the princess and the pea...

There is a bit of a glorious teaching running just under the surface of most fairy tales, isn’t there? …a deeper story, easily missed, that wants to help connect us to soul. 

Through the different characters in fairy tales we are shown how we all have challenges along the way, have shadow parts of ourselves to deal with and yet, arriving throughout, in amazing disguises, are teachers and helpers along the way.  All with the purpose of helping us remember who it is we truly are…that we are the sons and daughters of something breathtaking…a soul lineage that connects us to the divine.

Do you remember the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”? This is the story of a young woman whose royal lineage was tested.  The story of a princess so sensitive that regardless of the beauty in her life…could feel the pain of the tiniest dissonance...the pea under her piled high mattresses...the subtlest disconnect from her soul, from her inner life.  To be that much in alignment with soul! 

Meditation teacher Chogyam Trungpa used to say that our hearts should be so tender…so raw…that even the tiniest of mosquitos landing on our heart would cause great pain.

We all come from this lineage but most of us have forgotten our birthright…to feel what soul feels. What can a world do to someone who has the capacity to feel everything?…their joy and sadness, love and pain, fear and courage…to someone who can be vulnerable…who can stay present with all of it. That sensitivity is our greatest potency.

(Image: Princess and the Pea by Edmond Dulac)

Mary Jo Heyen is a certified Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients in person, phone or Skype. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com.