Finally, there is an answer: “The glass is half full.”
Seeing things the way they are allows us to act on truths and not on perceptions. So often, indeed, nearly all of the time, all of our experiences are tainted, positively or negatively, with our feelings towards those experiences. I’ve never really thought about what we get out of an experience if we do not view it through emotions. Zander says that pessimists are not as realistic as optimists. Pessimists see negative occasions where there are none – the negativity is an invention of humans not a true occurrence. But it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Emotion is a human construct. Good and evil are human constructs, but are essential to humanity. Be present in the moment – whether it is a rewarding experience, irrelevant experience, or a painful experience. Even the painful experiences. What an important suggestion to living a full life. Without the painful experiences, the rewarding ones don’t mean as much.
Zander brings up the point that what gets attention is what multiplies. This is no truer than in education and is very helpful with discipline issues. Beyond that though, I’ve found that this influences motivation as well. If a teacher praises failure and growing from that failure, students won’t fear failure, but if a teacher is only concerned with results, the students will only be concerned with results and will shy away from anything which they cannot produce immediately accurate results.
Reference:
Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2002). The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life. Boston: Penguin (Non-Classics). (Original work published 1942)
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