Intrinsic Heart
  • Home
  • About
  • Intrinsic Heart Blog
  • Poetry & More
    • Spiritual Poetry Take-Home Packs
    • Spiritual Poetry Meetup Readings
    • Bursts of Beauty and Meaning
  • Events
    • Spiritual Poetry Events
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Intrinsic Heart Blog
  • Poetry & More
    • Spiritual Poetry Take-Home Packs
    • Spiritual Poetry Meetup Readings
    • Bursts of Beauty and Meaning
  • Events
    • Spiritual Poetry Events
  • Contact
Intrinsic Heart
No Result
View All Result

The Glass Is 100% Full

by Intrinsic Heart
May 6, 2021
in Intrinsic Heart, José María Zonta


We’ve all heard the question, “Is the glass half empty or half full?”  And the statement that generally goes along with it:  See it as half full. Look at the pluses instead of the minuses.  Look at what’s right and not at what’s wrong, what you have instead of what you don’t have.

All of that’s fine, but wait a minute—in actuality the glass is one hundred percent full.  There’s no such thing as an empty glass, or a partly filled glass.  It may be full of air, or water, or lemonade, but it’s full.  Once we realize this, we have a lot of choices, and there are a lot of questions we can ask.  We don’t have to assume that the plusses and minuses are the way we think they are. We don’t necessarily have to evaluate at all. We can investigate our preconceptions, our evaluations, more closely.  We can ask, what is it full of, right now?  What’s actually there, what’s really inside that glass, not leaving anything out, not assuming we already know?

What if we just accept it all, just for the time being, and take an interest in looking at it more closely? Tasting it more deeply?  Just for now. Not analyzing—just looking, just tasting.  No opinions, no conclusions, not yet.  Just observing.  Like someone who really doesn’t know what’s inside.  Like a child seeing it for the first time.

I don’t know what we might want to do when we actually see that the glass is always one hundred percent full, but I do know that looking is different from judging, that observing from a place of of ‘let’s see,” is different from jumping to conclusions. That sometimes what seems to be wrong has within it something of great value, and that sometimes what seems to be lacking turns out to be the presence of another quality that has been overlooked—a quality of depth and infinite possibility.  It is like the foreground and the background of an image. The background may be more significant than the narrower focus on what’s in the foreground.  There may be all sorts of things in the field of our vision that we’ve never noticed before.  In seeing the background, the wider field of vision, things can look and feel very different. And the very act of relaxing our focus, widening our gaze and letting in whatever’s there, can change the quality of our life.

Our lives are neither half empty nor half full. Our lives are one hundred percent full—every moment, every breath, every thought, every feeling.  And it’s not only one hundred percent full, but it’s full way beyond what we see at first glance.  The more we look, the more we see.

The more we open our gaze and soften, the more space there is in us for things to settle and find a truer proportion in the scheme of things.  As we relax our gaze, the more we allow in, and the deeper and broader our field of vision becomes.  We can relax even more.  We can let in even more.  And no matter how much we look, there is always more, with nuances and implications that extend far further than we ever realized.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetry asks permission
to tear your wall down
brick by brick
La poesia te pide permiso
para demontar tu muro
ladrillo a ladrillo
Excerpt from Lobeznos (Wolf Cubs)
by José María Zonta
Translation by Carlos Reyes,
from Poems of Love & Madness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ShareTweetPinSend

Related Posts

The Flame That Burns Forever
Poetry & More

The Flame That Burns Forever

December 25, 2024

Introduction: Don’t worry if you don’t understand this. It doesn’t matter. A Candle That Burns Forever Let this be a...

Expect the Unexpected
Poetry & More

Expect the Unexpected

September 5, 2024

The reason children are excited to see what comes next is because they don’t assume they already know. They don’t...

At the Shore of Silence
Poetry & More

At the Shore of Silence

November 2, 2023

When times seem to lapse backwards and we’re thrown again into thoughts and emotions from long ago, or we sink...

What Time Is It?  It Is By Every Star
Poetry & More

What Time Is It? It Is By Every Star

August 24, 2023

Poem what time is it? it is by every star a different time, and each most falsely true; or so...

Asymmetry Moves the World
Poetry & More

Asymmetry Moves the World

June 8, 2023

Every time we take a step, we fall forward. Every time we understand something new, our inner world has to...

Demonstrations
Poetry & More

Demonstrations

May 18, 2023

Suddenly or subtly there’s a blast that surrounds you or descends on you, thoughts vanish, the bottom drops out beneath...

