Yesterday, I watched
the new, live-action movie, Cinderella.
The film was very true to the fairy-tale I had grown up hearing. After her
father dies, a young girl named Ella virtually becomes an indentured servant to
her step-mother and step-sisters as she must rush around trying to fulfill
their every need and whim. Fortunately, her Fairy Godmother appears at just the
right moment to offer some much-needed reassurance and practical help so she can
get to a magical ball in time to meet and win the heart of her Prince Charming.
Unfortunately, she
never gets a chance to tell the prince her name when she must flee the ball
before the magic that transformed her into a beautiful “princess” in her own
right disappears and she must resume her original identity. As the story goes, Ella
loses one of her glass slippers on the palace steps as she runs out of the
castle. With only the shoe as evidence that his beloved truly exists, the
prince sets out to search his kingdom to find the woman who wore it and stole
his heart at the ball. It isn’t until the handsome prince (now, king) finally
tracks her down that she finally reveals her identity.
After enduring
years of degradation and insults from her step-mother and step-sisters, Ella
has come to see herself as “only” a lowly servant in her step-mother’s home.
After her father died his widow and her daughters stopped recognizing Ella as a
legitimate member of the household and family. They relegated her living
quarters to a dusty, drafty attic and did not allow her to eat meals with them
in the dining room. Indeed, Ella spent most of her days so hard at work in the
house and enduring her step-family’s snide comments and degradations that even
she started to think of herself the same way they did: a mere servant with no
status or worth. So when the king asks her name, she gives him the moniker by
which she is known and has come to see herself: Cinderella.
According to
John Kappas, Ph.D., the subconscious mind works on expectation and imagination.
Over time, we learn to expect others to respond to and interact with us in a
particular way based on our previous experience with those individuals. We also
learn to internalize the message or emotion we perceive in those interactions,
which can affect self-confidence and self-esteem, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder
explained. No matter what the “message” is, as you hear and repeat it to
yourself your subconscious mind starts to believe and even own that message. When
everyone around you constantly bombard you with criticism and negativity, as
Cinderella’s step-mother and step-sisters did, it’s no surprise that your self-confidence
and self-esteem take a dive when even you start to believe in the negative
hype.
Fortunately, (Cinder)Ella’s
ability to remain true to her core beliefs to stay brave and be kind in spite
of the abominable treatment she received enabled her to prevail and find true
love and happiness at the end of the story. Even better, this version of the fairy-tale
emphasized that these qualities (not just her beauty) are the characteristics
that charmed and even inspired her prince to behave in a similarly noble and
compassionate way.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a
certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with
honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment,
please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2015
