momnmore

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me. Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries.

You've heard the question 100 times: "Is the glass half-empty or half-full?" If we are in negativity mode we see the glass as half-empty. Anyone can see its half-empty. When we are feeling negative, we focus on what is missing and lament the lack of water in the glass. When we are feeling more positive, we see the glass as half-full. Of course it is half-full. Anyone can see that. We focus on what we desire, and celebrate the presence of water. Then there are those who see it as completely full - all the time. These seemingly crazy people are not just positive; they are what this psychologist calls pathologically positive. Pathological Positivity is an empowering mental supernormality that lifts us above the normal perception of "reality." It is a higher level of thinking. We see the glass, and our lives, as completely full - even in the toughest situations. How is that possible? How can we see the glass as completely full? Must we make up facts to justify our theory - our pathologically positive position? Do we pretend there is more water?