Being a person who always sees the glass as half full is one important way to be

Early in the week, a radio presenter told his colleague that she was ‘opening up a can of worms’ when she said something that many people would disagree with. A can of worms (informal) is a situation or subject that causes a lot of problems or arguments when you start to deal with it or discuss it. The verb ‘open (up)’ is often used with this phrase. The same presenter later talked about occasions when he really wanted to say what he thought, but instead ‘bit his tongue’. To bite your tongue is to stop yourself from saying something that might upset someone or make them angry.

A friend commented that her husband was a ‘glass-half-full person’. This idiom (which has a number of variations) is heard so often, it has become a cliché. A ‘glass-half-full person’ is an optimist, someone who always thinks that good things will happen. Meanwhile, as you might imagine, a ‘glass-half-empty person’ is a pessimist, someone who always thinks that bad things will happen. (The idea here is that two people can look at the same glass and see completely different things. The optimist sees only the drink that is still there and the pessimist only the drink that has gone.) To express the same idea, people sometimes remark that a particular person’s ‘glass is always half full/empty’.

Another friend, speaking about her plans, said that she would ‘kill two birds with one stone’ by leaving her car at a garage and then visiting a friend who lived near the garage to return a book that she had borrowed. To kill two birds with one stone is to succeed in achieving two things at the same time.

On the same day, a woman sitting near me on the train told her friend that she didn’t ‘see eye to eye’ with her sister-in-law. If you don’t see eye to eye with someone, you have different opinions. She also complained about her brother, saying that she was ‘tired of waiting for him to get his act together’. If you get your act together (informal), you start to do things in an organised and effective way. The idiom can refer either to a particular piece of work or to someone’s whole life.

At the end of the week, my sister reported that she had ‘bitten off more than’ she ‘could chew’ with a project at work. To bite off more than you can chew (informal) is to try to do something that is too difficult for you or involves too much work. This idiom reminded me of something that I frequently say to my food-loving 8-year-old son: Your eyes are bigger than your stomach! This is said to a person who has put too much food on their plate and cannot eat it all.

Everyone knows seeing a glass as half-full is associated with having an optimistic worldview, but does it hold up to the test?

A new study of 2,000 Americans found that people who view a glass as half-full not only think more optimistically, but it may line up with even more personality traits including decisiveness, playfulness, and creativity.

When viewing an image of a glass containing an equal amount of liquid and empty space, 58 percent of Americans felt that the glass was half-full, while 16 percent felt that it was half-empty (the remaining respondents were indecisive).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Borden Dairy for their optimism-inspired campaign, the new survey found that glass half-full thinkers, while being more optimistic, also tended to be more patient, more creative, more competitive, more adaptable and more playful than glass half-empty thinkers.

On the other hand, glass half-empty thinkers tended to be more laid-back, more introverted, more serious and more proud than their half-full counterparts. Oddly enough, glass half-empty thinkers don’t always self-identify as pessimists. In fact, nearly half (48 percent) of glass half-empty types believe they’re more optimistic than pessimistic.

When faced with personal setbacks, glass half-full respondents have an easier time quickly finding the silver lining. Nearly half of all respondents (46 percent) report that they’re trying to be more positive day-to-day.

Glass half-full thinkers might be more optimistic because they allow more time for fun – respondents who think more positively reported having two more better than average days a month than those who see things as being half empty (11 days vs. 9 days). Glass half-full thinkers also report spending approximately seven more hours a week on their hobbies than glass half-empty respondents.

The survey results revealed they’re also more likely to drink milk, compared to their glass half-empty counterparts.

“Breakfast is the top occasion for milk, and we wanted to see how taking the time to start your morning with breakfast may influence your outlook the rest of the day. It is delightful to confirm that milk drinkers are, indeed, more often glass half-full thinkers,” said Borden Chief Marketing Officer Joe DePetrillo. “This spirit is captured in Borden’s new marketing campaign and tagline – Glass Half-Full Since 1857 – which highlights the pure joy and optimism of Borden consumers.”

Whole milk and chocolate milk drinkers agree: A great morning includes drinking coffee, getting enough sleep and showering.

Glass half-full thinkers are 39 percent more likely to self-identify as a morning person, although the majority of both groups of respondents believe great days start with great mornings.

Both groups get about six hours of sleep, press snooze once, drink coffee (approximately 66 percent take it with milk), and prefer light breakfasts of cereal to heavier breakfasts.

“As we head into National Dairy Month, it’s good to remind both ‘glass half-full’ and ‘glass half-empty’ thinkers that drinking milk in the morning brings significant benefits,” said DePetrillo. “With a quick bowl of cereal and glass of milk, you get a kick start to the day with a great source of protein, Vitamin D, potassium and, of course, calcium – nutrients that many Americans are currently lacking.”

Why is it important to look at the glass half full?

What does it mean to have a glass half full mentality?

Which is better Is the glass half empty or half full Why?

Are you a person who views the glass