A hidden message in ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ that can change our lives..
“Mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?”
“You, my queen is fair it’s true. But little Snow White is fairer than you.”
Sounds familiar?
The beautiful little princess Snow White, her skin as white as snow, her jealous stepmother who tries to get rid of her, the seven dwarfs who help her and the handsome prince she marries in the end.
We all have grown up listening to this famous fairy tale.
As a child, I was in love with the pure and innocent Snow-White. I despised her stepmother for being so mean and cruel.
However recently, while I was reading this story to my kids, one of the characters in the story grabbed my attention.
It wasn’t Snow White or her step mother.
Neither any of the seven dwarfs nor the handsome prince.
What fascinated me was the mirror.
The infamous mirror that actually caused all the trouble.
The mirror could have lied to Snow White’s stepmother.
It could have told the queen that she was the prettiest woman in the world.
But it didn’t…The queen believed the mirror to such an extent that when the mirror stopped validating her, she got extremely insecure.
So it was the mirror that betrayed the queen’s trust.
It was the mirror that stirred the feeling of jealousy, anxiety, anger, and hatred within the queen.
It was the mirror that messed up with her mind, made her do the unthinkable and as a result doomed her life.
So it means that the real villain in the story is the mirror.
Or is it?
For a moment let’s forget about the extreme acts of cruelty done by Snow White’s evil stepmother and focus on the feelings that made her behave in such an irrational manner.
What were these feelings?
• Anger
• Hatred
• Jealousy
• Insecurity
• Pain of rejection
In one of the versions that I had read, it’s said that the queen actually loved Snow White up until the mirror told her the harsh reality.
She couldn’t face the truth and lost her sanity in the process.
Now think about this. Do we have such imaginary mirror in our life?
What does the mirror actually symbolize?
The mirror in the preceding story is nothing but a ‘mental bubble’ that the queen lived in. The bubble that surrounded her all the time making her believe that only she was the most beautiful woman that ever existed on the face of the earth.
What’s living in a mental bubble?
Living in a mental bubble means surrounding ourselves with a false reality. The reality of life that we’ve created in our mind that makes us believe that nothing is going to change.
Living in a mental bubble means staying inside our comfort zone and looking at the world from that cozy place. It means not trying something new, having fear of unknown, turning away from that harsh truth, doing the same activities, living the same monotonous life, hanging out with same people, following the same routine day in and day out for years and years.
The mental bubble can make us feel either superior or inferior to others. Having paradigms like,
1. I am the best
2. I have the authority and I take major decisions
3. I have a status in the society.
4. Everyone respects me.
5. I will never have a financial crunch
6. My kids/ partner/ friends will always support me no matter what
Or like…
a. I am not good enough
b. My words don’t matter
c. Nothing can change in my life.
d. I am stuck in this situation forever
e. I will always be overweight
f. When I talk no one listens
g. If I start a business no one will support me
h. I can never be successful
The moment someone bursts our bubble for us or we are forced to come out of it, we start experiencing the feelings of anger, anxiety, fear, frustration, and depression.
As the famous novelist and poet, Robert Anton Wilson said,
“Every nervous system creates its own “reality,” minute by minute — we live inside a “bubble” of neural abstractions which we identify with reality. You can make this neurological fact into conscious experience, and you will never be bored or depressed again.
The mental bubble can be extremely comfortable, it can also give us momentary happiness and pleasure. However, every single day while we snuggle up inside it, it’s building a wall around us. A wall that separates ordinary from extraordinary.
That’s the reason it’s so difficult to come out of a challenging situation because we prefer the known monster than the unknown.
Yes, it can be scary.
Stepping out of the mental bubble is one of the toughest things a person can ever do. It’s definitely not a pleasant experience but outside our mental bubble is where the real magic takes place.
Coming back to the story of the evil queen. For years she lived in an illusion that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was so lost inside her mental bubble that she failed to discover and appreciate any other powers she would have had.
Then again, she is just a fictional character.
But we are real..Aren’t we?
Let’s confront that mirror in our mental bubble through which we have been seeing the world so far and say to it,
“Mirror Mirror on the wall.
Do you really think you know it all?
I don’t care what you conceive of me.
There is much more to this world than you can ever see.
So mirror it’s time to say our goodbyes
Cause I am stepping out to touch the skies
Living the same day over and over again is not what God wanted me to do.
Almighty God has believed in me and now, I believe in myself too.
Yes, it’s a scary place out there, that I know.
But I want to test my limits and see how far I can go.”
Let’s reflect on the reality that we’ve created for ourselves and dare to burst our own mental bubble before life does it for us.
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