The Pollyanna Project

Almost thirty years ago an ex-boyfriend criticized me saying that one of my “problems” was that I was a Pollyanna.  I thought that was actually a good thing, so you can see the validation of “ex” in this story.  My husband likes this quality in me and teases that we are the sweet and salty granola bar commercial.  (Guess who’s sweet?)  Recently I feel my complaining is increasing since I no longer shove negative feelings down with food and that bothers me.  I want to get back that Pollyanna appeal.  So that’s exactly what I set out to do this week.  How can I reclaim the eternal joy finding positive optimist of my youth?   Beats me!  But that’s what I’m going to try to find out!

Webster’s describes a Pollyanna as “a person characterized by irrepressible optimism and a tendency to find good in everything.”  I’m sure there are people who view a Pollyanna as someone who is certain to get on their nerves, under their skin and trigger an eye roll.  I feel differently.  I think that it’s important to remain optimistic to be successful and I want to work every possible angle to ensure I have the best chances at succeeding in this weight loss journey.  I think truly highly successful people, in all areas of life, are optimistic with a positive mental attitude.  I don’t want to be a skinny negative grumpy girl!

Pollyanna is a 1960 Haley Mills movie based on a book published in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter.  I never read the book (not a big shock there) but I never missed a Haley Mills movie when I was a kid!  Pollyanna is a story about an 11 year old missionary orphan sent to live with her unwelcoming spinster grumpy aunt in Vermont.  Pollyanna manages to always find something to be grateful for, which affects everyone she meets.  Influenced by her missionary father, she copes with her new situation by invoking his philosophies and playing “The Glad Game” he taught her where you find something to be happy about in every situation.  Soon Pollyanna shares her positive-thinking survival strategy and teaches the townsfolk how to play.  

The game started one Christmas when Pollyanna, who was hoping for a doll, got a pair of crutches by mistake. Pollyanna’s father made the game up on the spot and told her to be glad about the crutches because she didn’t need to use them!  When a gardener complains about being old and stooped, she tells him to consider himself lucky because he doesn’t have to bend so far to do the weeding. When a housemaid complains that she hates Monday mornings, Pollyanna tells her that’s when she should be the happiest. It’s an entire week before the next Monday.  The movie is sweet and a true gem. She was a positive thinker ahead of her time!     

Last week I decided to try to go a day without complaining.  Just one day.  No complaining at all, not about the weather, the humidity, my hair, work or anything.  All-positive-all-the- time for just 24 hours...  Have you ever tried to go a full 24 hours without complaining?  Seriously, you should try it.  It’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible.  I failed miserably and quickly!  I was barely done brushing my teeth and bam – something on the morning news made me complain about the horrible negative things going on in our world today. 

I don’t think our brains were created to tolerate the negative 24 hour news images of the international and domestic turmoil that exists all around us every single day.  It’s no wonder the world has gone salty.  We need more Pollyanna.  The Glad Game isn’t about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses.  It’s about seeing the world as it really is.  Yes, there are a lot of awful things in the world but there are also a lot of wonderful amazingly incredible things in the world.  It depends on what we choose to focus on.  Think about images of heroism in stories of tragedy.  Unfortunately that doesn’t get as high of ratings. 

This week, in my quest to bring back my inner Pollyanna, I opted to play the Glad Game.  It’s a challenge and fun to find something positive in every negative situation.  I also commit to write in a gratitude journal.  This week I commit to writing each evening before bed at least five things I am grateful for.  I will also capture at least one Glad Game moment that happened during the day.  I think that an “attitude of gratitude” is really a practice of gratitude so I am making this commitment this week to see if joy can replace the negative.  Brene’ Brown says we need to practice gratitude to access joy.  “It’s not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

Observations:

Right away I realized I was thinking about things I was grateful for several times throughout the day knowing I would need to write that evening.  That was nice.  Simultaneously I became sensitive to the amount of negative thoughts flying through my mind trying to play the Glad Game!  It’s a lot more difficult than you think!

One evening I headed to the gym and my stomach was killing me.  The old me would have put my jammies on as soon as I got home from work and curled up on the couch.  I’m on the elliptical feeling horrible but pushing through.  I thought there was absolutely no way I could play the Glad Game in this situation; no way!  But as I pumped away on the elliptical I realized that I was glad that it wasn’t a life-or-death stomach illness.  I was glad I was able to still workout and keep my promise to my plan.  I looked up and saw a gratitude item at the same time.  Our cardio room in our neighborhood is on a second floor of a building overlooking a large pond.  I looked out the window and saw two dads fishing with two little boys on the dock and that made me smile.  My stomach was still killing me but I smiled because I found something to be grateful for and something to be glad about in a bad situation.

This Gratitude - Glad Game experiment helped me several times during the week at work.  I caught myself ready to complain about something and turned it around several times.   If you are complaining with someone, it’s fun to share the Glad Game and together find something to be glad about.  I am glad I have a good job and grateful for the people around me that I get to work with.  I had a few instances where I was able to help others at work with an encouraging word and that made me feel grateful for that opportunity.  I observed that these moments energized me.  How often do you walk away from a complaining session just drained of all energy? 

I think it is human nature to lean to the negative side and way too easy to jump on the bandwagon of complaining.  This week was proof that with intentional focus, it may not be always be easy, but it is possible to lean the opposite direction from the norm and from the crowd.  I’m going to continue with my gratitude practice and try to capture at least one glad moment from each day.  It’s made me feel lighter.  Perhaps that lightness will reflect on the scale.  The Glad Game is a state of mind and I think it’s the state God wants for us.

One of my favorite scenes in Pollyanna is when she comes upon the town reverend rehearsing his sermon out in a meadow.  He’s struggling trying to find a way to reach the people of his congregation knowing that the townsfolk aren’t big fans of Sunday Mornings.  Pollyanna comes up to the reverend and shares with him her father’s love of “the happy texts”:

Reverend: The happy texts?
Pollyanna: Yes, like ‘Shout for joy’ or ‘Be glad in the Lord.’ You know, like that.  There are eight hundred happy texts.  Did you know that?
Reverend: No, I didn’t know that.
Pollyanna: And do you know, my father said that if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice He must have wanted us to do it.

There are a lot of negative horrible things happening in our world but the world’s not all bad.  Pollyanna, her dad, and God have a point.  There’s a lot worth rejoicing about.

Results for the week: -0.6 lbs lost; Total Lost = 22.0