Glad Game Explained
It’s very easy to make lists of what went wrong or how life is going to hell in a hand-basket, but this redirects those thought habits, to train myself to see and put more weight on the neutral, the positive, and the better-than-it-could-have-been. It’s an idea that came from reading the luck factor and Cin’s Monday Morning Love Lists
In the Glad Game, I make a list of blessings or awarenesses. It is to ground myself in the good things and in being present.
- What am I enjoying?
- What’s worth appreciating in this moment?
- What was the best moment over the last day?
- What went right?
- What worked smoothly?
- What felt good?
- What do I think is rather cool?
- What made me laugh? smile? soften?
They are to be as specific as possible. I don’t think saying “I’m glad to have my family” counts as specific enough to be effective in training me to see the good side. Instead what would count is:
“I’m glad to have spent a half hour talking to my aunt and hearing how happy she was to spend an afternoon with her granddaughter. I’m glad to hear she has that time with her.”
Positive thinking is a muscle that atrophies.The Glad Game is a mental exercise to bulk up the good attitude and spend some relaxing time thinking positive thoughts. It gives a good calming energy.
I love the simplicity of calling a powerful mind training excercise a ‘game’. In one word you take away all the potential associations of neuro liguistic programming, headology, psychology and indoctrinaire sciences that stop people doing useful things in their heads and replace it with the idea of having fun. Everyone can do that, can’t they?
Did you ever read Pollyanna? The original inventor of the Glad Game. Well, she was a fictional character, so the author was the inventor. I read it as a kid, a copy my Mum had had as kid. By the time I grew up a bit, people had started sneering at Pollyanna (the character and the book) for being too sentimental, too moralistic, too sugary, etc. The writing wasn’t all that bad really – of its time – and I now realise that Pollyanna espoused the wisdom that has since been acclaimed in things like The Secret, Dale Carnegie’s books, and so on.
It’s good to cultivate gratitude!
yes it’s a wonderful and powerful tool to look on the bright side of life’s events because it realy does help the immune system and the mental health of everyone and it’s catching some pepole smile in spite of trying to be so ” oh aint it awfull” cos it’s a wonderful world full of beautiful moments.
Secured by
Good game – everybody wins!