Your Glass is Neither Half Empty nor Half Full
It's Always, Quite Literally, Completely Full, Silly!
As the saying goes, the optimist sees the glass as half full, while the pessimist sees the glass as half empty. To the wise though, the glass is completely full: half with water and half with air. Water is life. Air is life. So why doesn’t the optimist or the pessimist notice the air? We cannot live even five minutes without air, yet no one ever notices or mentions the air! Why? Simply because we cannot see it.
So I say to you, not only is your glass half full, it’s completely full — full of the things you can see and also full of so many other things you may not see but are there just the same, like air, wifi, and music. Just because something isn’t sitting in front of you at this moment, like your couch or your television, does not mean that it does not exist. And just because you don’t technically own something doesn’t mean it isn’t a part of your life, like a beach, a mountain, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, or a beautiful sunset.
The world is an incredibly beautiful place, most of which you can’t see at this very moment, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. You can’t see the future, but it’s right there, slowly unfolding with each passing moment. You can’t see love, but it’s all around you, if you look. There are people who haven’t come into your life yet, that are wise and funny and interesting — they are real people who exist right now as you’re reading this, you just can’t see them because you haven’t met them yet! There are beaches and forests and mountains and oceans, which can’t be owned, but they are yours — they belong to us all. We just have to make an effort to seek them out.
In the art world, if I were doing a painting of the glass half filled with water, the air in the glass and around the glass would be referred to as the “negative space.” Negative space is an art term for the “empty” space in a drawing or painting around the main subject matter. When drawing or painting, the negative space and positive space are equally important. The negative space will have a shape and a color as well. It’s just as important to the composition, because it also takes up space on the canvas. Also, the negative space defines the shape of the subject matter (the bowl of fruit or the person in the portrait) as well as creating a setting and a context for the subject matter. Negative spaces are extremely important in artwork. A really good, experienced artist knows how to handle the negative space, they will do something interesting with it. The artist doesn’t cry because the canvas is “half empty.” The artist delights in doing something interesting with the empty space. The artist sees all the possibilities.
Your life is full of those “empty spaces” or “negative spaces” as well, like a quiet evening at home. Do not think of emptiness as a bad thing. Just like down time is not a bad thing. Things, jobs, activities, houses, people, relationships all need space or our lives become too busy and cluttered. Nothing is truly empty anyway, like the half-filled glass. There is so much out there going on in the world at any given second, even in your own life. No one’s glass is ever truly half empty, sweetie. If that’s what you think, then you have no imagination!
If you feel like you’re missing out on the world, then go for a walk and immerse yourself in the world, observe everything you encounter along the way. Look at your surroundings the way a street photographer does. Take your cell phone and capture random moments and the beauty in everyday things. Observe the negative space. Try taking some interesting photos that capture the negative space.
In the world of photography there is a saying that there is no such thing as boring subject matter, only boring photographers. I believe this concept can be applied to people’s lives as well. A good photographer can make an interesting image out of anything.
So, get out there and find the beauty in quiet moments, empty spaces, the open sky, empty landscapes and stark, minimal views. Be aware of all that is, my dear.
Rebecca Pavlik is the author of Time to Break Some Rules, Sweetie! a humorous advice book for young women. For more details and to view on Amazon click here.