“Your life is a reflection of your thoughts. If you change your thinking, you change your life.” – Brian Tracy

I love the movie Saving Mr. Banks. It is loosely based off the relationship between Walt Disney and P.L Travers and the making of Mary Poppins.  The movie is a fun spin on a rather dark tale that the author, P.L. Travers, spins in her original book which was published in 1934. P.L. Travers had an alcoholic father whose alcoholism caused her mother to attempt suicide. Her father died of Tuberculosis when Travers was 7 years old.  A very different story than the rewrite for Disney’s movie, don’t you think?

One of my favorite scenes is when P.L. Travers pulls out of the film because she 100% did not want the movie to be animated. When she heard that there would be animated dancing penguins, she flew back to her home in London. Walt Disney follows her to London and shows up on her front door step.  Over tea, Disney tells Mrs. Travers how it was growing up poor in Missouri. He delivered papers for his dad through snow drifts during the brutal Missouri winters, but his dad wouldn’t buy him new shoes when his old shoes were worn through. Disney was just 1 year older that Mrs. Traverse when she was going through her difficult childhood.

Disney says to P.L. Travers, “I am just so tired, Mrs. Travers. I’m tired of remembering it that way. Aren’t you tired, too, Mrs. Travers?” and then goes on to say, “And now we all have our sad tales, buy don’t you want to finish the story? Let it all go and have a life that isn’t dictated by the past?

This scene has come to my mind so many times. It reminds me that I can spin a different story if the one I have been living out is bitter and always sad. I don’t want to look back, wishing I would have, or I could have. How I choose to spin the story of my life is up to me. I can focus on the hardships or I can focus on the blessings. I can have hope that tomorrow will be a better day and, if it’s not, God will be beside me as I go through it.

The words we use to spin our stories are powerful.

Finish the StoryFocus on blessingsSaving Mr. BanksSpin a different story

6 Replies to “Spin a Different Story”

    1. Jenn, You are one of the best at making a crappy situation into something that’s not so terrible. You are a ray of sunshine! ☀️

  3. Despite wanting to drop kick the animations out the window some days, I agree that we all need more dancing penguins in our lives! Love your spirit and wise words, Lisa!

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