Belle (of Beauty and the Beast) Teaches About Simplifying Your Life

This is an excerpt from my book, Life Lessons Learned From Fairy Tales, available on Amazon. 

The story of Belle, the heroine of Beauty and the Beast, teaches the following tenet: 

“Living is simple. 

 Loving is simple. 

Laughing is simple. 

Winning is also very simple, but living your life in a simple way is difficult.”

If you feel that your life generates too much drama, it may be time to step back and determine the reasons why this atmosphere exists. Establish if you're at the center of the drama, or if you are surrounding yourself with others who only thrive when they have difficulties about which to complain.

If it’s the latter, it may be time to clean house. 

When you associate with positive people who lead uncluttered lives, their energy can spill onto you. Often, these are people who have experienced difficult times. As they coped with their situations, they learned to cherish what is most important in life, which is love.

Woody Hayes said, “There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.”

I’m sure that some of you are ready to say, “I’m clean enough!” However, life IS and will be forever messy. There will always be something making us “dirty” or pulling on us – although, not necessarily in a bad way, even if it does come with some complications.

Life is learning how to successfully maneuver your way through the dirty puddles and then taking full advantage of the momentary respites from difficulties whenever they are presented. A good way to clear your life of convoluted complications is to discover the underlying issue and then look for a simple solution to resolve it. 

Alan Cohen suggests you look back at your life to figure out the answers. He said, “To resolve is to re-solve. The situation is already solved, and you only need to remember the solution.”

The Purpose of Fairy Tales

 Have you ever dreamed of being rescued by a handsome stranger or by a white knight who happens to be galloping by on his steed? If so, you’re no different than a lot of other little girls, who, in addition, have also envisioned a fairy tale-like wedding.

Fairy tales, which promote the idea of living happily ever after, provide hope that, no matter what obstacles you may be encountering, in the end, things will work out to your satisfaction. 

In fact, Jack Zipes says, “Fairy tales, since the beginning of recorded time, and perhaps earlier, have been a means to conquer the terrors of mankind through metaphor.”

Fairy tales are powerful stories that let you suspend your belief in the mundane and allow you to believe in the power of miracles. However, “at the center of every fairy tale lay a truth that gave the story its power,” so writes Susan Wiggs in The You I Never Knew.

Gary Ross wrote, “What works about fairy tales is that they endure, and the great thing about fairy tales is that you can explore big, epic things that you can’t really explore in other situations.” 

Alice Hoffman goes on to say, “I always felt and still feel that fairy tales have an emotional truth that is so deep that there are few things that really rival them.”

All that said, and despite a desire you may harbor to be “saved” by some mystical force from situations in your life that you deem dire, the real truth is that the only way to overcome obstacles is to face and solve your issues by yourself.

In fact, YOU are the most powerful person in your own life, and you hold your own magic wand that can help you transform your life into the vision you desire and of which you dream.

One way to bring these dreams to fruition is to work towards creating your happily right now instead of always yearning for a happily ever after that you hope to discover in some nebulous future time. Find your happiness in the now, and a happy future will naturally follow.

To read more about the Lessons Learned From Fairy Tales, click here to check out my book available on Amazon.