So I was chatting with Curly Headed Boy in the car the other morning about how to look at life. I got him to imagine a glass of water that had been filled half way. Then I said ‘Is it Half Full or Half Empty?’. Because both are true. But it is also true that it is ‘Filled Half Way’.
It can be really tiring to be around a ‘Half Empty’ person a lot of the time, they kind of seem to want to suck the energy out of you. It’s because naturally there is always a balance in a conversation where we balance out over-pessimism with lots of optimism and vice versa.
The ‘Half Full’ people can be a bit of a pain too, as we aren’t really sure they are being honest and it makes us feel rubbish that we can’t be that bouncy all the time. So around a bouncy ‘half full’ person we become pessimistic and around a draining ‘half empty’ person we become optimistic to try and bouy them up.
I’m not a fan of ‘positive thinking‘ because when misused and misunderstood it can create more depression and more trouble. Instead the ideal really is to hit the middle of the scales, and balance both, so that we see that a cup is just filled half way with water. It has good and bad in it. So there is only half a cup, but it’s more than none! That’s what I’m hoping to show Curly Headed Boy; that both are true, so that he can be a half-full-empty person and see both sides of the story.
So here are two videos for you, depending on how you started the day:
Grumpy? Always look on the bright side of life: Monty Python!
Over-excited today? This one will calm you down a bit: Jeff Buckley ‘Halleluja’