Is Half the Glass Really Empty??
Recently, when I was introducing a website with which I have done a bit of work to a senior and quite popular person (in some field of literature), after checking it for five minutes, the very first sentence they have told about it is “Oh! It is showing a ‘square block’ over here… Umm..! You should correct these matters yaar!”. When a website is opened in browser, some fonts (especially non-English) may not be displayed properly, if the user is having some outdated version of system/browser(simple way of calling it as ‘Compatibility Issues’). It will not be seen as ‘square blocks’ for a person who is having updated version of systems.
The question here arises is – why a person cannot notice some good or positive points in something? Or even if he/she first notices some minus point first, why can’t they search for some good thing to speak first and then make it as a way to convey the other issues they have noticed? Or why the positive things in something are getting ignored? The same website, when checked with some others, they have noticed some good and user-friendly arrangements made in it, so that computer illiterates can also use it fine, without any kind of confusions.
Is the glass half empty or half full? – is a philosophical/psychological question and should be a thought, to indicate that a particular situation could be a cause for optimism(half full) or pessimism(half empty), or as a general ‘litmus test’ to simply determine an individual’s worldview. No wonder if somebody thinks – ‘who has drunk half glass of the water?’!!! At many areas, the purpose of the question is to demonstrate that the situation may be seen in different ways depending on one’s point of view. Of course, there may be opportunity in the situation as well as trouble. Here the speaker’s knowledge about the environment and their admitting mentality about their knowledge level also matters.
Negative thoughts drain one of energy and keep one from being in the present moment. The more you give in to your negative thoughts, the stronger they become. Self-analysis and finding out one’s own negative acts and thoughts will surely help a person improving their personality. Find some positive thing in everything, smile, think of making others smile, and hence you will find the beauty of positivism and happiness. Of course, it matters in improving the mental and physical health too.
A question which always bothers me is, can th
ere ever exist an empty glass at all? Scientifically speaking, earth is surrounded with air, we have air around, and a glass cannot be left as empty. It is fully filled with air, even though no water is there inside. Same way, philosophical speaking, says that the there is no-thing such as “nothing”. God is present everywhere and God is always with us since he is an Infinite Spirit.
Let us always be optimistic and believe that the glass is filled. Life becomes so simple!!! 🙂
-Shruthi Sharma, University of Mysore.
09/03/2014
I agree with the author about the concept of Optimism or Pessimism, illustrating it through Half filled glass. I do not know anything about ‘Awesomism’ !
True, even the so called ” empty glass” contains full air with very precious oxygen and other components !
I would like to present the other side of the ’empty glass’. Emptiness can be sometimes positive as we can easily fill that space which we consider empty with something valuable to fill in it. Nobody’s mind is full. There is always empty or vacant places which can be filled with ‘ Knowledge’.
Emptiness can lead to accommodation. When we say the house is empty, vacant or unoccupied, now there is space to fill.
A teacher shows an “empty glass” to his students and fills it with pebbles and asks, ” is it now, full?”. Students say, “Yes, Sir ! “. Then the teacher fills the voids between the pebbles with sugar to the brim and asks, “Is it full, now?” . Students were shocked of their earlier wrong answer, “Sir, now it is full”. Now, the teacher adds slowly water into the glass, sugar dissolves and water fills in the glass. Teacher again asks to his students, “Is it full…….” and the story continues !
I agree with Ms Shrithi as she has written a beautiful, probably one of her early article, and we expect more from her.
There is nothing called ‘ empty ‘ and there is always space to become ‘ full’ !
Dear Dr.B Shridhar Bhat ,
Thank you for enriching the article by your valuable knowledge sharing here, through your beautiful and meaningful comment. This is how a true academician adds their value 🙂
— Shruthi.
I liked the article, positive thinking builds our future..
Sharmaji, thank you for a good article. Positive thinking helps personality development.Negative thinking spoils everything. We expect more articles from you..
Shruthi,
Always, there are some points and comments which you can consider and ignore. I believe, if a lonely person walks on the path every one will say you are alone, they never consider to join with him to become a companion. Some time ignorance of such comments keeps our spirit alive. so keep going as what you are. One day they will definitely appreciate your skills and capabilities.
Ghouse, You are right! Sometimes such negative comments are totally negligible. However, here the same made me write my first English article 😉
Hi Shruthi
Nice write up. One should be receptive to the feedback and also should be diligent enough in considering them.
I have become a regular viewer of this blog.
Dear Ashoka,
You are right! One should always be open for the feedback. However, what bothers is why knowingly or unknowingly the positivism is ignored and negativity is highlighted!
Thanks for being a regular reader of “Surahonne” 🙂
— Shruthi