Glass half empty or full?

Today I’m going to tackle an age-old question:

Is this glass half empty or half full?

You see many people like to ask this question to figure out if you’re an optimist or a pessimist. An optimist will usually say the glass is half full because they tend to focus on the good and thus this statement is hopeful with ‘full’ being a word that brings positive connotations of completeness or fulfillment. A pessimist will usually point out that the glass is half empty because half of its contents are gone or what we see as a loss or that the glass soon might be empty.

The funny thing about me is that when I see a glass of water like this, I don’t even consider it as being half empty or half full. I simply see it as a glass of water because if I assign it the half empty label, then I’ll be assuming that water was poured out. But, if I assign it the half full label, then I’ll be assuming that water was poured into the glass.

You see, that’s the problem with so many common expressions in life. We make assumptions, and these assumptions frame our perception of the world. Unfortunately, this is not how the world really works, and this thought process gets us trapped in either the half empty or half full group.

The glass is just a glass of water, and whether it’s half empty or full, the level of water won’t change. This holds true for many things in life, like whether our life is good or bad, it is still our life and we cannot change what has happened, but we have the option to accept what has occurred. 

Like the water, what you believe won’t necessarily change what has occurred, but if we dwell on categorizing things, our thinking might end up affecting the way we live our lives.

Don’t let the way you think affect your attitude toward life. Find the ideal in-between and always look outside the box.