Enjoy the coffee
Just when I feel so stressed out in work today, this piece of meaningful message from a close buddy came in right on time:
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and return with a large pot of coffee and assortment of cups. Some were made of porcelain, plastic, glass, cyrstal, paper, etc. Some were ordinary looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He told them to help themselves to the hot coffee.
When all his students had a cup of coffee in their hands, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap looking ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cups but you consiously went for the best cups and worse, you were eyeing each other’s cup. Now if life is coffee, then the job, money, position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn’t change. Sometimes, by concentrating on the cups, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."
So folks, don’t let the coffee drive you.. Enjoy the coffee instead.
Agree, it is our worldly desires that lead us to be stressed and thus work becomes a chore as we await our pay to spend on what we desire. Thank you for this reminder.
Comment by leesejudy — October 1, 2006 @ 5:02 am