Have Courage and Be Kind

Don’t you just love the live-action Cinderella movie that came out last year? I do. That dress is to die for!

But more than the dress and the handsome prince (whose name just happens to be Kit!) I loved the message, the promise Cinderella made to her mother, to have courage and be kind.

Cinderella was dealt a pretty rough hand in life. She lost her mother at a young age, and then her father. Furthermore, she was forced to live with a stepfamily who was neither courageous nor kind, and subsequently became a servant in her own home. What if Cinderella would have had the courage to simply run away from her awful situation? Nobody would have blamed her. But the promise wasn’t to be kind only to the people who are kind to you. She simply promised to have courage and be kind. No qualifiers. No exceptions.

That promise served her well. She demonstrated courage and kindness in everything she did. It helped her to stay generally happy and to keep a positive attitude, even when her stepmother belittled her. The promise she kept helped her to remember who (and whose) she truly was.

And that is why the prince fell in love with her. It wasn’t because she was beautiful on the outside. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t royalty by society’s standards. Everything he loved about her came from her character. The prince was deeply burdened by the responsibilities now resting on his shoulders, but he recognized her strength and knew she could help him lead the kingdom.

I want you to think about that. There is much power that comes from showing courage, from showing kindness. How can developing these qualities help us to become who (and whose) we’ve always known ourselves to be?

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It always takes courage to do this, to take a stand for who you are and who you want to be. If you are tired and overwhelmed and need the courage to be the mom you want to be in this day and age, then I have an invitation for you.  I have a wonderful retreat coming up where we will focus on who we are, why we do what we do and how to make our lives easier and happier.  How to embody the attributes so beautifully portrayed by Cinderella. Click here to learn more.  You won’t regret it!

In the end, Cinderella demonstrated the ultimate in courage and kindness by forgiving her stepmother and stepsisters. Over the years, I’ve come to learn that forgiveness isn’t so much about the people who have offended us as it is about unburdening ourselves of hate and negativity. In doing this, Cinderella showed kindness to herself, and became free to truly live happily ever after.