Do you see a pattern here?   I’m quoting children’s books again.  You might think I hadn’t read any adult literature. I’m okay with that because there are plenty of people who can spout philosophy from the muddy depths of adult works.   Me? I’ll stick with Dr. Seuss and A.A.Milne.

Which brings us to Eeyore and Tigger; Which one are you?

Disney Illustration

A tigger would say:

The wonderful thing about tiggers
Is tiggers are wonderful things!
Their tops are made out of rubber
Their bottoms are made out of springs!
They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! 

While an Eeyore expresses something like this:

“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.”Why, what’s the matter?””Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.””Can’t all what?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.”Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush.” (A.A. Milne)

A Tigger looks at the glass and bounces around it singing about how happy he is to have any liquid in it.  Sometimes he bounces so hard that the liquid spills, to which he always says “NO PROBLEM!  I DON’T NEED ANYTHING TO DRINK! I’M JUST BOUNCING HERE, FINE, JUST FINE! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

An Eeyore always sees the glass half empty.  Actually, Eeyore always believes someone stole the glass and is coming back to kidnap him.

Both the overly negative Eeyore and the effusively positive Tigger can drive the people around them crazy.  Negativity, a little like pink eye, is contagious.  I don’t want to catch it so I keep my distance.    The overly positive Tigger, while easier to be around, may give the impression they are smoking the good shit, and nobody could be that happy.

A nice balanced combination of the two is what I call The Eeger ( see what I did?  EEyore and tigGER mated and birthed an EEGER , a cute funny little thing)

The Eeger sees the glass just as it is. He is grateful there is still something to drink in the glass, and he will enjoy drinking it.   When it’s empty, he’ll figure out how to get more.  He faces tough times with determination and a quietly positive focus.  He doesn’t dwell on the bad things, preferring to focus on getting through them.  He is grateful for the good times.

I want to be an Eeger.  I don’t want to spill my glass while bouncing and I sure as heck don’t want Eeyores negative pink eye.

Let’s be Eegers ( but maybe Tigger could share some of that “good shit” with us just once in awhile…)