Next Post
I Call to You From Time

I Call to You From Time

May 2021 Readings

May 2021 Readings

Magritte, Hegel, and Where Do We Go From Here?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Result
View All Result

There’s a new post every Thursday

  • ▼Poetry & More (550)
    • ►Adam Zagajewski (2)
    • ►Adrienne Rich (1)
    • ►Al Zolynas (1)
    • ►Albert Camus (1)
    • ►Albert Einstein (2)
    • ►Albert Huffstickler (11)
    • ►Alice Walker (2)
    • ►Alla Renée Bozarth (2)
    • ►Amelia Earhart (2)
    • ►Anais Nin (1)
    • ►Anna Swir (2)
    • ►Annie Lighthart (2)
    • ►Antonio Machado (1)
    • ►Arthur Rimbaud (1)
    • ►Baul Songs of Love (1)
    • ►bell hooks (1)
    • ►Benjamin Gucciardi (1)
    • ►Billy Collins (1)
    • ►Bodhisattva Shree Swami Premodaya (7)
    • ►Brian Doyle (1)
    • ►Czeslaw Milosz (1)
    • ►Dag Hammarskjold (2)
    • ►David Whyte (5)
    • ►Denise Levertov (4)
    • ►D.H. Lawrence (1)
    • ►Dogen (1)
    • ►Donna Tartt (1)
    • ►Dov Baer of Mezritch (2)
    • ►Eckhart Tolle (1)
    • ►Edip Cansever (1)
    • ►Edward Hirsch (2)
    • ►Edwin Muir (1)
    • ►e.e. cummings (1)
    • ►Emily Dickinson (1)
    • ►Fan Chengda (1)
    • ►Federico García Lorca (1)
    • ►Fernando Pessoa (1)
    • ►Frank Loesser (1)
    • ►Galway Kinnell (1)
    • ►Gareth Evans (1)
    • ►George Herbert (1)
    • ►Gerard Manley Hopkins (1)
    • ►Gilbert White (1)
    • ►G.K. Chesteron (1)
    • ►Greg Kimura (1)
    • ►Gregory Boyle (1)
    • ►Gregory Orr (1)
    • ►Gustave Flaubert (1)
    • ►Hafez (2)
    • ►Henry Miller (1)
    • ►Henry David Thoreau (1)
    • ►Hildegard of Bingen (1)
    • ►Howard Nemerov (1)
    • ►Issa (1)
    • ►Jack Gilbert (1)
    • ►Jack Kerouac (1)
    • ►Jakushitsu Genkō (1)
    • ►James Baldwin (4)
    • ►James Bertolino (1)
    • ►James Broughton (2)
    • ►James Finley (1)
    • ►James Wright (1)
    • ►Jan Richardson (10)
    • ►Jane Hirshfield (1)
    • ►Jane Kenyon (1)
    • ►Jason Shinder (1)
    • ►Jeffrey Harrison (1)
    • ►Jenifer Nostrand (1)
    • ►Jim Harrison (1)
    • ►Jim Morrison (1)
    • ►Jimmy Santiago Baca (4)
    • ►John Lewis (1)
    • ►John Moffitt (1)
    • ►John O’Donohue (4)
    • ►Jorge Carrera Andrade (1)
    • ▼José María Zonta (1)
      • The Glass Is 100% Full
    • ►Joy Harjo (3)
    • ►Judith Sornberger (1)
    • ►Judy Sorum Brown (1)
    • ►Jules Verne (2)
    • ►Julie Cadwallader Staub (1)
    • ►Kabir (4)
    • ►Kahlil Gibran (1)
    • ►Lama Yeshe (1)
    • ►Lao Tzu (1)
    • ►Loren Eiseley (1)
    • ►Louis MacNeice (1)
    • ►Lucille Clifton (1)
    • ►Lydia Whirlwind Soldier (1)
    • ►Lynn Ungar (1)
    • ►Marge Piercy (1)
    • ►Martin Buber (1)
    • ►Mary Oliver (10)
    • ►Mary TallMountain (1)
    • ►Matthew Arnold (1)
    • ►May Sarton (1)
    • ►Maya Angelou (2)
    • ►Michael Leunig (2)
    • ►Michel de Montaigne (1)
    • ►Muso Soseki (3)
    • ►Naomi Shihab Nye (2)
    • ►Nâzim Hikmet (3)
    • ►Nelson Mandela (1)
    • ►Nikita Gill (1)
    • ►Octavio Paz (1)
    • ►Osho (3)
    • ►Pablo Neruda (9)
    • ►Patrick Kavanagh (1)
    • ►Percy Bysshe Shelley (1)
    • ►Rabindranath Tagore (1)
    • ►Rainer Maria Rilke (9)
    • ►Rashani Réa (1)
    • ►Raymond Carver (1)
    • ►René Magritte (2)
    • ►Rita Dove (2)
    • ►Robert Bly (2)
    • ►Robert Frost (1)
    • ►Robert Herrick (1)
    • ►Robyn Sarah (1)
    • ►Robinson Jeffers (1)
    • ►Roger Pelizzari (1)
    • ►Ron Padgett (1)
    • ►Ronan Berry (1)
    • ►Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer (5)
    • ►Rumi (17)
    • ►Ryokan (4)
    • ►Sandra Bowden (1)
    • ►Sekiso (1)
    • ►Shams-i Tabrizi (1)
    • ►Shanti Natania Grace (10)
    • ►Shih Te (1)
    • ►Shunryu Suzuki (1)
    • ►Simone Weil (1)
    • ►Stephen Levine (2)
    • ►Tania Silva (1)
    • ►Theodore Roszak (1)
    • ►Thich Nhat Hanh (3)
    • ►Thomas Merton (3)
    • ►Thomas Traherne (1)
    • ►Tomas Tranströmer (2)
    • ►Tsunetomo Yamamoto (1)
    • ►Tu Fu (1)
    • ►Vincent van Gogh (2)
    • ►Vivekananda (1)
    • ►W.B. Yeats (1)
    • ►W.H. Auden (1)
    • ►W.S. Merwin (2)
    • ►Walt Whitman (2)
    • ►Warsan Shire (1)
    • ►Wayne Dodd (1)
    • ►Wendell Berry (11)
    • ►William Blake (1)
    • ►William Butler Yeats (1)
    • ►William Ernest Henley (1)
    • ►William Luce (1)
    • ►William Stafford (4)
    • ►Wislawa Szymborska (2)
    • ►Zandashé L’orelia Brown (1)
    • ►Zbigniew Herbert (1)
    • A Clear Midnight
    • A Dark Wine So Potent
