Glass Half Full

Most of my adult life (no, let's say most of my life), I have seen my glass as half empty--actually, I must admit that I have viewed the glass mostly as being nearly empty, or having only a few drops at the bottom, or empty, period. Nothing had ever gone right in the past. Nothing was right in the present. Nothing was going to go right in the future. Nothing. Nada. Do not misunderstand me, because I still had hopes. High hopes.

Nevertheless, no one has ever accused me of being a Pollyanna (at least not a very serious one), although I do love to watch Disney movies, not to mention that Disney World is my favorite vacation spot. Okay, it would be if I could afford it--every single year. So, perhaps I wished I had grown up in a community that looked like a Disney studio set (or Walt Disney World)--or a community depicted in a Norman Rockwell painting. I yearned for what I did not have--that perfect life in which everything falls into place. Where justice prevails, good triumphs over evil, and people get their just desserts--and there is that happily ever after ending. In short, being a romantic idealist is not much of a character reference for the real world.

That all changed, however, when I moved to the mountains a number of years ago. Did someone wave a magic wand or something? Of course not. The time was simply right for me to move here. Perhaps it was the simple act of moving away from the madding crowd that gave me an optimistic outlook. Overnight. Most importantly, I have finally stopped listening to other people's tapes playing in my head. "The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases."--JUNG, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933.

It is ironic, I must admit. While the past few years have been physically the roughest and not devoid of financial hardship, they have also been emotionally nurturing and spiritually rewarding ones. My personal journey has brought me to this place of peace. No matter what happens now, I see my glass as half full.