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Fill a baggie with a few rocks and attach the following quote: "The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them."
Idea from Christy's Clipart
I'm thinking of putting this quote on some cute cardstock and then with a ribbon tying it to one of those little flashlights you can buy at a dollar store.  Ben Sweetland said " We cannot light another's path without brightening our own." (Idea by Misty)
Sunglasses: "Be Optimistic!  Look on the bright side-even if you have to use sunglasses until you get use to the light."



I taught the Optimism lesson a couple of weeks ago. When the girls came in, I had black trash bags taped all over the walls & windows. I had asked one of the YW (who is usually very outgoing) ahead of time to act depressed & quiet & to not volunteer or say yes to anyone. I also wore black that day. Underneath the trash bags, I had taped up clip art that I had cut out of butterflies, stars, sun, ladybugs, dragonflies, hearts, anything bright & beautiful. When the girls came in, they were very quiet & kept asking what was going on. It definitely changed the atmosphere. After opening exercises, I asked girls to come rip off the black trash bags, told them about my quiet YW and let them take in the new atmosphere. They really got the point! (Idea by Leslie)
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Lesson Helps from Debanae
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Lesson Helps from Young Women Connection
Our YW President taught this. I loved the way she started it out. She darkened the room by shutting off the lights and the windows were semi-covered with black paper. Then she and another leader sat up front and had an impromptu discussion (in the grey/dark room) about various things in their lives - mostly Thanksgiving and how hard the meal was to prepare - how guests didn't appreciate their hard work, etc.... When they were through, she talked to the girls about how depressing that conversation was. How most people would want to get away from someone who was so pessimistic and made life dark and unappealing and unhappy. The rest of the lesson pretty much followed the manual. It was a great lesson. (Idea by Ann)



A fun thing that I did as an object lesson for the optimism lesson was to ask for about 4-5 volunteers. Have them come to the front of the room. First put one piece of hard candy in each of the volunteers mouths. Put one pebble in one of the volunteers shoes. Have them walk around the room for several minutes. Tell them they can not remove the pebble from there shoe (or you can put a pebble in both shoes).  Have them sit down and ask each one what they thought about the experience. My experience with them sharing their experience was negative - not one girl mentioned the candy only the pebble in their shoe. I likened this to life. Sometimes we dwell on the things that are bad and forget what is good in our lives. This was a good way to start the lesson. It seemed to make an impression on them. You'll need rounded pebbles (not too large - about the size of the tip top of your pinky) and some hard candy - life savers or lemon drops unwrapped.
 

The Parable of the Bucket and the Dipper

The Rose, Hawthorn Twig and the Lily