Perspective

Is your glass half empty, or is it half full?

Yeah, you know where this is going. So let's get to it shall we?  

It does come down to perspective, I think we all know that, but what does that really mean?

Some people have a natural proclivity towards pessimism or optimism, but arguably most probably fall somewhere in between.  I have often heard the term realist sneak its way into dialogues such as this, but we won't be delving into that. Being realistic is simply outlining a situation pragmatically, suggestibility without perspective to a degree.  A realist would say the glass has four ounces of water in it.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Okay, I lied.  But that is as far as we are going with that.

I definitely reside in the middle ground betwixt these two polar opposites.  But I can say with honesty, it is definitely a conscious effort to be optimistic sometimes.  But it is a choice.  Perspective is powerful.  It is what guides our decisions and to a degree who we are.  Sifu Brinker shared a post from Seth Godin awhile back called the Control/Responsibility Matrix.  I can't help but think these concepts are connected.  Arguably, I would suggest a pessimist would tend to gravitate more towards the victim quadrant of the matrix.  

I recall a story of someone telling me all about their bad luck.  You see they never speed when they drive and there is never a speed trap in this area by their house.  But one time, they were preoccupied and distracted.  They were speeding, but they caught themselves just in time, slowed down and then passed the speed trap. "Can you believe my luck?  I have the worse luck ever." is what they told me. So I asked, how much was your ticket? They replied, "I didn't get a ticket because I slowed down in time, but it is just my luck that a day I happen to be speeding, they had a trap where they never do and it was right where I was going".  Well, I said, you're pretty lucky that you happened to slow down in time and didn't get a ticket.  But alas, this was truly lost on them.

On a journey towards mastery, there are challenges, set backs and what seem like down right blatant attempts of the universe to derail things.  I have a choice, be the victim and use these situations as excuses not to achieve what I want to, or find solutions or work arounds, dust myself off and get back up and continue on my journey.  Now, I definitely can talk the talk, but I have struggled walking the walk.  

This year, I already know some of the challenges I am up against.  But, I cannot loose traction or waste energy on things I cannot change.  As the old saying goes, sometimes you cannot control what happens to you, only how you react to it.

In an effort to keep my training and my journey moving forward, I need to be grateful for what is and not resentful for what isn't.  This in itself will be a challenge at times, but imperative.

I am grateful my glass is half full.

Thanks for reading.

Mike