Drink What’s There

One of the greatest blessings I have in my career is to coach others to success. It really is fire in my soul. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

During a recent coaching session, I realized a client was looking at the glass as half empty rather than half full. Here’s what I told them.

The glass is all at once half empty and half full. Both are correct. But, if you were out in the middle of the desert and thirsty, it wouldn’t matter to you how you focused on reality. You would simply place the glass to your lips and drink what’s there.

All my life I’ve heard the debate about the half glass of water. Positive people see it as half full. Negative people see it as half empty. Until that moment in the middle of a coaching session, I’d never heard anyone focus on the water.

It seems we’ve been spending a lot of time focusing on the wrong thing. The glass—and the debate regarding its fullness—is completely irrelevant. The water, with its life giving power, is the critical component.

I began to wonder how often in our lives we get focused on the wrong thing and, as a result, we make ourselves miserable. Instead, we should take each moment and drink what’s there. Here are a few examples in my own life just this week:

Stuck in traffic that was completely stopped on the interstate.

Drinking what’s there: I was not the one whose vehicle had gone off the road and flipped over. And, because of modern technology, I listened to great podcasts while I sat and was able to take handwritten notes because I was parked on the highway.

Waited seemingly forever in line to pick up prescriptions.

Drinking what’s there:  I live in a country where healthcare is readily available. I have imperfections in my body that are totally treatable by medication. While waiting, I was able to have meaningful conversations with a half dozen total strangers.

The point is, it doesn’t matter whether the glass in our lives is half full or half empty. What makes all the difference is whether or not we drink up the water when the glass is presented to us.

It’s not about the glass. It’s about the water. We need to drink what’s there. Lap up every drop and you’ll end your day with your emotionally belly sloshing with life!  

When was the last time you focused on the water inside the glass? How did that make you feel? Share it here.