Half-full

The age old question is the glass half-full or half-empty is the essential positive thinking primer. It is a perfect example of how two completely equal and opposite truths can co-exist. How you perceive the glass does not change the contents of the glass, but it changes how you feel about the contents of the glass. If you perceive the glass as stages of emptiness, you focus on loss, disappointment, past potential diminished. You feel a negative response; you see what's not there vs. what is.

However, if you see perceive rather the stages of fullness, you focus on possibility, opportunity and have hope. Hope feels good, hope is comforting, hope is positive. The ingeniousness of this dichotomy is that both are equally "true" perspectives. There is evidence and argument to support both positions. One is not more valid than the other, but one is certainly more desirable than the other, in terms of the impact it has on how we feel.

If we want to feel better, we have to perceive better. Positive thinking people don't think positively because they only have positive experiences, but they choose to find the half-full perspective when perceiving those experiences. Positive thinking is important because it shapes our feelings. As with the glass, there is always another way to describe the same state.

The glass isn't either half-full or half-empty, it's both. As both co-exist, but we have to choose one, why not choose half-full? Why not choose that which will be affirming and encouraging? As our thinking changes, our behavior will follow. The more able we become to recognize our option of viewing a situation through a positive lens, the more able we are to recognize there are other versions of the truth that might feel better to believe, the more empowered we become to Be Positive.