Is Your Glass Half Full?

I reckon humanity falls into two very distinct camps. There is the half full camp and opposing them is the half empty lot. A quick read of the papers and a trawl round the internet and you quickly find it is the half empty chaps getting the column inches. Maybe they’re right to be so pessimistic about the world’s affairs at the moment but I am not so sure about that. Gloom creates gloom and a happy smile lights up the world for miles around. There is so much gloom and talk of Armageddon it gets me to wondering if it’s becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Like attracts like and maybe it makes a bit of sense to have some sort of optimistic health warning attached to every article that appears in the press on the internet and television.

Like the warning on a packet of cigarettes there could be “The writer of this piece scores x or y on the Optimism Meter. Anything under five say and your happy face is under threat over 5 and reading or listening to this will bring a smile to
your face. Of course there would have to be a realism factor built in.
 

One way to achieve this Optimism Meter would be to look at the position of Jupiter in the birth chart of every politician and chattering monkey in the media. An aspect to Saturn might reflect the realism quotient. One to the Sun could be counted as a generally happy disposition and a connection to the Moon shows how emotionally affected the monkey is to emotional upset or not. Venus could show the leaning towards comfort and ease or general liking for the wearing of a hair shirt and a spot of self flagellation.

I am not suggesting a commentator with a low optimism score should be kept in a box, however there are some who think life is about suffering and appear to get off on spreading the misery. Maybe Buddha did indeed say all life is suffering but on the other hand it might be attributable to some misery guts in history who decided to put his own spin on the actual words Buddha did speak. Anyway I think the type of suffering Buddha was talking about had more to do with spiritual separation rather than the separation of money from wallet.

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievment. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."
Helen Keller