Enchanted

Claire and I went to see the Disney film, Enchanted. We really enjoyed it and thought it was worth going to the cinema for, rather than just watch it on DVD at home. We only have our laptops to watch them in, which are a little small. Claire tells me that her dad has a TV so large that his lounge looks like a cinema! We don't even have a television. This is because watching TV rarely makes me feel good. Therefore I don't want to use either my money or my time on it.

Here is an interesting perspective on television programs and how it affects the viewer. Check it out to see how it affects our nervous system. 3.44 mins.



Anyway, back to the film Enchanted.
The main character, Gisselle, has such an innocence about her that she reminds me of a favourite book of mine, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. Many people deride this way of thinking/acting as stupid and naive. But I think this has a lot of merit.
For those people who have never read the book I will give you a flavour.

Pollyanna is an 11 year old girl and she has a view of the world that is unique. She believes everyone is good and treats them as such. She assumes everyone has the purest motives for their actions. (It has been shown by research that people rise to the expectations of others so this is a wonderful way of changing people's thinking and behaviour.) She is a friendly and outgoing girl and through her conversations with the people that she meets she changes them. She has a game that she plays called "The Glad Game" and she encouraged everyone to play it. You usually play the Glad Game when something bad or unfortunate has happened. You have to think of something that you are glad about. For instance, when she received a pair of crutches one Christmas instead of a doll, her dad said, "Be glad that yu don't need them!".

The most famous film of the book was made in 1960 and starred Halyley Mills. Unfortunately Pollyanna is portrayed in this version as a bit sickly sweet. There is a great version however, a TV film made in 2003 that is far superior. This version has a more real feeling and although it is set in England rather than the US, it is closer to the book in essence. The first time I watched it was from a rented DVD from Amazon.

Anyway, back to Enchanted once more. :-) Giselle assumes the couple about to get a divorce love each other very much and because of the things she says, they see each other and their relationship in a different light and decided to stay together.

It would be great if we could all spread some happiness around the world by the things we think, do and say. We really never know where our little ripples of thought, action and words will end up and who they will effect.

Let's strive for influencing as many people for the good as we can in this coming year. :-)