Soooo yes. I have way too much time on my hands to even consider doing an analysis of a kids fairytale.  I was binge watching Friends for the umpteenth time and this was Season 1 in which Rachel gets her first check and she is hanging out with Monica and Phoebe and her stuck up friends come into the Central Perk and her controlling father make her feel bad about her decision to leave her boring fiance Barry at the altar. But in true sitcom style in approximately 17 minutes she realizes that even at a pittance, her check, her friends, and making a life for herself was her handful of magic beans. Wait what in the ham-sandwich am I talking about?

A little background. Jack’s mother(which can be your boss, husband, kids, any parent etc) asked Jack(which can be anyone) to do what she thought was a simple thing, take the cow to market and bring the money back. On his way to market, he meets a swindler who sales him a bag of “magic beans”. Jack returns home and his mother is P.O’ed. He was such a dumbass. That cow was their only source of income and now it’s gone, and all they have is some dried up beans. I bet she thought I can’t even cook these! She probably goes O-F-F on Jack, beats his behind(no I don’t advocate corporal punishment, but this is 1700 England) tosses the beans out the window and Jack to bed without supper. I’m sure in her stressed state of mind as a penniless widow, and it being the 18th century, there are not many options for her. With that said, I am quite sure Jack would have gone to bed hungry anyways, remember they had no money, because the cow had stopped giving milk. Actually she was kind of a dumbass too, why send a little kid to market? Why didn’t she take the cow to market? Well, even though he was a kid, he was the man of the household 18th century, tough luck kid. But something magical happened overnight, as it does in a fairytale. The beans sprout a giant beanstalk to the sky. 

Of course he meets a giant, and finds an unlikely ally in the giant’s wife. He makes repeated trips back to the castle to jack a bag gold, to jack a golden egg laying goose or chicken, and a harp before he has to cut the beanstalk down killing the giant in the process.  And depending on whose version you read he was justified because the giant may have been stealing from his family and everyone else below. But the beans, if they had eaten them, if Jack hadn’t traded the cow, if the giant’s wife hadn’t protected him, if he had followed his mother’s instruction and dared to dream of something more than the limited pittance of the one time payment from the cow sale, there would be no story and he never would have found all that gold and the self playing harp. If he had followed his mother’s instruction, they would have run out of money in days, instead of braving that beanstalk and being set for life.

So I ask again, what are your magic beans? Is it your current position? A book idea rattling in your head? An idea for a sitcom? A home business that you run and enjoy the day to day? It’s ok to dream to be more and go get it. Your pot of gold is waiting for you!