Glass, Half…
To an optimist the glass is half full. To a pessimist the glass is half empty. To an efficiency expert, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 |
|
Good glass? |
That little ditty might bring a smile to your lips as it did mine. But there is an important point raised by the old half-glass metaphor which serves as a kind of Rorschach test for one’s world view.
The challenge for us, I think, is not to see ourselves as optimists or pessimists. Subscribing to such a mindset creates a lens or filter that inevitably distorts one’s view of the world.
The challenge is to remove or transcend our filters to see things as they are. With minimal judgment.
 |
|
Bad glass? |
So the half glass of water is neither half-full nor half-empty. It is, simply, a half-glass of water. Which is neither negative nor positive, good nor bad.
Action: Practice eliminating prejudicial distortions from your perceptions. Develop the habit of observing what is, as it is. When you perceive without judgment, you will increase your awareness which will enable you to perceive more — and more accurately.
That will free you to see the world as it is. And better enable you to act in accord with your desires.
Podcast: Hear an audio of this post here.
Explore posts in the same categories: Mindset, Podcasts
December 18th, 2005 at 11:20 am
Another take. The answer to the question of whether the glass is half full or half empty: it depends on what was happening just before the question was asked. If you were filling the glass it is half full. If you were drinking from it, it is half empty.
I have no idea at this moment how that relates to your point above, but I do think it is kinda cute and am willing to explore it with you.
December 18th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
Dick,
A pre-cursor event may well encourage the positive or negative perception/coloring of the circumstance. But that underscores the need for the discipline of seeing things from a more neutral, objective frame of reference.
Don
December 18th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Perceiving without judgment is often also called “acceptance”, something I do try to practice–it is what it is. This is incredibly freeing.
It also often means that I don’t have to be right. I can let both of us be right from our own way of seeing things. Half-empty for you, half-full for me–OK. This releases me from ego.