Pollyanna Principal

Pollyanna is a best-selling novel and a classic of children's literature in 1913 by Eleanor H. Porter.  A quick summary on the plot is that a young orphan named Pollyanna Whittier goes to live with her rich but stern spinster Aunt Polly.  Pollyanna has naturally adopted a positive and optimistic attitude from his father which she calls "the Glad Game".  The core of the game is to find something to be glad about in every situation, no matter how adverse it may be.  Looking at the good side of things as her way of life and philosophy, she has brought joy and sunshine to a very dispirited town New England, and indeed to her aunt.

Deriving from this story which then turned out to be a successful film from Walt Disney Productions, the Pollyanna Principal is the tendency for people to remember pleasant things more than the unpleasant ones.  This is not hard to understand as people naturally expose themselves to positive stimuli and avoid those that are negative and threatening.  Some researchers indicated that at the subconscious level, the individual would like to focus and retain the optimistic.  Yet consciously, the reverse is true.

As the conscious mind commands and the subconscious obeys, the former often overrides.  The layers of critical-thought functions of the conscious mind becomes the facade to our subconscious which has always been the gateway to our powerful and pure awareness.  Another analogy is that the conscious mind is the gardener and the subconscious the garden, and we do have a choice to grow flowers or weeds in the garden of our lives.  Then perhaps it is time for us to consciously re-examine some of our thoughts, actions and behaviours and sow new seeds?

How to Develop Compassion in 5 Seconds

Just like many young children, my favourite game when I was a kid was the game of pretend.  I was the teacher, the doctor, the flight attendant, the salesperson, and many other professions.  Perhaps that have equipped me with some skills to switch roles instantaneously without changing into any Halloween costumes.

Cultivating compassion is very similar, but with one extra step - feeling for others.  Regardless of one's religious beliefs, a compassionate person would at the very least has a concern for the suffering of others and wishing them to be happy.  The most vital ingredient for compassion is empathy, that is, to understand and share the feelings of others.  But it is always easier to be empathetic towards people you love and care about, and not so when you are neutral to or dislike them.  How about stretching your imagination a little and try out this shortcut: Visualise that you were that person suffering and feel how it would be like if you were going through what he or she is experiencing.  Is your judgement towards that person or issue any different?  Can you sort of see where he or she comes from and thus have a slightly different perspective?

Spiritual idealisation is not about reading books and borrowing concepts from others, but realising from the mundane and practicing from day to day life.  More so, it's not about fixing and finding solution.  Often what is involved is simply understanding and accepting with pure awareness, and that is the same whether it is for others or ourselves.  Isn't this something that we were already doing when we were young but again have chosen to forget with the deep conditioning that comes with maturing?

The Seeker and the Sought

Seek no more
For there is no lack
Lack is an illusion
Brought by the baffled mind
So be not the seeker 
But the sought
And see through the why for what you seek
Only to know the seeker and the sought
is all and one, and one and all

Cluedo: The Classic Spiritual Game

There are only three types of events that could take place in our lives - the good, the bad and the neutral.  Such events often give rise to all sorts of emotions: joy sorrow, anger, fear... well, the usual template.  And we associate our emotions with those events and interpret them based on how we perceive the world.  So we typically will blame someone or ourselves one way or the other and believe that whatever that has happened is the root of all evil.

This is where the fun begins, if and only if you dare to peel off the layers and reveal the core.  It is never the incident, activity, or the event itself.  Instead of focusing of what has happened, try to ask yourself how you feel about it, and where does this feeling come from?  What are you believing that makes me own the feeling?  What assumptions do you have?

Now, have you got some clues on who the murderer is?  Maybe we have been chasing after the wrong culprits ever too often.