Five Lessons from Disneyland

As we were at Disneyland last weekend, I thought about all the kids there. What are they leaning/gaining from this? What am I learning? What should we be learning?



1-The world is a vast, wonderful place. All over Disneyland there are different rides, shops, and restaurants depicting various places around the country and world. You can take a boat ride on a jungle river, climb through a treehouse, ride around the desert, observe the nature of the islands, fly through space, or taste the cuisine of various nationalities. We don't have to go to those places to learn about them or experience some of their richness (of course if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking it!) We can read and watch and cook and talk with others from various cultures. We can embrace their goodness and add elements to our own lives to make it rich and full.


2-You will not achieve that which you have not first dreamed. I love Disneyland because your imagination can run wild. You see things come to life that before were only a part of your imagination.

Imagination was such a key part of my childhood. I would load up the kids (siblings and cousins) in the "wagon" (wheelbarrow), gather some "provisions" (bread or whatever we had in the pantry) and head out to be pioneers. I loved playing and imagining. It's only now that I realize how important it is to imagine and create success in your mind. If you can imagine or dream of becoming something and then back it up with some hard work and sweat, you can achieve it. I pray that dreams I work for will come to fruition.

3-Courage and a positive attitude will help you prevail. In Mickey's Fantasmic light and water show, he is plagued by villains. At one point he's had enough and says something to the effect of "I control my imagination. I am courageous and I choose to kick you out."


Obviously we can't always "kick out the evil" as they do in fairy tales. We will still get sick, people will not meet expectations, our job may not be perfect, we may worry about money, we may have struggles with family or friends. Life is truly not a fairy tale. But there are some things we can control. Our attitude and spirit. We can have an unconquerable spirit of faith and an optimistic attitude. We can focus on things we can change instead of things we can't. We can be grateful for the kind word from a coworker, our hilarious little brother or the 5 extra minutes we get to sleep. We can choose to be positive.




4-Life is not a continuous, joyful, themepark ride. We can't just ride the rides over and over again with no wait or delay. Disneyland is a vast place. It's quite a walk from end to end. It can be crowded. Sometimes there are delays. You have to wait in line. Sometimes the ride is broken. Sometimes the weather isn't perfect. But amidst the mundane, there are spectacular moments. The top of the roller coaster. The thrill of the ride. If we were only happy during those moments, we'd spend a lot of our lives miserable. It's about learning to enjoy the journey.



5-It's the people that make life worth it. In hours standing in lines, we laughed, played games, joked, ate, and enjoyed one another's company. It's the family and the people that made the experience worth it!