I stole this from over at Wendy's place. I really like it, and hope you do to...
A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.
While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups ... and then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate that has been provided us. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Enjoy your hot chocolate.
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**I can't give credit to the original author, as it wasn't part of the email message that was sent to me, but if you know who it is, I'd be happy to give credit ;).
2 comments:
Well said! (As I drink my coffee from a plain clear glass mug. But that's only because my paper Dixie cup needs washing!)
I didn't comment on my own feelings about the message at "my" place, but I usually drink from a plain, white mug. I have several that I use with different logos. My absolute favorite says "StudentPoetry.com" which was a website I owned several years ago (at the end of the dotcom boom :). There's something about the heft of them that I like, and none of the fancier, more colorful mugs I own have the same feel to them.
I don't know what, if anything, that says about me. I'm not a "fancy" person, I guess ;), and what's in the cup (usually green tea, for me) is far more important that the cup it is in ;).
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