A group of
alumni,
highly
established
in their
careers, got
together to
visit their
old
university
professor.
The
conversation
soon turned
into
complaints
about stress
in work and
in life.
Offering his
guests
coffee, the
professor
went to the
kitchen and
returned
with a large
pot of
coffee and
an
assortment
of cups -
porcelain,
plastic,
glass,
crystal,
some plain
looking,
some
expensive,
some
exquisite -
telling them
to help
themselves
to the
coffee.
When all the
students had
a cup of
coffee in
hand, the
professor
said:
"If you
noticed, all
the nice
looking
expensive
cups were
taken up,
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.
"What all of
you really
wanted was
coffee, not
the cup, but
you
consciously
went for the
best cups
and were
eyeing each
other's
cups.
Now consider
this:
Life is the
coffee and
the jobs,
money and
position in
society are
the cups.
They are
just tools
to hold and
contain
Life, and do
not change
the quality
of Life.
Sometimes,
by
concentrating
only on the
cup, we fail
to enjoy the
coffee God
has
provided.
So, don't
let the cups
drive you
... enjoy
the coffee
instead."
Author
Unknown to
me at this
time