Are there any Pollyanna fans out there? If there are, you are not alone! I watched that movie several times growing up and it's an oldie but a goodie. It is about a young girl named Pollyanna... of course. Pollyanna is a very optimistic orphan girl who is taken in by her grumpy aunt in a grumpy town. Pollyanna is so happy and kind to everyone, that she changes the whole town that she lives in. What is her secret?? The glad game.
All throughout the movie, Pollyanna talks about a game her father taught her.... the glad game. The way to play the game is to find something to be glad about in any situation. There are many examples in the movie of how Pollyanna uses the game to find the good in situations and people.
I want to share a real life example of the glad game I heard from a woman named Meg Johnson. I was at a seminar once where she was invited to speak and I learned so much from her amazing story! Meg was paralyzed in 2004 when she accidentally jumped off a cliff. She is now a motivational speaker and has an awesome blog I love to read. You can check her out at megjohnsonspeaks.com.
When I was able to hear her speak she shared this sweet story. After Meg was paralyzed she remembered one day laying in the hospital bed where she was hooked up to tons of tubes and wires. She couldn't move or speak and on this particular morning, Meg started to cry. It was at that moment that she decided she did not want to start her day crying. She new if she started her day crying, it would be a terrible day. So what she did is she looked up at the ceiling and said a little prayer..."Heavenly Father, please help me to feel love for that ceiling." It was at that moment that she actually began to fell love for the ceiling above her head. She then continued to ask to be able to feel love for each object in the room and she did. As she lay their the love she felt for each object in the room helped her to begin to feel happiness. When her nurse came in, she asked to feel love for her nurse. She said she just began beaming at her nurse...she couldn't smile so she just beamed. Meg was sure her nurse thought she was crazy but to Meg it was the difference that changed her whole day. Instead of being full of sadness, she chose to fill herself with love.
I love this story! It shows me how simple and easy it is to find gratitude and love in every situation. There really is always something to be glad about.
I decided to play the glad game today! Sometimes I get really frustrated at night when Oaklee wakes up. She is one year old and still gets up to nurse at least 2 times a night and of course there is the occasional bad night where she gets up more. She has kind of always liked to nurse at night. When she turned 3 months old she had a little regression and got up every 3 hours to nurse like a newborn and this continued on for a few months. I bring this up because its one of those things that I've always had a bad attitude about. I guess I just really like to sleep at night and sometimes the thought of not getting my beauty sleep for the next 10 years is a hard realization! Haha I'm exaggerating, but sometimes I let myself feel that way!
I have had an extra bad attitude about this lately because we had a couple of rough nights this week. I blame teething. I decided that I needed to change my attitude so I played the glad game. I pulled out some fun colored markers and created a list with the title "why I love getting up with Oaklee at night." I filled the whole page with things to be glad about when I wake up at night. I got to 17 different things before I ran out of paper. There are definitely things to be glad about when Oaklee wakes up at night! I realized that some day I'm going to miss her cry and night-time snuggles in the rocking chair. I know that when I actually get up at night is when I need to remember what I'm thankful for the most. I taped my list by Oaklee's crib so I can remember to savor all her baby snuggles while they last...even in the middle of the night!
Try playing the glad game and let me know how it goes in a comment below!
Be you-tiful,
Cheryl
All throughout the movie, Pollyanna talks about a game her father taught her.... the glad game. The way to play the game is to find something to be glad about in any situation. There are many examples in the movie of how Pollyanna uses the game to find the good in situations and people.
I want to share a real life example of the glad game I heard from a woman named Meg Johnson. I was at a seminar once where she was invited to speak and I learned so much from her amazing story! Meg was paralyzed in 2004 when she accidentally jumped off a cliff. She is now a motivational speaker and has an awesome blog I love to read. You can check her out at megjohnsonspeaks.com.
When I was able to hear her speak she shared this sweet story. After Meg was paralyzed she remembered one day laying in the hospital bed where she was hooked up to tons of tubes and wires. She couldn't move or speak and on this particular morning, Meg started to cry. It was at that moment that she decided she did not want to start her day crying. She new if she started her day crying, it would be a terrible day. So what she did is she looked up at the ceiling and said a little prayer..."Heavenly Father, please help me to feel love for that ceiling." It was at that moment that she actually began to fell love for the ceiling above her head. She then continued to ask to be able to feel love for each object in the room and she did. As she lay their the love she felt for each object in the room helped her to begin to feel happiness. When her nurse came in, she asked to feel love for her nurse. She said she just began beaming at her nurse...she couldn't smile so she just beamed. Meg was sure her nurse thought she was crazy but to Meg it was the difference that changed her whole day. Instead of being full of sadness, she chose to fill herself with love.
I love this story! It shows me how simple and easy it is to find gratitude and love in every situation. There really is always something to be glad about.
I decided to play the glad game today! Sometimes I get really frustrated at night when Oaklee wakes up. She is one year old and still gets up to nurse at least 2 times a night and of course there is the occasional bad night where she gets up more. She has kind of always liked to nurse at night. When she turned 3 months old she had a little regression and got up every 3 hours to nurse like a newborn and this continued on for a few months. I bring this up because its one of those things that I've always had a bad attitude about. I guess I just really like to sleep at night and sometimes the thought of not getting my beauty sleep for the next 10 years is a hard realization! Haha I'm exaggerating, but sometimes I let myself feel that way!
I have had an extra bad attitude about this lately because we had a couple of rough nights this week. I blame teething. I decided that I needed to change my attitude so I played the glad game. I pulled out some fun colored markers and created a list with the title "why I love getting up with Oaklee at night." I filled the whole page with things to be glad about when I wake up at night. I got to 17 different things before I ran out of paper. There are definitely things to be glad about when Oaklee wakes up at night! I realized that some day I'm going to miss her cry and night-time snuggles in the rocking chair. I know that when I actually get up at night is when I need to remember what I'm thankful for the most. I taped my list by Oaklee's crib so I can remember to savor all her baby snuggles while they last...even in the middle of the night!
Try playing the glad game and let me know how it goes in a comment below!
Be you-tiful,
Cheryl
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