A Better Perspective On The Glass

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“Be confident, not certain.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

When looking through the profiles of the potential donors that I had to choose from for my kids, the sperm bank provided very thorough profiles of the candidates. The one I chose had rated every one in his direct family and extended family except one aunt as an optimist. I thought that would fit perfectly with my family history.

But the older I get and the more that I practice meditation, I’m realizing that optimism is a trait with a downside. In fact, the most common suffering I experience these days is when I let my optimism go unchecked. This is the topic of my latest Wise and Shine blog post: The Glass is Refillable

(quote from David Folstad of the Life and Random Thinking blog and featured photo is from Pexels)

14 thoughts on “A Better Perspective On The Glass”

  3. I really like the refillable quote, it’s a wonderful way to look at the glass analogy. I consider myself to be a pragmatic optimist, try to stay positive but also be realistic about the speed bumps – and as you said, Wynne, the uncertainty and making friends with it.

    I’m sorry your trip got off to a bumpy start but it sounds like you still had a good trip away from the kids in the end. So I’m glad for that!

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  5. Soooo interesting! And what struck me the most was the quote about certitude. It made me sad because it reminded me that the world used to be ruled by the feminine and our ways were much more mystical, spiritual, and trusting. The patriarchy is what brought about basically a religion based on science. And of course there’s a place for all of that. But when the patriarchy is so fierce that it no longer leaves room for any mystery, any invisible forces, any magic, then those ideals are crushed. And it can be really hard to live in such a trusting way when the world around us does not value that. No wonder you struggle with trusting in the invisible! Where in our society is that encouraged really? In a very real, day to day, hands on way I mean. I have sooo much more to say and I’m sorry I turned this beautiful post so political, but it struck me so hard! Also, when it comes to travel, I’ve heard so many horror stories about travel and there are so many moving parts, I actually ALWAYS know that I don’t know how this is going to go and that God/Goddesses/Universe whatever is managing the whole thing. And that sorta helps. Sorta 🤣

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    1. Wow, Libby, such a fascinating thought to tie in the feminine mystic. I hadn’t made that connection but it makes such sense that when we turn towards certitude and worship it, it crushes our intuition and trust in the Other. And then to tie that in to how our society doesn’t encourage that – that is so interesting to ponder. Right! No wonder it’s so hard to make friends with uncertainty in those circumstances!

      And you are so right about travel. Yes! Thanks for reading and weighing in!

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  6. Your post certainly brought up some thoughts that had been swirling around my brain for the past few months. I commented on Rise and Shine, so I won’t repeat them here, but certitude isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! Life is all about change, transformation, and growth, so the static quality of certitude really doesn’t fit into the order of the natural world. I’ve come to see that chasing after certitude isn’t where I need to be expending my energy, but rather in practicing gliding through and over it all gracefully, towards myself and towards others.

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