Is Your Cup Half Empty or Half Full?
Posted: October 23, 2022
We have all heard the saying, “is your cup half full or half empty?” I used to say: “it depends on rather it’s my cup or yours”. But all kidding aside, it’s a very good way to judge your mind set.
Can you train yourself to be an optimist? Can you help your child change the way they think so they see the positive more than the negative?
Yes, and YES!
The truth is that the cup is both. And you should see it as both. When you can see the potential and the dangers, then you can make informed decisions. After all, you must get through the empty part to get to the full part, if you want to drink what the cup has to offer.
Teach yourself or your child to see the cup as half full, and half empty.
But if you have a child that only sees the cup as half empty, make sure you help them get to the other side.
Here are some good examples of how to start training yourself or your child in positivity. When something does not work out the way we wanted it to, ask questions like these:
What are three things that you learned from this?
How might this be a good thing?
What lesson or lessons are we being presented here?
How can we make this work out better either now or next time?
It can be as simple as just pointing out the other side of it.
You’re not trying to fix it. You’re not trying to sugar coat it. That’s the wrong thing to do. If your child missed out on being picked for a team and you say, “You’re still a star to me” that will do nothing for your child’s growth, nor will it get them picked next time. Saying, “what can we do or what can you do to get better?” will set you on a better path. It also puts things into perspective. They might say that they really don’t like baseball anyway and just wanted to play with their best friend who loves baseball.
We are all guilty of trying to fix things or make them seem better with positive words. Especially with our children. We don’t want them to feel bad. But sometimes that is what they need to learn the lesson they need to learn. What we can do is help them move forward and guide them to a better place, and a better & more supportive way of thinking.
Listen to yourself and listen to your child. If the cup is always half empty and never half full, then you have a mindset that needs adjusting and the sooner you do something the easer it will be to make change. Remember, that our children learn from us. They live by our standards until they find standards of their own.
A healthy mindset sees the cup as a cup and sees both sides and then chooses to move toward the positive.
