Daily Prompt: The Glass
Is the glass half-full, or half-empty?
The perennial test, to decide whether a person is a pessimist or an optimist is to show them a glass of water similar to the photo on the right and ask them to describe it. They will answer either that the glass is half full or half empty. This exercise seems ridiculous at first glance but our answers really are telling and can give us a wake-up call.
Do I wear clear, rose or mud coloured eye glasses when I look around? Therapists believe that recognition of our foibles and faults is 90% of the problem. If we are brave enough to look at ourselves with clear, fully transparent eye glasses, we can change. When we are desperate, we take our feet off the brakes that prevent inner growth and jump-start a process that takes on a life of its own.
Words, especially descriptive words are powerful. What comes out of our mouthes really does help bring sunshine or shadows into our lives and those around us. Even without applying cognitive therapy, by simply catching ourselves using overly negative adjectives, we really can change our emotional reactions to life. Let’s pay attention to the words that come out of our mouths, especially to our children. We are helping shape their future.
mother of nine9 
This is so true.
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In my humble opinion…the glass is ALWAYS full. If it’s not completely filled with water, then it is half filled with water…the other half is filled with air…just a matter of how you look at things 🙂
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🙂
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If you want to brighten up your life use the awesome … a lot! great post Melanie 🙂
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🙂
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exactly!
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you know!
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Years ago, I came across the practice of EFT – a portion of which involves saying what’s bothering you, accepting yourself and loving yourself while you tap on meridian points (this is a really, generalized watered down version, but hopefully enough make what I wanted to say clear)
I found that saying things out loud, and then saying out loud whatever came next made me so aware of the various ‘stories’ I make up that are not to my nor anyone else’s benefit – – in fact, just by going with the flow, it would soon become so ridiculous, I was laughing at myself –
I’m so glad I took the time to try that – it never did all for me that it was advertised as, but I’ll always treasure the wonderful way it made me aware and more disciplined with my mind chatter.
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Very interesting. mind chatter IS a never ending circuit if we let it- my family calls it Mental Fung-FU, just think about thoughts attacking and wranglig with each other makes us laugh and stops the cycle
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I’d been told all my life that I think too much, but once I really started listening to my self-talk, I was appalled – and then I started really listening to what we all tend to say out loud at times – – learning that one self-care technique resulted in such a humongous perspective shift for me..
🙂
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nice- I agree; i think we only change when we are appalled or hit bottom or simply MUST change- it kick starts a natural growth process
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Yes, true, but after being kick-started into changing by several losses, I decided to race towards change, in order to avoid more kicks – – – LOL
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ha- once the brakes are off, it feels like growth takes on a life of its own- but you are braver than I am
On Tue, May 7, 2013 at 10:54 PM, motherofnine9
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Not necessarily – in those quiet moments when I look at the path I’ve embarked on, I quietly wonder..
“So, are we cloaking the hedonistic tendency to avoid pain by calling it ‘self-improvement/growth?”
LOL
Perspectives, ya gotta love ’em!
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you know what?pain is suppose to flow through us not stay stuck inside festering.
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yes – one of the most profound lessons I learned was shortly after my son died (around month 3 or so) – It felt like everyone around me had returned to their daily life and that I somehow needed to snap out of it – so if I awoke, down-hearted, I would try to ‘talk myself out of it.”
One morning, I got ticked and I thought, “No! I’m going to sit here and let this come forth and if I need to be in a funk all day, then so be it.”
In about 2.5 seconds, I was so miserable, I thought, “OKAY! Done with that for now – what shall I do today?”
Since then, I trust my ‘funks’ much more and use them as a tool of discovery, rather than something to be avoided or resisted – (Which means I finally, FINALLY, really understood – at soul level the phrase:
“What you resist, persists”
🙂
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amen- we are not wired to be scapegoats, we can’t handle carrying around the pain of the world because we breakdown physically, emotionally and spiritually. sounds like you made the same discoveries I have but by a different PERSPECTIVE; mine has been through prayer and faith. We must keep in touch- off to read a bit more of your stuff
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I’ve read this somewhere: If the glass is half empty, the other half is filled with air.
True enough. Fullness or emptiness does not depend on the visible alone 🙂
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ahh, good insight, see joy of nine9 for my spiritual oriented posts, if you care to
melaniejeanjuneau.wordpress.com
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