Beauty and the Beast
      by Gail Carr Feldman, PhD

When Beauty was confined to the Beast's castle, she wasn't expecting to find happiness. When Snow White discovered the forest home of the dwarfs, she wasn't expecting a rescue by Walt Disney, but only survival. The message for young women from these stories is not about finding Prince Charming, but about hard work, learning to believe in oneself and knowing the power of love.

Beauty had to find her way around the castle, and we are told that she spent long days in the library reading. She needed to learn about the adult world she was about to enter. Snow White had to learn about cooking, cleaning and caring for others. When both successfully accomplished this stage of development, Beauty was startled to find the Beast turn into a beautiful man, and snow White's Prince found his way to her in the forest. The reason these two young women "lived happily ever after" is not because of outside events or people, but because of their capacity to expect the best from themselves. Right thought and right action lead to powerful possibilities.

"Confucius...was the first to deliver the Golden Rule:  Do unto others as your heart prompts you..."

Confucius, the Chinese philosopher and reformer, is regarded by some historians as the most influential man of all time. Five hundred years before the Common Era, when China was immersed in mass violence and terrible internal struggles, Confucius taught the "arts of peace." he was the first to deliver the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as your heart prompts you. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself." he said that love is more powerful than force. He believed in the unity of all people. He introduced a system of weights and measures and uniform prices and he encouraged balance in every area of life. He urged personal behavior that would "make litigations unnecessary," and it was said that in the area he governed, all crime was ended. He proved the power of positive expectation.

We must learn to create visions of what we want and be specific in what we do to further our aims. As Julia Cameron says about faith, "Pray that you catch the bus, and then run as fast as you can."

Spiritual teachers tell us that reaping what we sow, or cause and effect, is one of the Laws of the Universe. When we govern ourselves with right thinking and correct action, we demonstrate faith that the how of reaching our goals will be accomplished by the silent Power behind all things. So expect health, wealth, success and abundance of every kind... and then run as fast as you can toward it. As Ernest Holmes, the creator of Science of Mind writes, "We should EXPECT THE BEST, and so live that the best may become a part of our experience."

Dr. Gail Feldman is a clinical psychologist, award-winning author, and enthusiastic public speaker. Her most recent book, Releasing the Goddess Within, coauthored with Katherine Gleason, is now available Her classic, From Crisis to Creativity: Taking Advantage of Adversity, has been published in an updated edition in London by TimeWarner. She is also trained in hypnotherapy, regression therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reporcessing (EDMR).

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© Gail Carr Feldman, PhD
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