    • A Heart Is Given
    • A Note from Vincent van Gogh
    • A Walk
    • After Robert Bly's "The Third Body"
    • All My Body Calls
    • Allegro
    • An Abyss of Light
    • An Infinite Connection
    • An Inner Richness
    • Another Unity
    • April 2022 Readings
    • April 2023 Readings
    • April 2024 Readings
    • April 2025 Readings
    • Are You Omnipresent?
    • Asymmetry Moves the World
    • At the Shore of Silence
    • August 2021 Readings
    • August 2022 Readings
    • August 2023 Readings
    • August 2024 Readings
    • Awake in a House Wrapped in Sleep
    • Bald Eagle
    • Be Ahead of All Parting
    • Be Melting Snow
    • Beannacht / Blessing
    • Behind All Words, the Unsayable Stands
    • Behind the Lines: The Portal of Poetry
    • Beloved Is Where We Begin
    • Blessing at the Burning Bush
    • Blessing for the Place Between
    • Blessing the Body
    • Blessing the Way
    • Blessings
    • Buddha in Glory
    • Building Your Ship
    • Buoyancy
    • Bursts of Kindness and Compassion
    • Bursts of Light and Fire
    • Bursts of Resilience
    • Bursts of Zen and Tao
    • Cargo
    • Celebrating Lunar New Year
    • Clarity
    • Come With Us
    • Coming Home to Yourself
    • Continue
    • Dazzle of Day
    • December 2021 Readings
    • December 2022 Readings
    • December 2023 Readings
    • Demonstrations
    • Diamonds Are Borne
    • Drink as Deep as You Can
    • Each of Us Limitless
    • Eagle Poem
    • Eternity
    • Expect the Unexpected
    • Facing the Moon, There Is No End
    • February 2022 Readings
    • February 2023 Readings
    • February 2024 Readings
    • February 2025 Readings
    • For Those Who Have Far to Travel
    • For When People Ask
    • From the Mountain
    • Gather the Fringes of Your Garment
    • Giving Life to All Life
    • Happy
    • Having Come This Far
    • Here, Always Here
    • Hold Everything Dear
    • How Each Day Is a Holy Place
    • How Long Does It Take to Make the Woods?
    • I Call to You From Time
    • I Dreamed I Lived in Austin
    • I Have Roads in Me
    • I Live Now in a Sky-House
    • I Love You
    • I Need the Sea
    • I Would Like to Describe
    • Impermanence
    • Important
    • In Gratitude
    • In the Point of Rest
    • Inside This Clay Jug
    • It Makes Sense to Me Now
    • It Won’t Be the Way You Think
    • January 2022 Readings
    • January 2023 Readings
    • January 2024 Readings
    • January 2025 Readings
    • July 2021 Readings
    • July 2022 Readings
    • July 2023 Readings
    • July 2024 Readings
    • June 2022 Readings
    • June 2023 Readings
    • June 2024 Readings
    • Just Before Dawn
    • Kindness
    • Lakol Wicoun
    • Lantern - Some Evening
    • Late Feast
    • Laundromat
    • Leap Before You Look
    • Leave Childhood
    • Let Us Meet at the True Source
    • Light and Fire
    • Listen
    • Magic
    • Magritte, Hegel, and Where Do We Go From Here?
    • March 2022 Readings
    • March 2023 Readings
    • March 2024 Readings
    • March 2025 Readings
    • May 2022 Readings
    • May 2023 Readings
    • May 2024 Readings
    • Meditation in Wyatt’s
    • Much to Be Learned from a Rainstorm
    • My Life Is Not This Steeply Sloping Hour
    • My Secret Heart
    • No Expectations, No Plans
    • Nobodies and Somebodies: "Dishwashers and Other Forgotten Angels" by Albert Huffstickler
    • November 2021 Readings
    • November 2022 Readings
    • November 2023 Readings
    • November 2024 Readings
    • October 2021 Readings
    • October 2023 Readings
    • October 2024 Readings
    • oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened?
    • One Whisper of The Beloved
    • Only When I Am Quiet and Do Not Speak
    • Ordinary Beautiful
    • Our Courageous Life
    • Packing Up for Paradise
    • Passing Through a Doorway
    • Passover Remembered
    • Presiding Over an Eclipse
    • Primary Wonder
    • Quiet
    • Quite Beautiful Myself
    • Readings from Bursts of Light and Fire Pop-Up Spiritual Poetry Meetup, July 30, 2022
    • Readings from Special Thich Nhat Hanh Spiritual Poetry Meetup January 29, 2022
    • Remember
    • Rest Note
    • Romanesque Arches
    • September 2021 Readings
    • September 2022 Readings
    • September 2023 Readings
    • September 2024 Readings
    • Shoulders
    • Silence
    • Sing, Sing, Sing
    • Solstice
    • Some Say You're Lucky
    • Song of a Man Who Has Come Through
