To the oft-asked question, "Is your glass half-full or half-empty," I say, in a spirit of abundance: "Neither, it's overflowing."

 

You're reading this, so I venture that you are not in the half-empty camp:

 

"I tried filling a glass once, but I dropped it and it broke on my foot. I'll never risk cutting my toes or staining my socks again."

 

Joy is a choice. We can elect to be joyful in our attitude and outlook now through gratitude and hope.

 

'Hope deferred makes the heart sick', warns an old proverb.

 

The glass-half full attitude heads promisingly in an upward rather than toeward direction.

 

But in looking forward to possibilities, beware of the mindset that says, "I can start living one day when..."

 

I recall a former marketing supremo of a voluntary organisation telling me how his chief executive once declared, "I've put my life on hold, that's the sacrifice you have to make in this job."  

 

Life is for living now. There is often a poverty of spirit underpinning the need to be the most impressive, both-candle-ends-burning, materially successful, physically toned and tanned.

 

All these are merely externals.

 

This is a time of year when most of us have just completed the process of setting goals - a healthy and motivating discipline.

 

We need to be careful, though, that in our goal-setting we're not placing conditions on our capacity for joy and fulfilment:

 

"If I could just shave off half a stone from around my waist, I'd be happy." "One day when I become an equity director, I'll feel of some value."

 

Abundance says: "I have everything at my disposal to live a rich and rewarding life right now."

 

And it overflows from your glass to touch other people's lives.