Admin Control Panel

New Post | Settings | Change Layout | Edit HTML | Moderate Comments | Sign Out

2007-07-16

is it the coffee or the cup that you want?

Something for you to think about your life...



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 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 hot 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 but 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 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. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."



Don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead.

have you had your cup of coffee today?

27 Hugs for Amos & Zac:

Crazed Nitwit said...

I don't drink coffee yet I feel this post makes a great point. What is more important, what is inside someone or the outside? And if one is always looking for something better one will never be satisfied with what one has!!!

J@n!ce said...

Janice sis : So you don't take coffee, how do you keep yourself so energized with the 2 B & can still cope with your studies. That I really have to learn from you :)

Jessica Wong said...

Hi Janice thank for the nice comments on my illustration :) I'm browsing through your blog (loads of stuff here!), this particular post is really inspiring. I love (more like need) coffee, I mean literally. But I also want coffee and not the cup :) That's why I chose to be a struggling illustrator..Hehe

Bee Lee said...

Oh I LOVE coffee ! I would drink at least one cup a day ;o) Cups are not so important to me, that's why I'm leaving in a small city now :)

surjit singh said...

Janice,I think this is one of your best posts.I fully agree with your words of wisdom:
....'Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."
And this exactly what is happening with most of us.
Thanks for the reminder.Hope to hear more such wonderful inspirational posts from you.
My best wishes.

J@n!ce said...

Jes : Thanks for coming over to my blog. Hope you enjoy reading ...

BeeLee : I'm in the same shoes at you.

Surjit : Thank you. I have much to learn from you.

Jean Chia aka Ms.Yummy~licious said...

i simply love coffee, may it be in an expensive cup or plastic cup. It's the taste of it that I love.
Inspiring post!

Anonymous said...

very very good point :)
thank you

Nick Phillips (15/03/1967 - 04/11/2022) said...

Janice, when given a choice, people will always want the better, more expensive, more glamorous item. It's just the selfish human attitude. I guess I wud have done the same thing too.

J@n!ce said...

Jean : Sama sama :)

Minci : Thanks for leaving your comments here. I appreciate it :)

Nick : I could have done the same too lah..... LOL

FL Sam said...

Very nice post. I like coffee but cut down a lot.

The message of this post is very meaningful. We should not be too materialistic but we should learn to enjoy life. Make more friends. :)

Sam Chan said...

Hi Janice,

Thanks for this wonderful post!

Although it is simple and short but it have a profound lesson. What the professor said is very true, everybody normally want only the best for themselves. However, in return they have to pay the price i.e. stress and other life problems.

Frankly speaking, because of blogging, I started to drink coffee to get some inspiration - actually to stay awake :-)

It can be stressful (less sleep and more gray hair) to come out with a good post every night. Anyway, I enjoy what I am doing.

"A life is Too Precious to Waste - To spend on Anything But the Best." However, everybody got to decide what is the best for themselves!

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” - Maria Robinson

Thus, we got to choose wisely! Choose coffee of course instead of just the beautiful cup. However, it is better to have both if possible :-)

Best Wishes

J@n!ce said...

Hey, I've got reply to 2 Sam here.... LOL

fl Sam : Thanks for leaving your comments here :)

Sam Chan : Actually, I'm immune to coffee. Some people cant sleep if drink coffee in the evening. But for me, whether I drink or not... I can still sleep... haha ;)
I just like the thought of having coffee everyday.
If life is coffee, then mine will be a simple one. This is bcos I prefer kopitiam to cafe coffee. If there is a choice, I would have choose the nicer cup, who would'nt want? I guess that is just part of our life.

Thanks for your review :)

Mariuca said...

Janice, I just love coffee :) :) :) Don't forget to drop by for some tomorrow morning (I'll try my best to wake up early)!

J@n!ce said...

Marzie : Whether you wake up early or if you rem to make coffee for me. I WILL STILL BE AT YOUR PLC.... unless, my isp or pc PREVENT me from gg over...*sob*
I hope that will not happen. :)

Anonymous said...

Meaningul post Janice.

Life is always full of temptation that we may be blinded by the actual quality of our choices. It's always good to be reminded every now and then.

Thanks for the reminder!

J@n!ce said...

Kloudiia, I agree with you. Life is unpredictable too, once you make a wrong choice, it is diffcult to turn back. Thanks for your contribution :)

Bobby Revell said...

It's not the cup, it's the sensual shape and contour of the handle. The way it wraps around your finger letting you know how good it'll be.
AHHHH. . .oh yes:)

J@n!ce said...

Bobby, errrr....you are a bit off track...hahaha... Are you ok?..... LOL

Bobby Revell said...

haha hahaha I was just kidding around:) Does that mean if weren't ok you would LOL?

J@n!ce said...

Bobby : Sad to say the cups that I have are mostly w/o handle. I woke up one fine day & get angry with those small handle. So I break them ALL UP... LOL

Tracy Tan said...

so true! tks for this post - a lot of us need reminding that we just need to appreciate the coffee!

J@n!ce said...

Tracy : Treasure & enjoy life as we live. Appreciate the coffee :)

KeV's wAlKAbOuT said...

eh.. i hate coffee except those starbucks..which some say are not even coffee! LOL..

Thx for sharing! A very meaningful post!

J@n!ce said...

Kev : LOL... you v high standard of living... I drink kopitiam kopi leh... ;p

bokjae said...

I have the coffee but cannot find the cups to contain it! hehe! Good posts janice, I did something similar today too! Great minds think alike?

J@n!ce said...

Bokjae : I like this "I have the coffee but cannot find the cups to contain it!" .... LOL
Indeed great minds think alike :)

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape