Why don't we measure impact?

Is the glass tumbler half full or half empty? A question frequently asked to discern a person’s outlook or perspective.

If I looking at said tumbler and see it half empty, it’s common opinion that I look at life and complain about what I don’t have and the problems I face, and how I do not have the resources to solve them.

Most people, mainly involved with self development and its education, would advice me to be grateful for what I already have (the half full glass) and see any problems as part of my life; prioritize them so that I can live my life as lovingly, happily, peacefully, productively as possible.

Here’s another take … (and it’s an extension of the half-full-view)

What good is glass tumbler full or half full of water? What’s useful in this scenario is most often the water. If I’m thirsty, or I’d like to wash my hand or mouth, that water is useful. The impact of the water’s existence is that I have quenched my thirst, or have washed my hands or mouth – a want or need that I have satisfied … and am happy.

Better still, I could offer this water to someone who is thirsty … and be happy that I have satisfied the want or need of a “neighbor” (in the Biblical sense) who I am admonished in the Ten Commandments to love as myself!

Would it not be a different, maybe happier, approach if we can measure not what we have, but what impact it has on ours’ and others’ lives; what impact it has on ours’ and others’ happiness, contentedness and other likable attributes that describe our state of being emotionally.

The true value of things, tangible or otherwise, can be more correctly determined by what effect or impact it has on us - our lives and its various states of being; and on others’ lives, especially those who we wish well, and those who wish us well.

Let’s look at discerning true value.

Be happy!