The optimist sees the glass half full, while the pessimist sees it as half empty. But maybe we are missing the point. Whether the cup is half full or empty, we still need to keep some space to move and grow. It's all a matter of perspective.
During my short 47 orbits around the sun I have learnt 3 key things.
Firstly, I am a positive person who always searches for and finds the silver lining, even during the shittiest of times. While I may not be the eternal optimist, I profess to being the eventual optimist at least. Secondly, the very best experiences I have had always follow the very worst. The dark side of the moon may not be a comfortable place to hang out, but sometimes it's a very enlightening place to visit if we want to evolve as mere mortals. Thirdly, even the idea that we should have a vessel to contain our happiness is self-limiting, and creates unnecessary stress and expectation, therefore we should not be drinking from cups at all!
Most of us are taught as children to look on the bright side, to be positive and keep our chin up at all times. The fairytales I was raised on pretty much always had happy endings. The princess found her prince, or in other words she eventually found someone to fill her cup so she could live happily ever after. You know how it goes! But no one taught me to err on the side of emptiness, to explore the depths of unfulfilment, to see what it's like to have space left over for the unknown. I was always urged to snap out of it, to get back on my feet straight after a fall, to keep filling my cup to overflowing, and never look back to the dregs in the bottom. You had to rinse it out and refill it straight away!
If our cups are always full then there's no room for anything of real substance to grow from the depths. The usefulness of a cup is in it's emptiness. Being empty means we are humble, teachable and willing to evolve.
Why don't we teach our children to use negative states as leverage to make real change, instead of slapping on a bandaid to make the hurt disappear? What is the point of having an overflowing cup of goodness and positivity if we never get used to being sad and uncomfortable? While riding the highs of a wave of goodness is exhilarating at times, it is also incredibly powerful to sink into the depths of misery, despair and emptiness on occasion.
I once read that in China it is tradition to fill a tea cup to only 70 percent, so as to leave the remaining 30 percent empty for emotions. I love this!
For those of us who are driven by the pursuit of happiness and fulfilment, it feels like a huge relief to just let things be...unfilled?
Sometimes we need to put the cup down altogether and just splash around for a while, enjoying the present experiences, gratifying or unpleasant, instead of constantly striving to gaze at the scenery beyond the rim.
When we sold our house and left our old life behind in the city, all we could dream of was having an empty cup, a blank canvas to redesign the rest of our life. Funnily enough our initial exhilaration that came from having total freedom and no commitments, was quickly followed by an urge to fill up again. No doubt, having at least something in your cup can be reassuring and creates feelings of security and purpose.
To me it's like keeping your master stock for a good soup. Just knowing there's something to build on makes it a lot easier to move forward with creativity and an open heart.
Now, 18 months down the track we have definitely begun to refill. Our cup began with a road trip up to North Queensland, and after a few months our vessel morphed into a large piece of land in country Queensland. Our treechange is still very much an expansively blank canvas, but in the dreamy process of creating our new life, we are very mindful not to overfill it. Minimalism is our aim, and 'keeping it simple' our mantra. Whenever we start to get too attached and our cup begins to bubble up to the top, we quickly let the plug out so we can stay true to our ideal.
These days I try to leave the cup half empty to leave space for growth and change, but keep it half-full of hope and positivity.
We are very grateful for our current circumstances. It is so reassuring to have had the ability and resources to make some healthy changes in our life, and to have found a wonderful community to live in. But...whether it's half-full or empty, what we are most thankful for is to even have a cup at all.
Cheers to that!
If you would like to learn more about our complete change of lifestyle from busy city dwellers to chilled out star-gazing, tree-hugging yogis, then please connect by message or subscribe to our mailing list.
Sending lots of love, light and optimism from our new home in sunny Queensland,
Danielle & Tony ( Frankie & Georgie) xx
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