A group of 1)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 2)assortment of cups—porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some 3)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. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, 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 coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.”
God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee!
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just 4)make the best of everything.”
一群事业有成的毕业生结伴回去看望他们的大学老师,很快他们就开始抱怨工作和生活中的压力。
老师去厨房为客人们准备咖啡,回来时端着一大壶咖啡和各式各样的杯子——有陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的,有的普通,有的昂贵,有的精致,老师让大家随意享用。
等每个人都端起一杯咖啡后,老师说话了:“你们注意到吗?你们拿了所有好看、昂贵的杯子,而剩下那些朴素便宜的杯子。你们都只想要最好的,这很正常,这恰恰是你们的问题和压力所在。要明白,杯子不会让咖啡的质量变得更好。而往往只是花费高了,甚至有时候,让人忽略了到底我们在喝什么。你们真正想要的其实是咖啡,不是杯子,但你们有意识地去拿那些最好的杯子……随后开始打量其他人手上的杯子。
试想一想:生活好比咖啡,工作、金钱和社会地位都只是杯子,只是生活的容器。我们拥有的杯子的样式既无法定义,也无法改变我们生活的质量。有时,由于我们只专注于杯子,我们甚至不能够好好品尝上帝赐予我们的咖啡。”
上帝冲泡的是咖啡,不是杯子……好好享受你们的咖啡吧!
“最快乐的人并非拥有最好的一切,他们只是把一切变得尽善尽美。”
翻译:韩颖 
