Half filled........Half empty

Many-a-times, we encounter situations where we end up in a dilemma because the situation appears to be one thing, but in reality, it is something else. Analyzing these situations might lead to more than one conclusion. Different people might feel different conclusions to be correct which is very true. The point is it doesn't matter what the conclusion is, what matters is how we look at it, how we take it to be. That's the reason the glass below might be either called "half filled" or "half empty".

Consider a real life situation when it is "Result day" and we have tried a lot to score well in the exam. But we as well know that it is not in our hands to decide the scores, there could be a chance that we might not get what we deserve. Two thoughts go through our mind.

1. The positive outcome of the result

2. The lack of faith in the positive outcome

Both the thoughts, though they contradict each other, co-exist in the brain.

Most of the times, the "half full, half empty" concept is associated with optimism and pessimism. It is said that the person who considers the glass to be half filled is quite optimistic about life and the one who says it is half empty has a pessimistic approach towards life. This, however depends on the situation to a great extent.

For example, the terrorist population of the world.... It would be optimistic to look towards it from the "half empty" point of view rather than the "half full" point of view. It is true that things should be taken in a hopeful way so that there is always a possibility of success. But if it is convincing enough that the reality is in no way agreeing with optimism, there is no use of being optimistic and wasting time. It is hard to strike a balance between the two, but when struck, makes life simple.