There’s a lot of talk these days about the Law of Attraction. They make it sound so simple. You just wish for something, and then- POOF! Your fairy godmother appears and you get exactly what you want. Just like that.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? But how can that be? If it worked that way, we’d need to do nothing more than make three wishes and, like any good fairy tale, all of our dreams would come true. So why doesn’t it work? Let me tell you a secret … it does. It just doesn’t work that way. What do I mean? Get comfy and I’ll tell you a little story.

A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a princess who, instead of wearing a tiara, wore a stethoscope and a white coat and carried a paintbrush around.  She found her prince- and then got divorced. A second prince showed up, but he turned into a toad. By the age of 33, this lovely princess was battered, heartsick, and working her tail off in a job that sucked at her integrity and authenticity every day.

A Fairy Godmother appeared and invited her to make three wishes. She wished to:

1. Find true love.
2. Live a life of purpose
3. Be authentic in all aspects of her being

She waited … but nothing happened.  No magic wand. No true love. No life of purpose. Nothing.

So the princess decided to take things into her own hands. She said a prayer, visualized her prince, signed up for Match.com, and true love appeared two days later.  Two years later, she married her prince (third time’s a charm) and conceived a little girl.  But she still wasn’t living a life of purpose or being authentic. She was wandering around in the swamp, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do with her life, wearing masks and pretending to be something she wasn’t.

The Deep Sleep

Then the Wicked Witch showed up and cast an evil spell on her. Within two weeks of giving birth to her daughter, her dog died, her princely brother ended up in liver failure, and her beloved King of a father died of a brain tumor.  The princess fell into a deep sleep of heartache that even her handsome husband’s kiss couldn’t overcome.

While she slept, the princess started to dream.  She dreamed of integrating all of the facets of her wholeness, of quitting her job, of making a leap of faith, of being in service to others, of finding her calling, of healing her profession. She began to see clearly what her life was about.

In her dream, the princess discovered a magical power. Like the Wicked Witch, she too had the ability to cast spells and create magic. In the dream, her lady-in-waiting said, “Princess, your power is endless. You can create anything you wish. Show us your power. Speak of what you desire, and watch it magically appear in front of you. Try it now say ‘Purple Kangaroo.’”

The Temptation of the Ego

Tempted by the ego, the princess took the bait.  She said the words “Purple Kangaroo” and half expected that a purple kangaroo would hop across her path as if conjured by a magic wand. But it did not appear, and she felt shame. A hush fell across the village when word got out.  The villagers became fearful.

In the dream, a Queen in the neighboring village, who loved the princess, heard of her friend’s failure to conjure a purple kangaroo. The Queen was searching through the castle mail, when she came upon a gift she had received. It was a calendar filled with photos of royal toilets. When she flipped to September, she found- yes, you guessed it- a purple kangaroo toilet.

The Queen jumped on a white steed and galloped across the land to proclaim to the village that the princess had indeed conjured a purple kangaroo.

The Awakening

In spite of the powerful spell cast on her by the Wicked Witch, the princess woke up, and she knew what she had to do. She felt called to leave her stable, secure career, write a book, start a website, redefine health, serve her mission, and heal the world. Once she released the ego and surrendered to the Universe, her dream came true. She named her desires, spoke them out loud, asked for help from the Universe, instituted a plan of disciplined action, behaved as if her dreams had already come true, trusted her path, and surrendered all attachment to whether or not her dreams ever came true.

Rumor on the street has it that the princess lived happily ever after.

We Are All Princesses

Yes. You guessed it. This princess is me, but she is also each one of you.  My fairy tale is still evolving, as is yours, so nobody knows the ending. The moral of the story: You don’t just make a wish and watch as your dreams instantly come true. You have to wake up from the deep sleep that keeps you from truly living, let go of the ego, call upon the Universe, discover your life’s purpose, institute a plan of disciplined action, and find your true path. Also, your dreams don’t always come true the way you imagine they will. Sometimes, instead of a living breathing purple kangaroo, you conjure a toilet. You have to be open to possibility, to flow, to flux, and to divinity.

Only then can you begin to conjure the fairy tale you know your life can be.

Tomorrow, I’ll post Part II of this post: “Tips for Conjuring What you Wish to Create.” So stay tuned.

Until then, tell us your fairy tale. What three wishes would you make to a Fairy Godmother?

Bibbity-bobbity-boo,

Lissa

Lissa Rankin, MD

Author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist if She Was Your Best Friend (St. Martin’s Press, September 2010) and founder of OwningPink.com and the Owning Pink Center