LIFE PROVIDES THE CUP; WE CHOOSE HOW TO FILL IT.

After all the alumni had filled their cups, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

“Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it’s just more expensive. In some cases, it even hides what we drink. What you really wanted was coffee, but you consciously went for the best cups.

“Now, consider this: Life is the coffee. Our jobs, houses, cars, things, money and position in society are the cups. They are just used to hold and contain the coffee (Life). The cup we choose should not define the quality of our lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy Life.”

While it is normal to want the best for us, it may be the source of our problems with stress. Life brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee. Enjoying life doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means we have decided to focus on what really matters.

Article by Dr. Felicia Santelli health and wellness

A CARROT, AN EGG AND A CUP OF COFFEE

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so difficult. She did not know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee. She let them sit and boil without saying anything. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in another bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a third bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” the daughter replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity—boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in hard. After being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. However, the ground coffee was unique. After being in the boiling water, the water changed.

Which are you? The carrot that seems strong but softens under pressure. The egg that starts with a malleable heart but hardens under pressure. Or the coffee bean that changes the situation around you.

“True happiness comes not when we get rid of our problems but when we change our relationship to them, when we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice and learn,” says Richard Carlson in Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff