Are you glass half empty or glass half full?
 

As I was listening to my roomate kvetching last night, I started thinking (yes, I was thinking) to myself, and referring to my roomie "gosh but you sure are a glass half empty kind of person." Never happy, always kvetching.

All things considered, life is pretty good. Sure, I'm going through a couple of hiccups right now, and I've taken every opportunity to whine, but, I'd be lying if I did not say that I'm still pretty happy with my LoT in life. So I guess my attitude puts me in the glass half full camp.

How about you?

I think I'm more of a "the glass is at 50%" type person. No reason to take a position. Besides the important thing isn't where it is but which direction it is heading. When seeing the importance of 50% the key thing to know is whether it was previously full or previously empty. Like a barometer the direction of movement is at least as important as the measurement at a specific moment in time.

I just tend to take things as they are without any particular spin, be it optimistic or pessimistic. Everything could be better or worse, it will get better or worse. Somebody's better is somebody else's worse. You take the good, you take the bad. And there you have the facts of life.

Half empty, without question.

truly, it depends on the day.

some days, I wake up and think...it cant possibly get worse, so today I will make it better and will just not let anything get to me. cruise along without a care.

other days I wake up and have a clear vision of what I'll do that day, how it'll rock and sure as sh!t if every power in the universe seems to fight to keep me from it.

so some days, the glass is half empty, but whats there is crystal clear, cool water with lemon twist. :)

other days, its half full, but its filled with kerosene.

yin/yang

I'm a definately half full person.

I'm with Alex. "That 8 ounce glass has 4 ounces of liquid in it." I suppose "realist" is the best word, as opposed to either "optimist" or "pessimist." Though a lot of people seem to equate that with pessimism or fatalism, which is entirely untrue. I'm happy 99% of the time, what's in the glass has little to do with my state of mind.

I always felt that the glass was too big.

Yea baby! Such a positive spin!

I like to think half full. Remember, {as were a lot of us} I grew up with the saying tossed at me 'There are kids starving in China!!! Eat those butter beans!!! ' so I grew up thinking life was pretty good. Even when it sucked, I felt it was better than someones, somewhere, so, be grateful.

I still think this way. When a friend asked me this similar question, I told her this answer. But, I added, some days I find it harder and harder to find people who are having it worse than I am.

But, such is life.

The bad days make the good days that much sweeter. :cheers:

The way I look at it, there is only one person on the whole planet who can't say that someone else has it worse off than them. And I'm pretty sure that I'm not that guy.

But on the other hand, I do not judge myself by other people. It is my own feelings and emotions that matter. And if my personal state sucks to me then it sucks - regardless of anyone else. I can choose to do something about it or not.

I don't actully think of each and every person who has it worse. I just try to think, it could be worse. It has been worse. Pull myself up by those old bootstraps and keep going.

Somedays it is really hard dealing with emotions that are so bad, there has to be a way to get out from underthem. When I compare it to someone else, I think, 'They are still making it, life isn't impossible, there must be an answer....'

I think the older I get, the easier it is to feel the glass is half full. I've been there, done that, suffered through things that I won't ever again {at least I don't think so....} and had some wonderful joys that can not be taken away. Those things are in my glass, keeping it half full.

MouseWife, that summarizes alot of my feelings too. I think I'm a half full person.

That means we have alot of living left to do, right? :D

Realism is, in it's pure distilled form, is an anathema to my beloved romanticism. Sure it can bring you back from both swings from overly pessimistic to overly optimistic states, but I couldn't see purposefully striving for that pure balance at 50% as any less tragic than seeking out a completely empty or full world view.

A more eastern philosophic look at this question would throw away the glass metaphor entirely, and perhaps set up an image of a person floating in the ocean, out way past the breakwater, unable to fully see how the waves interact with them from outside of themselves, either looking up at a looming wave or down on the displaced trough from what appears to be the top of the world. So.... which perspective would you prefer, grasshopper? :confused:


Grasshopper:

Me:

I don't purposely strive for anything in regards to my perspective, nor do I particularly consider my life tragic, thank you very much. Quite the opposite.

As I've said before, people often mistake my even-keel demeanor for "emotionless." I'm far from it. I experience emotional extremes as much as anybody. But I recognize them as temporary and am able to experience them rather than allowing them to control me.

Mind you, I'm using words like "recognize" and "allow" purely for convenience sake. It's hardly that conscious of a thing. I am not making some huge effort to suppress emotional responses or bottle anything. It's just the way my brain filters emotions naturally.

The best is yet to come.

Why you green blooded, inhuman, Vulcan.................

Me and GD are in synch on this.

I remember being at a job interview years ago, and getting this question. I answered "both." The interviewer gave me a puzzled look, and I then said, "half empty and half full are mutually inclusive states. They're both true at the same time." She seemed baffled by this, so I said to her,"Imagine I have a golf ball. One side is painted red and the other side is painted blue. If I ask you, is this golf ball half red or half blue, what would you answer?" She smiled and said, "Of course, both." I told her that is how I view the glass. I got the job, but I think it was in spite of, not because of, this exchange.

I just basically don't worry about the state of the glass's fullness. Is it half-full if I don't see it?

Mostly because of the mind meld eh? :cheers:

Depends on my mood, I suppose.

On bad days I will see the glass as half spilt on my pants. And on good days I see the glass as half spilt on somebody else's pants. When I am nostalgic I see the chalice as half filled with hemlock (and I must remember to repay the total sum of one c*ck to my friend, Asclepius.) I can be critical as well, and on those days I see the glass as half-assed.

But, when it comes down to it -- I am an optimist at heart and I see the glass as half filled (with milk & Ovaltine). My Lord, how I do love my Ovaltine.


Parenthetically -- I noticed after posting my Socrates quote had been censored! Haha! Let's try something else ...

Jesus from Luke 22:34 -- "I tell you the truth, this very night, before the **** crows you will deny me three times."

Pon farr.

Has it been 7 years already?

You and Alex are seriously pegging the geek-o-meter.

I'm an optimist - to a fault sometimes. I always believe things work out for the best, and the worst situations bring about unexpectedly good results. I believe people are inherently good (of course I'm also a moral relativist, so don't really believe in the existence of an objective "good"). Unfortunately, this sometimes makes me way too patient for my own good and I et taken advantage of. If I believed in Karma, there might be some eventual justice in that, but instead I'm a nihilist and can take comfort in the fact that we'll all be dead anyway. And even that, makes me smile.

Funny, I could never get a glass big enough. ;)


I'm a half full person 99% of the time and probably to a fault. Although, I'm actually pretty realistic, I just like to err on the positive side. it keeps me sane.

I love my level-headed, geeky husband. :tiki:

I'll vouch for him - he means what he says. A friend ages ago dubbed GD "the Rock" and I totally agreed. In order to bring balance to the Force in my house, I am pretty erratic. Some days, I'm so content and my outlook is so positive that I could cry and hug every moment to my chest. Some days I'm so frustrated by the futility of things that I could cry and set fire to all my possessions.

My net result is happiness and positive feelings about the future, so I guess I have to pick half-full....though some days, it feels otherwise.

I tend to look at the glass and think, damn I'm thirsty.

I suppose the opposite rejoinder would be, "You mean I have to fill the whole thing"

I really quite like that, and I think it fits my state fairly well. I'm usually at once optimistic and pessimistic, which side of the golf ball that's showing itself is probably more key to how people think I'm feeling than what I am, both half full and half empty.

I'm just glad I'm not a "the glass is half dirty" kind of gal. That would be frightening.

Do you go to the doctor a lot? :blush:

Now I'm pondering what that could mean....perhaps another thread....

Haha, I'm assuming you're thinking about a different dirty than the one I meant, though yours makes me smile a lot more. And if you're thinking of the dirty I originally meant I need to pull my mind out of the gutter.

My glass was knocked off the counter years ago. Now I have to lap it up off the floor and try not to cut my tongue on the shattered glass...

I fluctuate wildly between the extremes. (No, really Leanne? Please, tell us more.) Some days I'm just glad there's still half left - like finding out there's one more chocolate in the box. There's celebration in what is there. Some days not only is half missing, but it's probably my fault. Even if I don't know why. And surely people will judge me harshly for my half-empty glass in a world of overflowing cups.

I thought of various forms of dirty :D

It's my understanding that dirty martinis are good, though. :cheers:

Half full.

And unable to deal with half empty folk. If you think life sucks, it will. Just don't bring me into your little rain cloud.

:) :) :D