Talk about a rabbit hole.
This post began as a celebration of spring and how watching nature wake up reminds me that no matter how cold the winter might be, it doesn’t last forever. I thought it a fitting metaphor for life and the world today.
Then I started thinking about how some people would read my happy, optimistic post and think me a Pollyanna. That, of course, led to my thinking deeper about Pollyanna’s sunny attitude, and I realized something: Pollyanna has a lot in common with the Stoics.
Compare these two quotes:
When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good—you will get that….”
―Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna
Pollyanna believed that when confronted with an obstacle or hardship, one should play “the Glad Game” and look for the good in the situation. Your aunt makes you live in the attic? Focus on what a lovely view you have. In other words, rather than spend her time bemoaning what she doesn’t have, she appreciates what gifts she does possess.
“Nothing either good nor bad but thinking makes it so.”
―Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Stoic philosophy emphasizes living a virtuous life by emphasizing wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance, focusing on what you can control, and accepting that which you cannot. They believed happiness came not from external sources, but from how a person reacts to those sources.
Isn’t that a lot like looking on the bright side?
Pollyanna and the Stoics share something else in common. They understood the effect our behavior has on humanity. kindness
Psychology calls this the ripple effect. Much like when you toss a pebble into the water, behavior, be it positive or negative, can create a chain reaction that spreads and influences others. (Don’t believe me? Google the Rule of Reciprocity.)
Pollyanna changed an entire town by spreading kindness. Stoics believed we are all parts of a larger whole, and therefore, we should work for the well-being of humanity through generosity and kindness toward everyone, even those who oppose us.
See the similarities?
Which brings me back to my celebration of spring. Why not look on the bright side and see spring for the season of rebirth that it is? If it’s good enough for Pollyanna and the Stoics, it’s good enough for me.
