Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?- This has been an ongoing debate for a long time now. I certainly agree that this does test the perspective of an individual and hence, there is no doubt of its usage in the personality tests to judge the Optimistic/Pessimistic attitude of a person as well.

While I agree with the debates and the perspectives that have been shared over these years, I intend to share a perspective that might be different and might be even logically wrong but it does convey a deeper meaning of our life and how we visualize our life to be.

How??

Here is the answer: For the purpose of this article that, why don’t we assume that the ‘Empty’ part of the Glass is filled with air.

That brings us to an equation that the Glass is actually ‘Full’: Half with Water and Half with Air.

You might find this illogical or funny! That’s totally fine. But do give this a thought. Just that the air that is filling the ‘empty’ is invisible to us.

But what is the message that we can derive from this equation?

If you have this question in your mind shows that you have an open mind to accept that equation (though it might just be for the purpose of this article) and also might want to know the message that we can draw from this example.

I pondered over it and I derive this as the message: It perfectly symbolizes the segregation of the aspects of our lives.

The “Hall Full” part of the Glass symbolizes the set of things or aspects that are visible and can be planned and controlled: any and every engagement that forms the visual of our life.

The “Half Empty” part of the Glass (or the air-filled part in our case) symbolizes the feelings, experiences, situations, thoughts that are invisible and can’t be controlled but existing as a part of our lives.

Let’s accept that most of us don’t have any control over at least half of the things that occur in our lives. We can control and plan for only half of it and the other half is just happening in parallel and we either don’t have control over it or can’t plan for it. Have you experienced this?

While the list of aspects that come in each of the categories might vary from person to person but a very generic list is mentioned below:

Aspects of Life we can with Control or Plan for:

Education Stream: At least, it is what I believe that we choose the Education Stream. If not in the earlier years of life but at the least our Graduation and post that.

Career: We choose the Career in our Life depending on the level of exposure, our Dreams, and Desires.



Wedding & Life Partner: This too, I believe, we have the Control on the decision-making on when what, how of it. Even if it feels like it might have happened without your Say in it, it is we who surrender to it.

Environment we create: We do have control over the kind of people we choose to be with. The Quality of people we choose determines the quality of our Thoughts and hence, the Quality of our Life.

Your Happiness: Our Happiness is always in our hands, however unfavorable the situations might be. We can choose to be happy.

Moments of Joy: In many of the cases, we do decide the Moments of Joys in our lives. It is certainly difficult to explain the spectrum of the things that can give Joy to someone. But the number of Joys you have in your life is the number of times you decided to have it.

Growth in Life: The possibilities in today’s world are immense and it is we who choose the level of Growth we want to experience in our lives. Though we might feel that it is decided on many factors, ultimately we are the ones who decide.

Dreams & Goals: It is completely upon us of how many Dreams and Goals we want to set out for. We choose it and hence we control it. Do we have Goals and Dreams? Are we following the steps to achieve the Goals?

Our Present: It is righty said that it is our Present that we have in our hands. We make Choices.

Our Future: If not completely, Choices that we make in our Present designs a large part of the Future. Though it might be arguable that the future can’t be controlled but it is imperative to believe that we are the Captain of our Ship and we are sailing it towards the destination.

Response or Reaction to a situation: We choose the reaction or a response to a situation that might arise in our lives. Not all the situations are according to what we would have wanted them to be but how we deal with them is our choice.

Our Time: We choose and have control over the investment of our time. It is important that we choose wisely.

Aspects of Life we can’t Control or Plan for:

Environment you are born with: We can’t control the environment of people around us when we are born and in our early childhood and hence, we all do have our mental conditioning according to the environment we were born with.

Childhood Traumas: Not everyone has had a great childhood like many of us. There are millions of people who have had several terrible experiences in their Childhood which they didn’t deserve to but we can’t change any of that in our Present or Future.

Challenges: Every person might have Challenges unique to their lives and there are minimal chances that we would find someone without any Challenges to deal in their life. Life without Challenges is an Ideal life that doesn’t exist in reality.

Tensions and Worries: We all have gone through, are going through or might go through the phases of Tensions and Worries in our Lives. None of us might be spared in this aspect.

Unforeseen Circumstances: There are umpteen examples of people having to go through an unforeseen circumstance in their lives which they obviously might not have imagined to have gone through.

Regrets of Past: Many of us, if not all, have had regrets of our past. The more importance we give them, the more space they occupy on our minds.

Happiness of Others: We can’t control the Emotions and Happiness of others. Everyone is individually responsible for their Happiness.

Changing others: We can’t change people around us how much ever we try to. Every person has his/her unique set of experiences and hence, what we see is a result. We can’t change the result alone.

Reaction or Responses of others to a Situation: We can’t control the reaction or the responses of others to a particular situation. We could share our perspectives and opinions but in the end, it is an individual choice.



Relationship Challenges: With the complexities of Relationships with different kinds of people, their expectations, fluctuating emotions, and several other factors including the limited knowledge we might have to deal with one if it happens results in issues arising in the relationships with the people.

It is all about our CHOICES:

“It Hurts...It Kills...It Teaches...
It Thrills...“IT” Is LIFE...!” ? Sujit Lalwani, Life Simplified!

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty? The Glass is ‘Full’. Similarly, our Life is made up of both the types of aspects that can be controlled and those that can’t be. That makes our lives complete. Imagine how boring life would be if the Challenges didn’t exist.

But what matters the most now?

I love this quote that says “Life is a sum total of our Choices”.

What Choice do we have here?

We have the choice to focus more on the water-filled part of our Glass and rejoice for all the Happiness and moments that we have had in our lives or focus on the air-filled part of our life and complain about the things that are not in our control.

The former makes us Live a Life that is Happy, Fulfilling, and enriched with the great experiences; while the latter brings misery, sorrow, negative feelings, negative experiences into our lives.

Here are some of the “Choice in Life” Quotes that you might love:

We often blame others for our life but we forget that the choices are always down to us. No one can control your body except you. Sometimes, we also like to think we're cursed, but we ignore all the bad deeds we've done in the past. Put out good energy and make empowering choices – genuinely good energy, free of jealousy or hatred. What goes around, will come back around. You can't escape it. -@VexKing

“Life presents many choices, the choices we make determine our future.” – Catherine Pulsifer

When bad things happen to you, focus on what you can learn from it. If you focus on the bad, you’re doomed to repeat it. – Mel Robbins

“And we have complete control over our own attitude. We are the ones we decide how we feel, how we look at things, how we react.” – Catherine Pulsifer

At times what you expect and what happens don’t match, the faster you accept and adapt to what happened and work towards creating what you believed, that what you expected gets created in a whole new way..! – Sujit Lalwani, Life Simplified!

If you would like to get a better understanding of how are the Choices made and how should we make our choices, here is one of the videos that are inspirational and informative at the same time:


So, I ask you today and suggest you ask yourself every day to yourself: “What is your Choice?”