Everyone’s answer may be the same. ‘It’s all according to how you look at it.’ That is one question a lot of people know that can have two answers and both answers can be correct.
Is the glass half full or half empty? Naturally if we look at it as being half full then we are labeled as being positive. A positive person tries to look for the good in anything and everything. I like to think my mother was a positive person. A positive person generally has a smile on their face (maybe not all the time but a lot of the time). I try to be a positive person. Just like other people I too get down in the dumps and depressed sometimes. And if I don’t pick myself up there is someone else who can. I’m just glad that someone came along at the right time when I needed them the most. My question is: Are you one of those people who can lift me or someone else up when they feel down and out?
Obviously we all will say that we are that person and maybe so. And to do that we have to be a positive person and say, ‘the glass is half full’. I have a friend who always smiles and his favorite phrase is, “Hang in there sunshine, it’ll all get better.” He becomes a small ray of hope for others, for me. When it seems it can’t get any darker suddenly he pops in and he’s got a grin on his face like a `possum in a garbage can. If you just smiled and laughed at that then you ought to be that positive person.
If we look at the glass as being half empty then we are stereotyped as being a negative person. We don’t see the good in things. Those are the people who can’t see the beautiful forest for all the trees being in the way. If they have a bleak outlook on life now what does their future look like? One thing that is overlooked that would make us a negative person is the questions we ask to someone else’s generosity. How many times has someone done something for you and you’d say, “You shouldn’t have.” Did you see that little “n’t”? That is actually a negative word abbreviated. Not, no, nada. If someone wants to get a blessing by being a blessing to us why would we want to address it negatively? “Thank you.” “You’re so kind.” “I really appreciate that very much.” Would work just perfectly for such situations.
Have you ever been around a person that hates their life, hates the world and everybody in it? They are miserable and they want everybody around them miserable? And no matter how much positive you throw at them they throw more negative back? I was talking to someone one time making a suggestion and I finally asked them why are they so negative when I’m trying to be positive? Their words to me were they were not being negative they were being realistic. What if Abraham Lincoln was only realistic while trying to learn to read and write? What if Warren Buffet was only realistic while delivering newspapers as a boy? Just like them I would rather fall flat on my face trying to be positive and try to succeed than to be negative and never try at all. For me it goes right back to the famous words of Alfred Lord Tennyson: ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ Or in my words, ‘It is better to have tried and failed than to never try at all.’
One of the many reasons I go to church is to encourage others and to be encouraged myself. And that’s what I tell everyone around me. Carry a positive attitude and be positive for those around you.