    • Sunday Morning
    • Sunset
    • Sweet Is the Oneness
    • Sweetness, Always
    • Table
    • Takuhatsu - A Poem by Ryokan
    • Thanks
    • The Astonishing Reality of Things
    • The Avowal
    • The Beginning of Real Time
    • The Birds Keep Saying I Love You
    • The Bottom Is Pebbly With Stars
    • The Cure
    • The Fall
    • The Flame That Burns Forever
    • The Flowers Are Leaning In
    • The Flute of Interior Time
    • The Forest
    • The Glass Between
    • The Good News
    • The Ground at Our Feet
    • The Intrinsic Way
    • The Lost Poem
    • The Middle Way, Wherever We Are
    • The Moon Shows the Way
    • The Opening of Eyes
    • The Platform of Tai Chi
    • The Question
    • The Sacred Mystery
    • The Sea
    • The Second Music
    • The Seven of Pentacles
    • The Spring Is Flowing Even Now
    • The Unbroken
    • The Visit of Love
    • The Way
    • The Way It Is
    • The Whole Existence Consists of Light
    • The Widening Sky
    • The Winged Energy of Delight
    • There But for the Grace
    • There Is No Word for Goodbye
    • Things I Didn't Know I Loved
    • This Ball in My Pocket, Can You See How Priceless It Is?
    • This Embodied Life - The Spirit Likes to Dress Up (with a poem by Mary Oliver)
    • This Rain
    • To Go Into a Forest Alone
    • To Look at Any Thing
    • Too Many Names
    • Turning
    • Two Poems by Lynn Ungar
    • Two Poems by Rumi
    • Two Poems for the New Year
    • Under Ideal Conditions
    • Underwater Excavation
    • Unending Love
    • Unison Benediction
    • View from a Mountain
    • Walking from Honduras
    • Water's Prayer - A little rain, a little snow, love, trust, and beauty
    • We Don't Know
    • We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
    • What Do Poems Do? And Is That Your Real Nose? And The Best Poem Ever.
    • What I Must Tell Myself
    • What the River Says, I Say
    • What They Did Yesterday Afternoon
    • What Time Is It? It Is By Every Star
    • When I Am Among the Trees
    • When I Am Among the Trees
    • When Poetry Came to Me
    • When You See Water
    • Where Eternity Flows
    • Where We Fail, Catch Hold Again, and Climb
    • Who Says Words With My Mouth
    • Who Understands Me But Me
    • Why I Stay Up Late
    • Would You Bow?
    • Written on the Wall
    • You Are That Freshness - Praise to the Emptiness
  • ►Bursts of Beauty and Meaning (5)
  • ▼Intrinsic Heart (62)
    • A Maybe Mind
    • Among the Waves
    • An Inner Richness
    • Are You Omnipresent?
    • Asymmetry Moves the World
    • At the Shore of Silence
    • Behind the Lines: The Portal of Poetry
    • Building a Jewel Tree of Refuge
    • Demonstrations
    • Drink as Deep as You Can
    • Epiphany
    • Expect the Unexpected
    • Fight, Flight, or Light
    • Gather the Fringes of Your Garment
    • Important
    • In Gratitude
    • Inner Smile
    • It Won’t Be the Way You Think
    • Let's Sublime
    • Light and Fire
    • Listen to the Inner Music
    • Magritte, Hegel, and Where Do We Go From Here?
    • Much to Be Learned from a Rainstorm
    • My Three Names
    • No Expectations, No Plans
    • Nobly Born
    • Nobodies and Somebodies: "Dishwashers and Other Forgotten Angels" by Albert Huffstickler
    • Non-Duality and the Cross-Eyed King
    • On the Occasion of Lunar New Year
    • One Man’s ‘Why’
    • Ordinary Beautiful
    • Original
    • Presiding Over an Eclipse
    • Prospecting for Christmas in 1849
    • Readings from Bursts of Zen & Tao Pop-Up Spiritual Poetry Meetup, April 30, 2022
    • Reframe the Picture
    • Rest Note
    • Sing, Sing, Sing
    • Soup, Salad and Shadow Sculpture
    • Sunflowers
    • Takuhatsu - A Poem by Ryokan
    • The Flame That Burns Forever
    • The Flowers Are Leaning In
    • The Glass Is 100% Full
    • The Great Work
    • The Intrinsic Way
    • The Middle Way, Wherever We Are
    • The Moon Shows the Way
    • The Personal Is the Universal
    • The Platform of Tai Chi
    • The Red Fire Engine and the Playground of Experience
    • The Sacred Mystery
    • The Ting of Being Human
    • The Winged Energy of Delight
    • This Rain
    • Underwater Excavation
    • We Are the Mycelium
    • We Are the Protectors
    • What Are the Odds?
    • What Can You Stand Upon?
    • What Time Is It? It Is By Every Star
    • Who's Your Dance Partner?
  • ►Spiritual Poetry Meetup Readings (55)

