The half-full kind of people.

If somebody made me a cup of tea and filled the mug to the halfway point, it is an unquestionable fact that I would wonder where the rest was. What a waste of a teabag! Your life is like a cup of tea and your perspective is the way you judge the water levels. You are constantly seeking the other half of something, or the final touch. Where or when do we stop looking? In the meantime, the tea that is right in front of you, goes unnoticed and grows cold. The beauty in the sips you could have had, are short-lived by the obsession of the emptiness of the other half of the cup. Instead of savouring the tea we have, we long for the tea we did not have. In turn, you end up appreciating nothing. There is no shame in striving for more, its an innate urge for most human beings. We crave the nectar of a life we have never lived or the things we want to achieve. I do not see why there should not be a harmony between dreaming and appreciating. There is room for both in your perspective.
Do not get me wrong, I have half full days – plenty of them. But what pushes me to the flip side, is taking time out to acknowledge the wonderful things that encompass my life, noting every strand of the web that completes my life as it is.
I remember once watching videos of children’s’ lives in other cultures and countries. They had the bare necessities and only owned the clothes they were stood in. Running water was non-existent, instead staying alive entailed walking miles to scoop dirty water into a bucket. Homes were made from straw and sticks, scorched by the burning sun. Schools were small shack like buildings that had limited equipment, a lack of any bold primary colour and there was no access to a plentiful stash of books. But what I did notice, before any of this, was the infectiously uplifting smiles beaming on their faces. In a barren and harsh landscape, these children were happier than some children who have everything they could ask for. It pulled at an emotion deep inside. At first, I could not quite work out what emotion that was. Until I started being mindful to my own negativity, did I realise that this emotion was an intense admiration that had also aided me with a new recognition.
When it truly comes down to it, stripping away the snares of modern day society such as money, career and reputation, the fundamental foundations of a positive life are the recognition of the simple things that are in fact, immensely powerful and anything but small. Love, laughter, kindness, nature, friendship, passion are the things we need to re-tune our brain into acknowledging. Life can be tough, it can thrust you onto a roller-coaster of heartbreak and hell, to throw you on the ride of fulfillment and fun. Once we start to focus on the water in our cup that we HAVE, we may start to focus less on the water that we DON’T have. You know what they say, the less water, the stronger the tea is anyway! Keep dreaming and wanting, but do not forget about that tasty tea you’ve already got in you cup.

Thanks for reading!
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