“Grandmother, what big legs you have!” All better to run with, my child.”

“Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” ”The better to eat you up with.”

And saying these words, this wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.

The moral of story (according to author Andrew Lang): “Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say ‘wolf’, but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quite, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are most dangerous ones of all.”

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO INTUITION?

What were cues Little Red Riding Hood was not paying attention to, messages from her intuition? How do we learn what to fear and what not to fear?

APPLICATION

This fairytale exists in several different countries (some versions more graphic than others, and more fatal), because of lessons it teaches. Generally they all begin with this statement, as little girl first meets wolf in woods: “Now little girl did not know that wolf was a wicked animal.”

Mammals learn this from their mothers, and others of their kind. For instance, when you first take your toddler to a park and he encounters his first slide, he may put his foot on first step, then look over to you to see how he’s supposed to react, or if he’s supposed to go further. His look will say, “Is this safe? Will I be all right?”

If you respond with reassurance, child will continue. If he senses fear in his mother, or if she overtly displays fear (saying “no” or looking anxious or shaking her head) he will have learned that this is something dangerous and to be feared.

This can be accomplished by looks alone. Emotions are ‘contagious’ and often transmitted through eyes. A child can learn from direct experience (a dog that bites her, for instance), or vicariously, by looking to those around him to see how she’s supposed to react. What she’s supposed to think about it, and what she’s supposed to do or not do.

A while ago I made it a point to watch movie "Legally Blonde."

Not just for bright, chirpy and eminently watchable Reese Witherspoon, but also because I loved message it sent out.

If you didn't see movie, all you need to know is that it's about a smart, fashion-conscious blonde who's told time and again, by her family and friends, that it'simpossible for someone like her to go to Harvard law school.

That she's just not smart enough and doesn't have what it takes.

In movie, character played by Witherspoon not only goes to Harvard law, but also through sheer determination and intuition, graduates at top of her class.

Its just sort of movie people love. Because it makes us believe that we too are capable of achieving anything we want to.

It reminds us how we often let ourselves, and others, underestimate our own potential.

And how we undermine our own sense of self, because of what we look like or where we came from.

But why just let it remain a movie, when it can be story of your life...

Have you ever asked yourself what it is that keeps you from reaching your full potential?

From doing what you are inherently capable of?

For many of us, it's a lack of belief in ourselves. A lack of confidence in our own ability to succeed.

And because we believe we will fail, we usually do.

But there are people who have succeeded beyond all expectation - no matter what they look like, or where they come from.