Half Empty or Half Full?

I'm an optimistic person, but after that encounter with this negative person, I actually thought about quitting my gaijin hunting hobby.

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I’d like for everyone to close their eyes for a moment, and imagine that you’ve got a glass of water in your hand; half a glass of water.

Now, do you see it as being half empty, or half full? This is a common psychological test to see if someone is an optimist or a pessimist.

OK, you can open your eyes now!

In other words, is someone always hopeful, always believing that good things will happen to them, or do they always expect that bad things will happen to them. Yes, optimists focus on the full part of the glass, while pessimists look at the empty part of it.
Let’s use a different example! Let’s say your company is now restructuring. Many of your coworkers are getting laid off. You’ve managed to remain on the company’s payroll, but your salary is three times smaller. Now if you’re a person who sees the glass as half empty, a pessimist, you’ll say something like: “unfortunately, my salary is three times smaller.”

Or, on the other hand, if you’re a person who sees the glass as half full, an optimist, you’ll say something like: “Thank God that I’ve still got my job!”

Recently, I ran into a pessimistic person. One of my hobbies is gaijin hunting. Yes that’s right: gaijin hunting! It was St. Patrick’s Day, so I went to an Irish Pub in Ikebukuro. After I bought a cocktail, I looked for an available seat next to a foreigner.

One British guy, who was sitting with an Italian guy, asked me: ”What are you looking for?” I replied, “Nothing, but may I join you?” He said “OK.”

We started to talk together. The British guy had a lot of complaints about Japan, and the Japanese. He told us something that happened to him that day: He said: I wanted to buy some cigarettes today, but I didn’t have a Taspo. So I asked some Japanese to borrow theirs. I asked them ‘may I use your Taspo’ in Japanese, but nobody let me borrow it. Why are the Japanese so unkind, unfriendly, and stingy?

He was really using a lot of negative words. So I told him: The problem is that Japanese are simply not used to talking to foreigners. But he said: That’s no excuse!

We continued to talk, and I tried my best to help him see the good points about Japan, but when that didn’t work, I tried to change the subject.
However, he continued to complain a lot. I’m an optimistic person, but after that encounter with this negative person, I actually thought about quitting my gaijin hunting hobby.

On the other hand, I know another guy who is a super optimistic person. He went to China by himself as a backpacker. His bag, including his money, was stolen. However, he said that he was a lucky man, because he had his passport and some small change in his pocket. So it wasn’t a total loss.

When I think about him, I am always smiling and laughing. People like him make me feel good, and because of them, I guess I’ll continue my hobby of gainjin hunting after all.

Basically, happy people make people happy. And making people happy makes me happy. I think begin pessimistic only makes you unhappy and drags down the people around you.

Ask your self this question: Do you want to spend time with a pessimistic person? No, right?!? So how about you? Do you see that glass as half empty or half full?

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Mayflower英語教室
週末は英語漬け!
http://msoe.jp/