And there, in the darkness, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a flame is born. It illuminates the awakening world around it with its warm glow.
It stretches, yawns, and rubs its eyes with fiery tongues. It looks around but sees nothing beyond its immediate surroundings.
– Does this flame have a name? – you might ask.
– What caused it to awaken?
– Why did it begin to illuminate and embrace its surroundings with its warm light?
You won’t believe it! But maybe you’ll try? Does anything come to your mind?
It’s you who made it come to life! Really! You have a magical power. A truly extraordinary one, and you can awaken not just one, but millions, a whole multitude of red, warm flame-ideas that will warm you from the inside. Hope, joy, and that wonderful taste of a dream that can come true will warm you. And all these flames are born right here – in your heads and hearts.
In this tale, this new flame-hope stands and trembles. Uncertain, it flickers because it doesn’t yet know what comes next. It worries about what will happen to it. It waits…
And I too wait for the wizards to come to it, and there will be three of them. Each wearing a cloak fastened with buttons all the way up to the neck, embroidered with magical threads that dance and change shapes on this fairy-tale fabric.
The wizards arrived, with pointed hats, magical pouches tied around their waists, long white beards, and mustaches that curl into spirals, curious about this new flame-idea. They surrounded it and looked at it closely, while it trembled and, with fiery tongues, timidly shielded its eyes, for it did not know what this visit meant for it.
– Who are you? Will I grow thanks to you, or will I be extinguished? – asks the frightened flame.
– Oh, we apologize. We are so interested in you that we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am the wizard of growth – said the one in the red cloak, with golden dancing threads. – In my pouch, I have magical dust that, if I sprinkle it on you, you will burst forth! Huge! You will start to grow, fly, and dream immensely! You will see no limits. You will fear nothing. You will be light, and your idea, the one that made you come to life, will joyfully dance around.
– Wonderful! That sounds fantastic! – the flame burst forth in hope – Can you then use as much of that dust as possible?
– I want to very much! I just fear that then you will destroy everything around you with your flames, and in the process, you will burn out yourself. – replied the red wizard.
– Oh dear… Can we prevent that? How can we make sure you use your magical powers in a way that won’t cause harm to myself or others?
– That’s why we are three. We, the council of wizards, must discuss, reflect, and determine how to take care of you so that you can develop and realize your beautiful idea, the wonderful dream that you are.
– I will take care, little flame, that you know what to watch out for, that you are aware of what might go wrong, what might not succeed. You will begin to criticize your entire idea, the one that made you come to life. By adding my magical dust, you might feel that you are suffocating, that you are shrinking, that it is clipping your wings. And indeed, if I added too much or acted alone, you could be extinguished. However, since we act together, and each of us is important, and each of us strengthens you, my dust will give you protection. It will help you burn longer, knowing exactly what might threaten you and will not allow you to destroy your surroundings – said the wizard dressed in a black cloak, on which green threads danced joyfully.
– And I, your flame, fueled by the red wizard and secured with awareness and knowledge by the black wizard, will enrich you with clarity about what you must do to make your plan-dream come true. You will be able to outline specific steps, and you will understand what you must do to avoid obstacles that could extinguish you – said the wizard in the blue cloak, with extraordinary moving patterns of white threads.
– Remember, little flame, we are with you, the three of us, because each of us is very important. One fans the dream, the second provides clarity on how to create a plan to realize it, and the third adds awareness of what could go wrong so that you can enrich, improve, and continue to illuminate and warm your most beautiful version for as long as possible.
And they stood there, the three of them, measuring and adding exactly as much dust and magic from their pouches as was needed. Just enough to make it warm, bright, and pleasant. Simply fairy-tale-like and magical.
And the flame no longer trembled. Instead, it felt that it shone confidently in the darkness and waited for more flame-ideas, flame-dreams to arise, so that they too could be born and warm hearts and illuminate the darkness. Together, with the help of the three wizards, who stroll among them (may none of the wizards ever get lost!), they will create a very, VERY happy land. Full of realized dreams.
Look for those flames in your head and heart. Invite those three wizards – in red, black, and blue cloaks, with dancing, swirling threads. Never forget any of them and let them take care of ensuring that this is a warm, joyful land that warms from the inside.
We are all waiting for as many of those flames to arise as possible! 🙂
Ilustration: Oliwia Matuszak (10 years old :))
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The inspiration for writing the fairy tale is the Walt Disney Model (Disney Method), a technique of creative thinking and project planning that involves going through three perspectives: the Dreamer, who generates unlimited ideas; the Realist, who analyzes their feasibility and plans steps; and the Critic, who identifies flaws and weak points to improve the vision, which allows you to transform dreams into specific, realistic plans.
