with the best teachers (counselors and doctors) in the region. These specialists finally made Asra ‘the same’ as her family. I.e.: mediocre

The family had comfort in having her the same as them.

The advent of the prince marks a woman’s natural separation from her family roots. He is of a background that recognizes her talents (dainty feet) for what they are. He embraces that which set her apart from her family.

The silver silk slippers – given her by her in-laws – denote the acceptance they have in welcoming her into their family. They are of the ‘finest in all the kingdoms’. She is unconditionally accepted for her magnificent talents.

In giving the silver slippers to her mother (a token of her natural talents) she is finally able to appease the family and move away in her independent life.

When living in an environment (her Prince’s kingdom) where she is able to easily access gratitude, love, abundance, recognition, respect, honor (the many shoes he will give her) she is able to ‘Live Happily Ever After’

Dew Point! Optimal Life Potential.

Dew Point! It is that miracle of nature where temperature, humidity, ambiant pressure...and countless other miniscule adjustments are made, to meet in the perfect combination that results in the formation of Dew.
The sky cannot be too cloudy...or too clear that the water droplets freeze in Frost. The wind cannot be too strong to cause the evaporation of moisture, or the air too heavy to prevent the condensation on water droplets. In the culmination of Ideal conditions...Magic Occurs! As the sun glides up over the horizon, the rays of light will catch on the perfectly formed water droplets - and an ordinary and mundane garden is transformed into a carpet of glistening diamond droplets!

So too, when a human being is in that perfect Groove of optimal living....Magic Happens! It is in that space, that groove, that wedge that lies between comfort and struggle that the Human becomes the most phenomenal instrument of creative genius. It is after years of concerted effort and struggle, nurturance, support and 'luck' that a dancer performs her peak pirouette; an athlete smashes all previous records; an engineer unleashes atomic fusion, a politician ignites the hopes of a nation.

Moments of Greatness do not occur every day; but when they do...the face of the world is changed!

Each and every human has the potential to achieve this. That moment of Dew Point when all aspects of his life: his experiences, thoughts, hopes, dreams, relationships and opportunities culminate in a unification of all that is great within him. It is at that precise moment that he knows true Bliss. He knows what he came here to do; and he is doing it. And in doing it...he is achieving his Optimal Life Potential.

To the outsider it looks like a "Lucky" Man. A man who is living a charmed life. A man who just seems to 'win' no matter what the odds.

We all have this same ability. We just need to find our own unique groove to do it!

In the next few months, we will be coaching you through the process. We all have that groove. That channel within us where Life is Easy. It is not that Life is Easy. But when you are doing that thing that you should be doing....well, then it all just falls into place. One perfect jewel at a time!