“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” – C S Lewis
Do you see your glass half full or half empty? As C S Lewis said, a lot depends on where you’re standing, but it also depends on what you’re thinking. What you see, in terms of the way life is panning out for you, is influenced by the way you think, and it takes an optimistic “glass half full” viewpoint to achieve the life you want.
If you think you’re a born “loser”, then everything you see and hear is going to confirm your negative belief. If you believe that nothing ever goes the way you want it to, then your negative thoughts will become self-fulfilling prophecies. In other words, if you only ever see a half empty glass, then that’s the way your glass will stay.
The difference between glass half empty and glass half full is merely your perception.
If you’re a glass half empty thinker, all it takes is a shift of focus away from what you don’t have in life and what you can’t do onto what you do have and what you can do to change your perspective.
Focus on the positive things you have, relative to things others have, and focus on where you succeed by comparison, not on where you fail by comparison.
Keeping things in perspective means taking responsibility for yourself and your circumstances. Your perspective, your attitude, and your response to the happenings in your life are directly responsible for the outcomes that result and the way your life continues to pan out. Remember, when you think negatively, you only see negative happenings that confirm your belief, so take a moment to consider the way your life might look if you chose to think positively instead.
“We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.” – Anaïs Nin
Of course, things happen, and with the best will in the world, things are not always going to go the way you planned, but, with a positive mental attitude, you can keep setbacks in perspective. Losing out on something today doesn’t make you a “loser” every day, and things not going your way today doesn’t mean you can’t turn things around and get yourself back on track to getting what you want tomorrow.
Whether you believe yourself to be “winning” or “losing” at life, your belief is merely your perception. Choose to see yourself as a winner, and then see how the world around you looks from where you’re standing.
Don MacNaughton is a High-Performance Coach and has worked tirelessly to help clients achieve success in the world of sport and business over the past 15 years. The next, highly popular, NLP Diploma and Life Coaching Certificate course starts in April 2019. Click here for more information or to sign up.