Half Empty to Half Full: The Mindset Pivot- Initial Thoughts

Half Empty to Half Full: The Mindset Pivot is written by Srishti Baweja and published by Gurukul Publishing, Hyderabad. Srishti Baweja is the co-founder of E2E Networks Limited and serves presently as its COO and whole-time director. Half Empty to Half Full is her debut book. In this book, Srishti Baweja shared her deep convictions about how a changed mindset can positively influence one’s personal as well as professional life.

As the title rightly suggests, the half-empty or the half-full mindset plays an important role in deciding our choices. The author begins the book with a “preface” and a “prologue.” The preface was short and felt a welcome gesture into the prologue. The prologue is like a vortex that will draw you right into the heart of the book. It speaks in detail about what made Srishti an author. She takes our hand and walks into the deepest and occasionally painful memories of her life. Reading this prologue made me see myself in a mirror, when I was in my younger days, especially during my Master's.

The particular reason why the book brought me back to the memories of my past was the step-by-step unravelling of how Srishti herself was going through a tough phase in her life. It was during this phase that she discovered authors like Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and the like, quite unsurprisingly. Like an audacious punch to my face, these names popped up again in my mind, the same writers who I also discovered during my early days of struggle. However, on closer and longer inspection, I became a hesitant judge of my own choices in selecting gurus/ teachers. As Srishti points out, “the author of these books…are not like you and me.”

The prologue of the book also offers a methodology to Half Empty to Half Full. The wisdom she shares, the theme of the work, has at its core, her own life. These are the lessons that she applied to her own life, which she is now presenting for her readers to experiment with. Also impressive about her work is the respect she pays her readers. There are “Hey Takeaways” at the end of each chapter, which is written in a language that is not instructional but rather suggestive. Through providing the pointers, the writer encourages the readers to take action on their own accord rather than persuading them to make a choice without considering their thought process. I point this out as such a gesture of responsible writing seems to be lacking these days. Often the writers seem to impress their worldviews upon the readers. I’d say, Srishti Baweja’s writing style is a good takeaway for all budding writers.

The book goes from identifying “the power within” to “clearing mental clutter” and finally concludes with “stitching soul wounds”, thereby offering a meaty read not just to learn from but also while doing so, to enjoy the process of reading. The conclusion was titled “The Final Pages” and it was also a heart-touching read. It felt like a satisfying and uplifting conclusion to a great book. The cover is decent and the font used for typesetting is at first alarming and then soothing. At first, I thought, how could I complete this book with more than 280 pages in this font? However, as I immersed myself in reading the first chapter itself, I realized that it was the perfect font for a nonfiction book that can also work as your textbook for a life-change.

According to Srishti Baweja, “Recognising and shedding victim identity opens up many possibilities." Life’s most important purpose is to be lived fully. That is the purpose God created us for. Living inside the shell of victimhood one loses the glory of life that God places upon us all. Half Empty to Half Full: The Mindset Pivot came to me as a surprise and it seems to be a perfect endorsement for the book too: “A surprising read!”

_ Anu Lal