Seeing the glass half full

Have you ever noticed that you can learn so much about yourself by listening to what YOU are saying to someone else when, say, you cheer them up or you try to help them? I recently had two friends, both equally dear to me, have a mindboggling argument. Without getting into much detail, they're both adorable personas and it seemed simply impossible to work out who was right and who was wrong and whatnot. I figured the safest way to handle this delicate matter was to be as soothing and calming as poss. ''You know, just ignore all the bad things he/she says and take up the good things'' etc. I mean theoretically if both sides apply this to any argument it can't help but resolve, right? Just listening to what I was saying to my friends made me realise that each of us potentially has a lot of common sense and solutions to LOTS of problems. But when faced with a problem this solution-oriented thinking tends to disappear and all we see is this big wall of problems. And I learned that by putting myself in the position of the other I had gained life experience. Some of the things I was coming up with I secretly thought ''Wow, if only _I_ did more of what I say!''. I decided I would. And so I did. And lovely things are happening. Not only do YOU decide how you feel about things, but also the glass will be half-empty or half-full depending on your outlook. HA!