Popular

Walking from Honduras

Walking from Honduras

by Intrinsic Heart
May 8, 2025
0

Written on the Wall

Written on the Wall

by Intrinsic Heart
May 1, 2025
0

April 2025 Readings

April 2025 Readings

by Shanti Natania Grace
April 27, 2025
0

Awake in a House Wrapped in Sleep

Awake in a House Wrapped in Sleep

by Intrinsic Heart
April 24, 2025
0

Favorite Links

  • Bodhisattva Shree Swami Premodaya
  • A Year of Being Here: Poetry
  • Beauty We Love: Poetry and Quotes
  • Being Silently Drawn: Poems and Quotes
  • David Whyte: Home Page, Poetry & Webinars
  • Death Deconstructed: Quotes and Poetry
  • First Known When Lost: Essays and Poetry
  • Love Is a Place: Poetry and Quotes
  • On Being: Poetry, Interviews, Videos, Podcasts
  • Poetry Chaikhana: Poetry and Commentary
  • Slow Muse: Essays and Poetry
  • The Poets Corner: Poetry Events, Workshops, Interviews
Intrinsic Heart

There is meaning, intrinsic meaning, in every moment.

  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Intrinsic Heart. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • Intrinsic Heart Blog
  • Poetry & More
    • Poetry & More
    • Spiritual Poetry Take-Home Packs
    • Spiritual Poetry Meetup Readings
    • Bursts of Beauty and Meaning
  • Events
    • Events
  • Contact

© 2021 Intrinsic Heart. All Rights Reserved.