My wife thinks she’s Wonder Woman. Not the cartoon character. Not the Lynda Carter TV icon. But she does think she’s invulnerable, super-strong, and impervious to pain. And she’s not alone. A lot of women that came of age in the 70’s and 80’s bought into that superheroine myth.
In the five decades I’ve been on God’s green Earth, I’ve learned that what you believe is every bit as influential regarding how you react to something as is the stimulae itself. In other words, the way you react to a given situation is largely going to be dictated by your belief system. Here’s an illustration that I think will clear things up…Three people are locked in a room. One grew up around an uncle who ran a snake attraction, and was used to handling snakes. The next grew up traumatized, as a favorite relative died on a camping trip, from a snakebite. The third has no exposure – positive or negative – to snakes.
A panel opens in the ceiling, and a snake is lowered into the room. One event: three dramatically different reactions. The first person says “Oooh, what a cute snake!,” and picks it up to play with it. The second person hyperventilates, panics, and attempts to claw their way out of the room. Third goes back to reading a book. [Read more…] about (Why) Wonder, Woman?