If there is a glass which is half filled with water, one person looks at it as “A half empty glass” while other looks at it as “Half full glass”.
The people who look at the half filled glass enjoy life and feel cheerful. You can always see a cute smile on their face.
While those who look at the half vacant glass always keep cribbing about life. You must have observed people saying :
- My life sucks
- I am not happy with my life
- Why do bad things always happen to me
- Life is unfair to me
Or, you might find them giving excuses for one thing or another. These are the people who do not fix the problem but try to fix the blame on one thing or the other.
- I do not have a good memory.
- I am poor because I do not have a good education background.
- I cant do it, I don’t think I have enough courage for that.
- I am not rich because of my destiny.
The point is, looking at the negative side of things don’t lead them anywhere, In fact they lose opportunities by looking at the negative side.
Here is how one of my friend lost an opportunity because of her negative attitude :
Recently, I had attended a seminar on Public Speaking in Delhi in India. The speaker was Winner of 1990, Toastmasters World Champion in Public Speaking & Coach of 7 World Champions of Public Speaking.
The timings for the seminar were 7 P.M to 9 P.M. One of my friends was supposed to arrive at the seminar. Her plan was to first reach her home(from office) and then come to the seminar. But she reached her home from office at 7:30 P.m, The seminar hall was just 10 minutes drive from her home.
She thought – “Oh, its already 7:30, the seminar is almost half over, there would not be any use going to the seminar”, so she did not go to the seminar.
Another friend of mine also got late to the seminar because he had some last minute work at the office. He reached at the seminar at 8 P.M. He still attended 50% of the seminar and benefited from it.
I had a talk with him regarding this, he said : “Something is better than nothing”
And after the seminar, he applied some of the learning’s to his public speeches and won several Best Speaker awards at the Toastmasters meetings.
Its all about the attitude. The situation was same for both of them, one of them looked at the positive side, another cribbed about the negative side.
Which side will you prefer to ‘look at’ in your life ??
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
SInce it is based on this paradox, there is a reality to it. Scientifically and “squarely” being half full or half empty depends on the origin of the content… if we are filling the glass from being empty, when we arrive in the middle, it is half full. On the other hand, when we are taking away the contents from a full glass, when we are midway, it is half empty.
The same is true with life… if we are at our best and we degrade, it is half empty.. But, if we are from nothing and getting better, we are taking the half full side.
Very good post and a really good reminder of things and how we look at them or how we should look at them.
By the way very well put .
I used to be a pessimistic type of person. Thank goodness I’ve changed. (well not totally, but at least quite some change!)
Being positive is one of the best thing in life
i agree.. being positive is a good thing.. i believe that sometimes things happen for a reason.
like for instances had ur friend reached earlier for the seminar.. he might have not liked it and half way through left it and missed the part which was beneficial for him..
lovely post
Change the Glass. If you change the glass to a small one, your water will be full.And change to a bigger one, it will be less than half full. There is no positive or negative, it is just your perception at that point of time.
great post and good daily reminder for each and everyone of us, thank you!
Hey everyone, I really enjoy reading your comments
@Rogue : I agree by what u said, However let me offer a different perspective : Abraham Lincoln failed many times befor he became the president. Although he was failing, but he still kept looking at the glass as “Half Full”
@ani : I always love your comments over here. I must tell u – The seminar was awesome, but yeah – sometimes things happen for a reason
ur welcome dear..
guess u’ll write up about that soon.. take care
Half full for me, please. Sometimes I have to consciously DECIDE to see it that way, but always it makes for less stress and more happiness. Fabulous post!
I’d like to stay positive whenever I can and do my best to see things as ” Half full glass”.
We will only attract positive things if we think positive.
I still look at it my way… it depends where one starts: at the bottom or at the top.
Saying to be positive is very easy… doing it is another story. I am ot saying that it is wrong for I am a positive person and always smiling and happy… but it has its setbacks when people believe that you don’t have problem.. believe me!
Thank you for the wonderful post.
While many have read this post, I see just 11 responses above…
That picture reminded A “Half Filled Glass” or A “Half Empty” One ??
While reading about the magical impact of the positive attitude on our life, we comfort just our own ear and learn a little in the result, but you kindly guard us from falling into such trap by inviting us to leave the comments. Thank you. The voiced response is A “Half Filled Glass” out of itself – it’s our choice that warms the heart (the application of theory to the practice)
Let me invite you to my blog arthiker
I hope you will enjoy the artworks you will find in the archives and thus our joy will be the mutual.
Yeah, as for the comments, even I was wondering the same….lol
Very Well Said, The application of theory to practice is very important, because that is the only thing by which we learn and get experience to enrich our lives.
I am glad u have been reading and liking other posts at my blog
A very nice analogy written on a thoughtful post…. Great work, pal.
Thinking in a negative way dosn’t solve any problem; rather it make it hard to see the way to solve it so it’s important to see the negatives and positives in order to solve problems!
Hm.. I’m A “Half-Empty” Person When The Question Is Asked. But By Reading What You Wrote about Half-Empty People… I Do Not Fit That Profile. When Asked That Question… I Looked At Logic, Since The Process Of Evaporation Is ALWAYS Going On. I Figured, That The Water From The Glass Was Leaving. What Does That Make Me?? A Realist
I always find the “I’m not rich because it’s my destiny” excuse a bit of a reach..
I’m the type of person that says, either way you look at it it’s half..but I don’t think that I’m much for cliches..I guess I just think life is more complex than being able to sum it up in a few words..
Can we ever consider obtaining a “full glass”..
Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on yourself, how you see your own life. Just don’t let others influence you….
Richness and poorness aren’t something destined. It’s fated… err no. If you think yourself rich, you are. If you don’t think so, you don’t. Again, it’s how you see the situation.