Lesson 20 Half full, half empty
Today, as usual, Jose came and said hi to me. The moment he spoke he said "What happened? Yuan, you are smiling today."
I was a little bit surprised, "Is it strange to see me smile?"
Jose said, "Erhh, well, let's say that this is uncommon. I mean I can make you smile after I talk with you for a while, like telling you a funny joke or doing something that would please you, but when you are already smiling as you begin to talk with me it is definitely unusual. So tell me what happened?"
"Nothing." I said.
"Anybody talked to you before that made you happy?" Jose asked.
"No." I said.
Jose seemed surprised, but he said, "OK, then tell me about your day, how are you?"
"Hmmmm." ——typical Yuan style.
Jose doesn't like the "Hmmmm.", so he said, "Yuan, every time I am asking you how are you, it is not a vain word. I ask it because I really want to know how you feel. I ask it because I mean it. So you better give me a clear answer. "Hmmmm" means nothing."
"So," Jose paused for some seconds, ant then asked again "How are you ?"
"Fine." —— typical Yuan style again.
Jose was very patient, "Ok, then how do you feel?"
"No bad."
Jose smiled, "No bad? Does it mean good?"
I nodded.
Jose said, "Then why don't you simply say that you feel good? When you answer "Not bad." you use two words; if you say "good" you use only one word which is much simpler and clearer. And besides, it is definitely more optimistic!"
"Hmmmmmm."
Jose said, "In fact, it is quite like when you look at a glass of water. When you feel good, you see it as being half full and when you feel bad you see it as being half empty. And we are talking about the very same glass!"
I began to feel interested.
Jose kept talking, "In reality, we are talking about the same thing here but you and I have a tendency to see it from a different point of view. I always see things from a positive or optimistic perspective and you often see them in a negative or pessimistic way. I am proactive, you are inactive."
I smiled, "That deep?"
Jose said, "It is like the glass of water, it is tranquil and simple on the surface, but it can go deeper and deeper and, ultimately, it can become very deep."
"For example, you are now cleaning your phone numbers database and you told me that you have a total of 22,278 contacts to check, and that you still have more than 10,000 contacts that need to be cleaned. With my attitude, I saw that you have already done half of the work. So it is much more inspiring when I see it that way; don't you think so?"
I smiled, "It could be a lesson."
Jose said, "Sure, in fact, it is your attitude that makes the whole picture different. When you want to see the bright side, it is bright, when you want to see the dim side, it is dim.You see, it is always according to the way you are looking at things. It is a simple question of point of view."
"Hmmmm."
"Ok then, Miss Guo, how do you feel now?" Jose was very tender.
"Good." I answered.
"Good." Jose smiled.
发表评论