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Location: Hong Kong, China

Hi! I like to call myself a work-in-progress. Not sure when the end-product will be ready. Hopefully NEVER! I love to be different. I believe in living every moment of my life fully and try not to waste time. Aim is to maximise the 24hrs granted to us every day of our life. Life is for the living, so live it! Every so often I have reality checks and actually think about what my existence is, but I get over that soon enough!! Before I die I want to have lived a life that experienced everything! I want people to remember me as someone who enjoyed life and lived it to the fullest. Happily married with 2 kids, my life revolves around my family and my job. Not too many friends but the few I have, I can fall back on anytime of the day or night. Since 1995, I started emailing famous quotes to my friends, instead of the jokes and porn which are more popular email topics. Even though, it started just as a pass-time, currently, when I don’t email for a few days, I am taken to task by some of the recipients of the ‘Food for Thought’ series. This Blog is a compilation of the various anecdotes, stories, quotes, etc. circulated during the last 10+ years. Hope you enjoy it!

Monday, February 04, 2008

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...



You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up.

She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.

She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see.""Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.

After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee.The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which one of these am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this.. something I needed...

5:25 AM  
Blogger Random Thoughts said...

u r welcome g

8:47 PM  
Blogger Usha said...

Wow, the whole family is so creative!

Am a friend of gauri's and stumbled from hers on to yours.
I's like to beleive I am the good old kaapi bean - actually could we make that tea leaves please!:)

8:18 PM  
Blogger Random Thoughts said...

hi usha,

thanks for the comments...

this site is just a collection of thoughts...unfortunately, none of them are my own....

thanks for stopping by...

9:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

U made my day! Wonderful thought...Thnx for bringing bac life in ppl..

8:44 AM  

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