Pollyanna's Glad Game

I was never much into Pollyanna as a child. As an adult, however, I love it. In particular the Hayley Mills movie version. In my younger adult years I was a cynic. In many ways I still am but I no longer think it's cute, cool or fashionable to be that way. Simply put I feel better within myself when I try to find the joy in life. It doesn't always work but I try. Most nights as I drift off to sleep I try to rehash my day and think of all that I'm grateful for. It really does sound "Pollyanna -ish" but it's incredibly effective.

Some days I don't think I'm going to find much so I try to keep it basic. Before I know it I've find five things I was grateful for in the first two hours of being up. For example, I list things we take for granted such as hot and cold running sanitised water, gas, electricity, enough money to pay for those things, fresh and diverse food, safety, freedom, free education for BOTH my children, a reliable car, technology, entertainment, literacy ... you get the picture. It is a huge reality check.

As well as being a huge reality check it keeps me focused on what we're trying to achieve. I'm fully aware that there are people who don't have the basics that I have. As I've written before, by an accident of birth, I've ended up in an affluent first world country in a middle-class home. There are a lot of people out there who don't share my advantages. I don't want someone I don't even know half way across the world to suffer unnecessarily on my account. Footprints is really hard sometimes and an absolute can of worms but I plan to continue this journey. I know what we do makes very little difference in the big picture but, if we can't share my blessings, the least we can do is try to not make someone else's life more difficult.

Cheers.