Author George R.R. Martin is an award-winning novelist, television screenwriter and producer. His sweeping, epic science fiction fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire begins with the introductory A Game of Thrones. The first book in a current series of five, with several more volumes planned, deals with broad themes including sacrifice, courage, loyalty, honor, and friendship.
A particular story-line involves a teenager, Dany, from a deposed royal regime. Cut off from her family, with her nefarious brother as her only link to the past, she is promised in marriage to the leader of a marauding gang of fierce warriors. Once married, she is thrown headlong into a brutal nomadic life. Her mind and her body become progressively weaker with the strain until she reaches a breaking point. She can endure no more, and decides to kill herself rather than go through one more day of torment.
She falls asleep that night and dreams of a dragon. The ferocious, fire-breathing dream dragon turns on her and engulfs her in flames. Rather than resist the overpowering, deadly jet of fire, Dany embraces it. She submits to the fire and feels it enter her body and penetrate her soul. The searing hot flames do not harm her, they burn clean the vestiges of her past life and scour away her fantasies of a soft, easy life. In the dream, Dany feels no pain and willingly allows the flames to consume her corporeal body - even as her blood boils and turns to steam, she feels invigorated, refreshed, and alive.
She awakens with these feelings intact. She emerges from her dream with a resolve and a strength that is marked and noticeable. She feels new and acts as if re-born. And so she is. She went to sleep as a beaten, weak girl enslaved to a difficult life and forced into circumstances that she hated. She awakened as a fierce, proud woman ready to assume her birthright as a queen. The metaphorical dream fire destroyed her weaknesses and left only her strengths.
Like Dany, you can “burn” away the undesirable parts of your life and emerge as a new person capable of conquering all challenges. Like Dany, you are destined for greatness and must realize that difficult times sear toughness into your soul. Let your weaknesses and fears boil away under the harsh flame of your greatness within.
From September 2010, http://raising-a-man.tumblr.com
A particular story-line involves a teenager, Dany, from a deposed royal regime. Cut off from her family, with her nefarious brother as her only link to the past, she is promised in marriage to the leader of a marauding gang of fierce warriors. Once married, she is thrown headlong into a brutal nomadic life. Her mind and her body become progressively weaker with the strain until she reaches a breaking point. She can endure no more, and decides to kill herself rather than go through one more day of torment.
She falls asleep that night and dreams of a dragon. The ferocious, fire-breathing dream dragon turns on her and engulfs her in flames. Rather than resist the overpowering, deadly jet of fire, Dany embraces it. She submits to the fire and feels it enter her body and penetrate her soul. The searing hot flames do not harm her, they burn clean the vestiges of her past life and scour away her fantasies of a soft, easy life. In the dream, Dany feels no pain and willingly allows the flames to consume her corporeal body - even as her blood boils and turns to steam, she feels invigorated, refreshed, and alive.
She awakens with these feelings intact. She emerges from her dream with a resolve and a strength that is marked and noticeable. She feels new and acts as if re-born. And so she is. She went to sleep as a beaten, weak girl enslaved to a difficult life and forced into circumstances that she hated. She awakened as a fierce, proud woman ready to assume her birthright as a queen. The metaphorical dream fire destroyed her weaknesses and left only her strengths.
Like Dany, you can “burn” away the undesirable parts of your life and emerge as a new person capable of conquering all challenges. Like Dany, you are destined for greatness and must realize that difficult times sear toughness into your soul. Let your weaknesses and fears boil away under the harsh flame of your greatness within.
From September 2010, http://raising-a-man.tumblr.com
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