Glass half full isn't the whole story!

Suzanne Mercier - Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Most of us have been taught that its far better to see the glass half-full than it is to see it half-empty.  It's a sign of a positive frame of mind and approach to life which makes sense because we all have so much to be grateful for.  By comparison, seeing the glass half empty shows that a person is likely to look at what is missing from his or her life rather than appreciate what is there.

The problem with that approach is that we judge one aspect as right and the other wrong.    If I select the glass half-full, I am only presenting half the story.  Where we have black, we have white; where we have light, we have dark.  Light isn't better than dark.  It's simply different.  In actual fact, it's two sides of the same coin.  We need one to have the other.

So, when I only tell half the story, I'm not being authentic.  This happened to me recently.  I had been quite upset about a series of situations that had occurred and that was the focus of my attention.  I judged that as "bad" and sought to shift my mind to a more balanced perspective by looking at what had worked and what hadn't.  By doing that, I was able to switch from being critical to being grateful for all the positives that had come out of the situation.   I felt quite proud that I had been disciplined with my mind.  Except that with the benefit of the expert advice of Lorna Patten and time for reflection, I realised that I had feelings about the "half-empty" side of the equation and those feelings had been swept under the carpet.  Instead, I had presented the positive aspect of myself - the part I thought the other person would like while keeping my hurt ego feelings hidden.  In denying my own stuff, I hadn't told the whole story; I hadn't been authentic. 

What do you think?  I'd love to hear
All the very best
Suzanne