if Life is coffee....

[funchy]

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 Prof. went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the Prof. said "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. That all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and 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 only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So friend, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.


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(I can't take credit for writing this ... copied from a email someone sent me. It was so good I had to share it. )

[Eisho]

A nice story with a powerful point.

Eisho

[Savage]

I was one of the people who got up early, took one of the nice-looking cups and filled it with herbal tea instead.

[Stephen]

I know the message is not about coffee .......nevertheless I quit a year ago

[Gaz]

I would have asked if it was filter or instant. If you gotta have an addiction, at least make sure you're addicted to the good stuff

But the story has given me an idea for a poster/background/calender thing. Just need to take the photos. Will have to do some work on this one.

[jtracy]

Its amazing all the lessons that are all around us if we could only see them. I wouldn't have thought about coffee as a metaphor for life in that way. It's a great point though. We all do tend to focus on what other people have and how can I get something at least as good as they have. We forget what the really important things in life are (including whether we want coffee or herbal tea). We want it all, especially the things that we don't already have. We fail to appreciate and enjoy all the blessings that we do have (including having the choice of what you want in your cup). And all that does is make us miserable.

[Lisa McGregor]

I think a nice "cup" makes the "coffee" taste better.
L

[sbdiane]

I have never felt more fully alive and happy than when I was sleeping on the ground, hanging out under bridges, eating noodles and going 5 or 6 days between showers. I had friends, a goal and purpose, starry nights and beautiful sunrises. I felt absolutely no desire for anything more than that. I felt sorry for the angry people in their fancy cars while I stood at the road with my thumb in the air getting rides from old pick-ups and broken down vans. Being rich is not as good as a life richly lived.

[Chris Cade]

That story seems somewhat vaguely familiar... and I too don't know who the original author was:

Life is Like a Cup of Coffee - Spiritual Story / Parable by Unknown

I quit caffeine 17 years ago and have felt so much better as a result. Well, I "sort of" quit. At the time I loved root beer and didn't realize that Barq's was the only major root beer to have caffeine. Now I know why "Barq's has bite!"

There really is some great wisdom in this story.

Here's another great "coffee" story...

Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee - Spiritual Story / Parable by Unknown

[The David]

I'm one of those people who likes a nice and worn, weathered cup, preferably white or off-white with no design. Like on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

[ming]

the parable approach is incorrect. The coffee is the money(without it you die) and the crockery is the means by which you get that wealth: education, business, good jobs. So, the crockery quality equals the coffee quality.

[funchy]

Originally Posted by ming

the parable approach is incorrect. The coffee is the money(without it you die) and the crockery is the means by which you get that wealth: education, business, good jobs. So, the crockery quality equals the coffee quality.

No, the whole point is that it's not about material goods or appearance. It's about the content.

You can have the best-looking life, biggest house, and a big paycheck...but inside still be empty.

[A.K.Light]

Haha! I like it. So true.

[mlc82]

Originally Posted by The David

I'm one of those people who likes a nice and worn, weathered cup, preferably white or off-white with no design. Like on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

A good coffee cup has permanent stains from sheer overuse that can't be scrubbed out, no matter how hard you try- and maybe a good crack in it too

If it were possible, I'd make slow, sweet, passionate love to Coffee, I love it so much.

Really liked the story as well, thanks for posting!

[silicon toad2000]

omg how apt.

I just looked at my coffee cup and realised I hadn't just looked at it for a while. The parallels are phenomenal.

My wife gave me my coffee cup 8 years ago, but im a bit pedantic and keep it clean. The ocd inside me won’t let me look at a coffee cup with a stain. I even cleaned my colleagues coffee cup when I made him coffee. I digress.
My wife gave me my coffee cup (the one on my desk) and the coffee cup (analogy) I choose has me working long hours, taking home a good pay so my wife can study and pursue her chosen path… she gave me both my coffee cups.
Actually I’m not sure what my coffee cup would look like. I have a good income and a high power job but I have a motorbike and a car, the total value of which does not exceed 6k, I never pay more than $50 for an item of clothing… just what does my coffee cup look like?

[darkw0rker]

Then I'm the person who picks the cup of coffee, but everytime he starts to drink some of the coffee his hand starts to shake. Sometimes it shakes too much that coffee itself will drop out of the cup.

Shaking = Fear

I don't know ... it just came to my mind

[Chris Cade]

FYI I made this into a video here:

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee

[magi13]

one espresso please.

i like the analogy, even though the quality of life in reality is not the same for all people, it's a pleasant story relative to coffee. ^^,

intangible altruistic feelings. ^^