[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 202 – The Water Glass

The Water Glass (02-18-08)

I would imagine that most of you have heard the old chestnut about the water glass. Let me refresh your memory, in case you don’t recall. You take a glass and you pour water into it so that it is exactly half way. Now, you show that glass to some folks and ask them what they see.

According to the psychoanalysts, psychologists or what ever “ists” you consult, the optimist will likely say that the glass is half full and the pessimist will undoubtedly confirm that the glass is half empty. Why these two answers, you might ask?

The optimist, we are told sees the positive side of things. There is something there in the glass, even though it is not full. The optimist sees the value of what is and does not concern himself with what is not. The pessimist, the experts will tell us, sees that something is missing and dwells on what is not there, rather than what is. He tends to concentrate on the negative.

I would like to take this a little farther. I wonder if the optimist also sees that there is potential in that glass; that there is room for more; that there is space for something additional? I wonder if the optimist understands that that glass, with a little effort, could be full?

I also muse about that pessimist. Does he only see loss; the lack of something? Does he understand, too, that with a little effort the situation can be changed and the water could reach the brim of that glass?

Too often in life and in our fitness journeys, we become the eternal optimist or pessimist. We get wrapped up in our thoughts, our efforts and direct our goals towards what is already there or what we think is missing. We can become single-minded in a pursuit of addressing why that glass is half full or half empty. By doing so, we can forget the most important thing of all. The glass doesn’t have to be half of anything. We can pursue the possibilities of what “could” be there.

I look at the glass sitting there on the table and frankly I am wondering. What do I see there? Am I the optimist or the pessimist? Perhaps I am neither, and yet, at the same time am I little bit of both. Is the glass half full or is the glass half empty. You know? I think I am a realist. I’m thirsty. I drink from the glass and move on. There’s work to be done.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Have a Great Week!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *