Why is it that two different people can experience the same thing and have radically different reactions? The age-old example of a glass being half-full or half-empty based on perception illustrates how mindset plays a leading role in our reality. The glass has the same amount of liquid in each case, but one perception sees a growing resource while the other sees a diminishing resource.
Perception Matters
How we perceive something matters. An optimist sees a glass half full meaning there is room for more and fully expecting more to come. A pessimist sees a glass half empty and is already anticipating the loss coming.
Living with a perception of more to come, is exhilarating and full of possibilities whereas perceiving things ending can trigger a sense of loss or not enough which can cause fear of the unknown. Depending on your perception, you either focus on faith or facts.
Faith or Facts- Why Two Different Reactions?
Our reactions to the status of the glass depend on our default mode of optimism or pessimism.
Optimism is hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something. This translates to faith that a good outcome is certain in the end. This faith can be in God, the universe, or whatever someone has ‘faith’ in.
Pessimism- lack of hope of confidence in the future. A tendency to see the worst or predict the worst in a situation. This translates to examining facts. If the facts indicate something is bad or headed in the wrong direction, it feels logical to be negative.
Optimists and pessimists may experience the same situation but their focus- faith or facts, drives their belief about the situation.
Who’s Right and Who’s Wrong?
In extreme examples both the optimist and the pessimist may be wrong. Extreme optimism or pessimism may cause harm. In some cases, people decline medical intervention having faith they will be miraculously healed. In other cases, people refuse treatment because they think the facts indicate there is no chance of survival anyway. In both cases, medical attention may have made a difference.
They Key is Living in Ambiguity
Both the optimist and the pessimist believe in the likelihood of their anticipated outcome, but no one knows for certain what will happen. Up until things play out, things are ambiguous. Optimists seem to have a better ability to live in ambiguity easier than pessimists. While they don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, they have a belief and hope it will be positive, whereas pessimists expect and brace themselves for it to blow up.
In the end, everything simply is until we attach meaning to it. The glass has a specific amount of liquid which is either abundant or scarce depending on the perception.
