Half full or half empty – repeat

It’s late November and even though I am outside in my garden every day and I still have lots of plants in flower, it is definitely a quiet time of the year in terms of gardening. I have been blogging for almost 3 years and in my first year of blogging I didn’t have that many visitors. I have therefore decided to recycle a few of my posts from the first year and hope you enjoy them again even if you might have read them before. Here is the first repeat post.

Do you know the expression “Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty person?” I can still remember when my grandfather explained this expression to me and my younger sister and brother – I must have been about 8 or 9 years old at that time. The expression really appealed to my already rapidly growing practical sense back then, and I have referred to it many times over the years. It’s an expression one can hear used in many different circumstances, and I heard it just yesterday on the BBC1 TV series ‘Silent Witness’. It made me decide to use it as a topic for today’s post. So, what are you? Is your glass half full, or half empty? Of course, you might say like Bill Cosby is supposed to have said; “it depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking...!” Me, I consider myself a half full person, and for people who knows me and knows what has happened to me over the years, that might sound like a contradiction, but perhaps having a reasonable positive outlook in life is what’s keeping me sane – and creative. I don’t doubt for a minute that being creative is keeping me sane, so we might go round in circles here, but this is a bit chicken and egg thing I guess. There is no doubt that I have managed to “attract more negative life experiences so far in life than most people manage in a whole life span”, as a psychotherapist once told me - and that was not having in mind my medical problems, but I still have a half full outlook on life in general. I think this quote from Bette Midler is quite well said; "Shit happens, deal with it! "Well, I deal with it all on an 'as and when' basis, with one foot in front of the other... and so on and so on...but sometimes I feel that someone has divided the quotas up a bit unfairly. There is definitely more shit coming my way than to a lot of other people I know of!

So, we’re back to the creative bit then, going full circle, because I am convinced that being creative makes me happy and contributes to my ‘half full’ outlook on life. I have never been a sporty person, I hated PE in school, moving about was painful and no one understood why, so my pain was largely disregarded. But I know that jogging for example is said to release endorphins in your brain, powerful hormones that makes you happy. The so called "runner's high" is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production. Research lately on the role of endorphins in producing runner's high questions the mechanisms at work though; their data possibly demonstrating that the "high" comes from completing a challenge rather than as a result of exertion. So what if lounging on my sofa and being really creative on my computer makes me release endorphins and keeps me happy, and for every work I complete I get a rush of happy hormones?! Well, I’ve got absolutely no scientific proof for saying this, it is just a little theory of mine, but isn’t it a nice one? I really do feel less pain in my sore, aching joints when I am deeply buried in Photoshop on my computer :-)

OK, back to you, and your glass: half full or half empty? What gets your happy hormones flowing? Have you ever thought about it? Some people are miserable most of the time; I am sure you know someone too; those who blame the government, the council, the neighbour, the spouse, the kids, the dog....anyone, except themselves; it’s always everyone else’s fault and nothing is going to get them in a better mood until all their problems are solved, by anyone else but themselves. Definitely half empty people! I recommend some Creative Photoshop Therapy!

So in this dark end of November, what keeps you upbeat and happy, please share with us, it would be interesting to hear from you all. Me? I am off out in the garden to plant 30 lily bulbs, it is a cold but crisp sunny day and I can’t think of anywhere else I would like to be, except for perhaps behind my computer, creating something. Oh, by the way, the photos are from previous years, but it won't be long until the spring flowers are here, only 6-8 more weeks or so - that thought makes me happy! Until next time, take care.