Is Your Glass Half Full or Empty?
Back in the 80’s I remember a song, but not the title or artist, where the musicians ponder if the glass is half full or half empty. The song purported it didn’t matter because sooner or later one would spill it. At the time of my teenage angst at an unfair world, the lyrics spoke to me.
Recently I received this meme (sorry I can’t give credit), “People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full, miss the point. The glass is refillable.”
How often have you debated with yourself or others the joy of optimism versus the realism of pessimism? Looking around your friends and acquaintances which ones see the glass as half full? They have a positive outlook and see the silver lining in every challenge. And which of your friends take on the role of Eeyore? No matter what good is coming their way, they view the world pessimistically. They are looking for the other shoe to drop. It is nearly impossible to help these people put on rose-colored optimistic glasses. But maybe the concept of “refilling” can help.
The key to life is not choosing between being optimistic or pessimistic. Choosing pessimism closes doors. It keeps the good from coming to your awareness. It drags down your spirit, and the energy of others. On the other hand, optimism can get out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I am an optimistic person. But I am realistically optimistic. Unfortunately, I see others who wear optimism as a safety blanket against reality. After sinking thousands into a doomed business, they dedicate a bit more because “this time it will pay off.” They stick around a relationship longer than is beneficial with the naïve hope that things will change. Optimism is an empowering tool, but it does need to be based in some semblance of reality.
That is why I liked this meme. It stops the debate around optimism and pessimism – which is just another white and black debate. Instead, it tells us our life is refillable, changeable. At any moment you can choose to have more and better. It does not matter if you see life with pie-eyed optimism or restricting pessimism. What is stronger than either is knowing, embracing, and utilizing the fact that we have the power to create. We have the power to fill our life with what we choose. We don’t have to settle for half of anything; we can fill our glass, our life to the brim.
Look at your glass, your life. How full is it? Are you afraid you are running out of time, good fortune, love? Are you hoarding what little you have left because you don’t believe there is more to come? Are you jealous of others who have more full or larger glasses? Take control of your life. Know deep in your heart that nothing in the universe runs out. There is always more. There is abundance. The only thing that keeps you in lack is your unwillingness to ask for more.
Starting today see your glass, your life as infinitely refillable. What are you going to add to it today?
