We went back to see Mr S' parents last night for some food and they are having quite a stressful time at the moment and they know that we aren't too good too so they were telling us about something that a friend of theirs from America had sent them.
A man invites a group of 8 people to his house one cold evening for a cup of hot chocolate. These are a group of people from all walks of life, they all have different jobs and lifestyles. He sits them all down and places a tray of mugs in front of them. There are 12 mugs to choose from all of them different but 8 of the mugs are really beautiful, some are antique, fine porcelain; some have beautiful colours on them, whereas the other 4 are just plain white mugs. He tells them all to pick a mug while he goes to make the hot chocolate. When he comes back with the jug of hot chocolate he notices that they have all taken the beautiful mugs and only the 4 plain ones are left. He pours the hot chocolate out and then points this out to the group, most of them seem shocked and some embarrassed when they realise. The man goes on to say that it is interesting that they all came solely for hot chocolate yet they all carefully chose the mug that they would drink it from even though this does not alter the hot chocolate in any way. The man continues to explain that as an analogy, life is the hot chocolate and our jobs, life style and relationships are the cups. So sometimes we go for the really stressful job becuase it will give us more money and prestige but is it worth the negative strain that it can put on life. I know that this is quite a loose analogy but it does make you think that sometimes we need to take a step back and appreciate the simple things in life and even just life itself. I think that sometimes we are so busy trying to better ourselves that we are letting life pass us by without even realising it!
Right that is my lesson of the day over with, I may go and have a nice hot chocolate in the plainest mug that I can find!
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