☕ Enjoy the Coffee, Not the Cup

Yesterday, in Look Beyond the Looks [Click Here], we reflected on how beauty often clouds our empathy — how we tend to value what’s pleasant to the eye more than what truly matters. Today, let’s explore a similar truth about how appearances influence our sense of happiness.

We humans are wired to understand best through stories, and this old one captures the essence perfectly.

Once upon a time, a group of alumni — all well-settled in their careers — visited their old university professor. The conversation soon drifted toward life and work, filled with complaints about stress, pressure, and the endless chase for balance.

Listening patiently, the professor excused himself to the kitchen. He wanted to serve them coffee — just as he had done years ago when these same students stayed up late, dreaming big, debating endlessly, and sketching plans for the future.

But there was one problem: he didn’t have enough shiny mugs. So he returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups — porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite — and invited everyone to help themselves.

When each of them had picked a cup, the professor smiled and said,
“If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. It’s only natural to want the best for yourselves — but that very instinct is the source of your stress.”

He paused, letting the thought sink in.

“What you truly wanted was coffee, not the cup. Yet you consciously went for the best cups and even glanced at what others had chosen. Life is the same. Life itself is the coffee — the jobs, money, and social positions are just cups. They’re only tools to hold Life, and they don’t change its quality. But by focusing too much on the cup, we forget to enjoy the coffee inside.”

He ended softly,
“So, don’t let the cups drive you — enjoy the coffee instead.”

It’s a story that never gets old because its truth doesn’t either. In our pursuit of the best-looking “cup,” we often overlook the simple joy of living — the aroma, warmth, and taste of life itself.

---

🔗 Read Reflect Rejoice

Stress Deducted at Source

We all are running the rat race having plunged ourselves into this knowingly or unknowingly.  At times we get the urge to excel more, while for some it’s a matter of sheer sustenance. No matter who pushed us in, this generates a lot of stress. This stress is a stealthy killer. There could be uncountable sources of stress but it all end up by us committing ourselves to unrealistic schedules or imposed with unachievable targets that we accept. This weighs down on our shoulder and makes our life miserable and deprives us of the finer things in life. We are not able to sleep like babies any longer.

The management gurus will tell us that at its core lies “Time Management”. Our ability to manage our time is the key to lead a stress free in our day to day life under normal circumstances.  Time, interestingly is a great leveller. Rich & poor, weak & powerful, the oppressed & the oppressors, all have the same number of hours in a day as they have the same number of days in a week.

The following are some of the tips that will go a long way to help us in managing our time and achieve “Stress Deducted at Source” status.

Organize works at the beginning of the day.

Prioritize the works based on urgency and difficulty levels.

Say No to task that you cannot complete.

Concentrate on the task at hand and do not get distracted.

Use waiting time that we spend being restless. It would be while we travel or stuck in the traffic. It could be waiting for a doctor’s appointment or any other engagement.

Keep the tough one for the prime time as everyone has a part of the day when they are most efficient. Someone is a morning person and some are night, while others are in between. Leave the tough ones for time when you are most efficient

Reserve your personal time as we take all the trouble of work only to be able to take care of self and family. There need to be a time for enjoyment and retrospection.

Celebrate success. This is the most important of all. Any achievement no matter how big or small it might be is a success to celebrate. This is a treat that we deserve.

But we are aware of these and conveniently seek solace in Shakespeare’s quote from The Merchant of Venice. “If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages princes' palaces.”

So we also have to have ways of getting stress out of our system and everyone have their own methods. I have a few favourites too.

1. The first one is to shrug it off the shoulder. It involves physically shaking it off by shrugging both the shoulders together.
2. The second one is to scream alone and vent it out. The best place for such an act is inside the car with windows drawn up.
3. The third one is to listen to soothing music.
4. The fourth one is to have a bath with warm water.
5. The last and best one is to give a warm hug to my child. That simply transport me to another world.