Storehouse: Always Full

Reposted from Nov. 14, 2013

I have heard that the world is made up of two kinds of people – those who see the glass as half-full, and those who see the glass as half-empty.  Those who see it as half-empty are focusing on lack, and those who see it as half-full are focusing on abundance.  I believe that both of these perspectives are missing the big picture.

Half-empty is entirely an illusion.  Half-full is, at least, half accurate .  Although the glass may not be entirely full of what we would like to have it contain, technically the glass is always full.   Certainly the air that is taking up space in the glass is not going to help us when we are thirsty, but it is clearly of equal necessity for our survival.  The error is in thinking of it as “nothing”, and thereby dismissing its value.

We can relate this concept to our spiritual storehouse: it is always filled to the brim with something.  The question is, how can we utilize what is inside to our benefit, even when what it is filled with is not necessarily what we would have wished for?  There was some discussion this past Sunday about how something that we generally see as negative, and don’t necessarily choose (such as grief), can be a spiritual practice.   If we use the experience of it to deepen our connection, or awaken our compassion, or become at peace with our mortality, or embrace the full breadth of our emotional capacity, or…  In myriad ways we can derive something positive from even those elements of life that we would not desire to experience.

Full of abundance or full of lack?  Because that depends entirely on your chosen perspective, which means it is entirely within your control.  And isn’t that a positively powerful feeling?

~ Christiana McQuain