Is a Full Glass Necessary?
I have never been asked if I am a glass half full or half empty person but I have heard comments like, "Oh, I see, you're a glass half full kind of gal."
In the big scheme of things, does it really matter how we define the level of the glass since half empty and half full are actually the same?
Why is it important to be a glass half full person? It seems that it is clearly better to see the contents as more instead of less. Since they are really the same...why is more better?
This debate with myself started when I read a quote by Marianne Williamson a few days ago:
"We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right."
That started me down this path: I have some things in my life that I wish were different but there is really nothing I can do to change them right now. I must let go of trying to change those and focus instead on the things that I can change, if need be, and also on the things that I wish to continue to celebrate in my life.
That thinking lead me to acknowledge that my life is always going to be made up of the difficult and the easier. Focusing on one does not make the other go away. It IS just a matter of how we look at things and what we let tweak us. If I focus on...live in...the challenging side and forget that I can just as easily live in the other side, then I am living a glass half empty life. If I choose to focus on the things that I can change and are going well, knowing that when the time comes I will be up to what is required of me in the challenging parts of my life, then I am living a glass half full kind of life.
In the end, nothing has changed, just my perspective and usually therefore, my attitude. The glass still has the same amount of liquid in it either way. After all....what difference does it make as long as there is enough to take a drink?
This one left a seed in my head that's been stirring. You know how I'm always watching those documentaries that show how some terrible practice by some terrible group is going to lead to the downfall of civilization & we all have to make them change their ways. Well yesterday I was listening to the ravings of Michael Ruppert on climate change, banks, economics, politics, etc. & it hit me all at once. (TJ: "No wonder you're depressed when you watch that crap.") We live in an age of decline. Whatever the contributing factors, whoever's fault it is, the patterns are too entrenched to be interrupted now. He also mentioned Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' 5 stages of grief. Could it be the acceptance stage when I realize that all of this IS? My glass is half full. I had been focusing on how it was fuller at one time & have been angry at whoever's been stealing my water, but that's in the past now. Right now I have a glass with a slow leak, and the best use of my energy is to enjoy the water I do have. As the water level decreases, still I need to take a swim & get the most out of what's left.
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