Is the glass half full or half empty?

 

Think positive and forget the negatives – is the common buzzword. Brush away negativity and take out only the positives is something that we keep hearing lately. This trend is so stale and cliché already and will perhaps lead us to making the wrong decisions. Before you make any further assumption on this post, I recommend that you read in full to get the essence.

How many of us are really willing to spare a minute and think about this?

Life isn’t hunky-dory for anyone – after all, each one of us have our own set of battles to fight. Anything in the name of positivity, if you’re not even willing to acknowledge the situation, as is? You cannot sit there and choose not to rise up to the occasion thinking that the power of positivity is going to descend on you and everything will thus be magically resolved! How would you distinguish between the right and the wrong if you don’t even know both sides, rather 360 degree of a given situation? It’s as bad as saying I am a positive person and hence won’t be infected by COVID. We’ll have to shake ourselves off the imaginary bed of roses and realize that roses come with thorns too.

If you keep training the mind to think of only the pros, you will never really care to understand what the cons are. When this happens, the expectations, anticipation and hope rise and you will never be able to accept anything that’s not positive, rather, anything that’s not in your favor. Quite naturally, this will lead us to mental shock and dejection just because something didn’t work out in our favor, as the bubble of positivity just burst in front of you. It’s the case of expectations vs. reality, reel vs. real that lead us to more trouble than anything else. Needless to say, this leads us to unwarranted stress and anxiety.

So, what’s next? There’s no silver-bullet solution to all our problems. We have to teach ourselves first to accept a situation as is – not be forced to decide right away by weeding out the negatives. When you haven’t even analyzed or given something a thought, you cannot be busy deciding to ward off negativity. We’ll have to do a reality check, so first things first – having realized that there is a situation for us to solve in front of us, we will need to acknowledge the fact that there is something to be resolved. Sadly, for the most part, what’s happening now is mere escapism, under the garb of positivity. Certainly, we will need to take into account, the bright side as well as the pain-points. This will give us a more holistic view, rather than a biased, favorable outlook.

Thus, having this holistic view, will put us directly on the path of decision-making. We’re training our minds to decide and fend for ourselves, rather than creating a dependency on others. It’s about putting a process in place, so that you know that the next time a similar situation arises, you’re already ready to fight it and not cribbing or whining.

Optimism, in its true sense, is not a façade, it’s a way of living and believing that every problem has a solution. What makes the difference is that, you start with the attitude of understanding if the glass is half-full or half-empty. By deciding to start with the attitude of the glass being half-full, there is more motivation to get to the bottom of an issue and the resilience to encounter the problem when it stares at you, vs. thinking that the glass is half-empty and starting out with a pessimistic view, only so you crumble under pressure. After all, a diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure!

This is exactly what our scriptures exhort too, a typical Arjuna syndrome. There’s an Arjuna inside each one of us, with a muddied mind, trying to escape from the reality. Krishna (or any God form) is, and has always been around, if only we care to look keenly. Gods never promise anywhere that negativity wouldn’t exist at all. Quoting the Bible, God helps those who help themselves, after all. Faith, hope and attitude of surrender will certainly make us stronger individuals to deal with challenges that life poses each day. In the process, we must learn the guiding principle of gratitude, which will take us places. Good or bad, be thankful for what you have, and the game automatically changes. There is a sense of indomitable confidence that gets into you, that there is no stopping you from situation-handling. Go right ahead with the abundance mindset and you will already begin to feel that you have everything you need.

While the power of positivity is phenomenal, let’s all for a moment consider conscious optimism – meaning, there will be pitfalls, but we shall learn to emerge stronger. It’s definitely okay to be not okay, and you don’t have to get it right, from the word go. We’re after all mortal humans and not bots, being wired to yield a desired result each time. Take a break if you need to, cry if you need to, emote if you need to, remain in solitude if you need to, whatever it is that you decide to choose, you’re fine – but never escapism from reality.

At the end of the day, if the positives outweigh the negatives, then you’re winning in your own accord – not to prove a point to anyone. In the process, what would certainly help us is, staying away from people who always choose to amplify the negatives. Such elements can be draining and let your emotions get the best of you. Ask yourself if toxicity is supporting the cause in any way, if not, then it’s not worth the effort. Tell them that you’re looking at the glass as half-full and that you at least have some water left to survive and deal with the problem. Everything starts with the decision to try, if you will 😊