How content we feel depends on whether reality meets our expectations. If that gap is too wide, anxieties and resentment creep in
It’s not about whether you see the glass as half full or half empty, Gawdat argued: it’s about what you expected and how you respond. If a person who expects their glass always to be filled to the brim is handed a half-full one, disappointment will only be compounded by rage at the injustice of it all. This person can’t see the water they do have because of their fixation on the extra water they feel should by rights be there. But accept that life brings with it change and loss, and that not everything is within your control, and it should be possible to find something else to be grateful for instead.