A couple of things that are swimming in my overly creative (read: too much caffeine) mind. One is the story The Princess and the Pea and the second is the show Ghost Whisperer.
In The Princess and the Pea, the part I remember is the sensitivity to the pea (read below if you need the background). Every time I put on a new shirt with those bothersome stupid tags and the extra button - I think, "Am I too sensitive and delicate because obviously if this bothered everyone, the manufactures would surely think of another way to do this, right??" How does something that obviously is bothersome (but most of us just live with it because that is how "it is") to a lot of people continue? I would imagine that all of us have societal tough questions that we just deal with because we are tired of asking the smoking question we used to have to ask a million times during registration...or all the warnings and cautions we see everywhere to stave off litigation. ("This coffee is hot" ... Its coffee, It's supposed to be hot.) The tiny bright spot of optimism is that the tags on t-shirts used to also bug the heck out of me but a lot of those are tag-less now; someone, somewhere is paying attention.
Ok, the second one is this goofy, TV show: Ghost Whisperer (Google it if you aren't familiar). Anyway, one of the scenes on the show was when people died their ghost arose out of their body and looked at the dead body in wonderment. The thing I take from this is I feel this way sometimes...It is an "out of sorts" feeling. This body over here is how you should feel and operate, but sometimes I feel disconnected (hence, the whole grounded concept). I also see it with people. I see they feel out of sorts - not connected or grounded to what and where they should be. Sometimes they don't know it, and it is up to me to help get them reconnected or find their way back. (Like the Ghost Whisperer, she'd help them cross over.) If there is someone in your life who is trying to help you see another way of looking at things, I encourage you to listen and be open to change. The help they offer might be just what you need.
*The story tells of a prince who wants to marry a princess but is having difficulty finding a suitable wife.Something is always wrong with those he meets, and he cannot be certain they are real princesses because they have bad table manners or they are too fat or thin or not beautiful. One stormy night a young woman drenched with rain seeks shelter in the prince's castle. She claims to be a princess, so the prince's mother decides to test their unexpected, unwitting guest by placing a pea in the bed she is offered for the night, covered by 20 mattresses and 20 feather-beds. In the morning, the guest tells her hosts that she endured a sleepless night; kept awake by something hard in the bed that she is certain has bruised her. The prince rejoices. Only a real princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through such a quantity of bedding, so the two are married.
-Steve Simonin, President & CEO
