Happy New Year! Read a Fairy Tale

Corrie Ann
Jan 2
3 min read

Happy New Year to all of our Friends at Brandy Hall Bookshoppe!

We often make resolutions for the new year. “I am going to ‘eat better’. ‘I will walk more.’ ‘I want to run a 5K.’ ‘I want to get promoted at work.’ However, these “resolutions” are often fleeting as life spins out of our control. Also, many of those resolutions are either not strictly sustainable or the results are somewhat out of your control. I challenge you to something that is guaranteed to make your year more wonder-filled. It is guaranteed to leave you a more joyful person and more open to your spiritual journey than anything else. Read more fairy tales. This is it. This is the balm for many a wounded soul, this is the companion for many a lonely heart, this is the calming breeze for many a fiery passion. Read more fairy tales.

I started reading more fairy tales and great stories throughout my day this year. The gentle lessons sprinkled throughout provided the buffer I needed to navigate the rocky shores of 2024. They required a stillness of mind and a childlike heart that brought me back to the land of joy and gave me hope, since everyone in fairy tales eventually finds their way.

For centuries people have claimed that fairy-tales were frivolous and distraction. Yet, I notice that, instead, fairy tales till the soil of good things being planted in our hearts and brings us back to our true selves. George MacDonald writes through the character “John Smith” in Adela Cathcart “If both church and fairy-tale belong to humanity, they may occasionally cross circles, without injury to either. They must have something in common.”

Practically, reading fairy-tales helps to renew curiosity about the world and brings wonder into our lives. Elizabeth Margulis (New Mexico Library Bulletin) stated a second-hand account of a mother asking Albert Einstein what to read to become a great scientist. The legend goes that Dr. Einstein replied, “Fairy tales and more fairy tales.”

Humans create every day. Every time they do something or say something, they reinforce a particular culture or way of being. There are few things as hauntingly meaningful as being in the presence of someone who is in the act of creating and building beauty right before our eyes. We want to participate in that moment, even if on the fringes. People spend all kinds of money to watch professional artists in music and dance and other genres share stories in real time. L.M. Montgomery through her character “Anne” in Anne of Green Gables reminds us that “The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and storytellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.”

You too, without leaving your home, can prepare yourself to bring wonder to your daily life, jumpstart your imagination, and prepare the soil of your soul for creating culture in your everyday world. You can start reading more fairy tales.

To assist with your journey to bring fairyland back to your world, Brandy Hall Bookshoppe will publish a fairytale which you can download as a pdf periodically throughout the year. We only ask that you read the story and allow it to bring you back to a life of dreams, imagination, and creating – a life full of wonder. Then, as you can take time away from your creative pursuits, share how that fairy tale has been a part of your journey. Enjoy!