A Brief Reflection……

  Several weeks ago I wrote a column about the glass being half full or half empty. Recently several people have commented about some of my thoughts and ideas and what had prompted me to write about a glass of water. After a brief discussion, one person confessed that he had become more aware of the significance of looking at his life and his accomplishments as being successful or where there some things that he needed to do, refill the glass so to speak, in an effort to see life with greater success and a more positive outlook and attitude regardless of his age.

   As I recently walked by the kitchen counter I noticed that I had left a glass of water sitting there on the counter, forgetting to put it in the dishwasher. I dumped what was left in the glass down the drain, opened the dishwasher door and placed the glass on the shelf and closed the door in preparation for the next dish washing. Then…. I suddenly thought. Had the glass been half empty or half full? Did I really care? And how often do we go through life picking up a glass, or more likely in my case a coffee cup, not noticing how much was left in it or what it contained?  How often do we go through life not realizing what we have done, what we have not completed or missed because we viewed our life, as we may do to the glass, as either only being half full or half empty.

   Life is a lot more complicated than a glass (or coffee cup) that is either half full or half empty. But I do think it serves as a good, simple example of how we live our lives, what we believe about ourselves and more importantly, who we  become, depending upon whether we see the glass half full or half empty.  Do I live my life as an optimist or a pessimist?

   At times, the glass does not always remain full because of life and living. Whether we will admit it or not, changes can affect  us and we sometimes may need to take steps to refill glass as we continue throughout our lives. And the route we take to keep the glass full is often determined by how we have filled it in the past. The way I may decide to keep my glass filled today is very different than the way I may have done so 40 years age. But I need to remember that I can build upon those experiences and any lessons I learned back then and I hope that I did not just dump life learnings down the drain in order to simply  empty the glass and start over.

   I am well aware the life ahead of me is much shorter than what I have experienced to date, but time, while it can be a key factor in life and success, does not always determine outcomes and results. Yes, I will never play professional football, but that does not mean that I can no longer enjoy the game. I just need to find different  ways to in which to gain and feel the excitement of the game. I just need to find positive ways to keep the glass filled.

   I very rarely will rework, or in this case, reword, a previous column but, the comments that folks have shared with me the past several weeks have kept thinking and I thank them for that. Those who follow my writing know that I have spent time recently “downsizing” around the house, cleaning out drawers and closets and preparing for the future. I know that the future may be different from the past, but that is part of the excitement of what is next and what I have learned in getting to this point of life is that it is still important whether I see the glass on the counter as being either half full or half empty.

   By the way, I took the glass out of the dishwasher, rinsed it out and filled it to the top again.