Coffee?- lesson

All friends visited a teacher from our schooling days. During our visit, conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their personal and professional lives.


Offering his students coffee, the teacher 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 us to help ourselves to the coffee.


When all of us had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said,


“Notice that 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; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has, does not define, nor change the quality of Life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.


The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.”


God brews the coffee, not the cups… Enjoy your coffee!


Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Spend time with God over your coffee.


He conveyed it in such a simple manner ! A true teacher - salutations!

LIVE, LOVE and LEARN….

I'm a simple person that craves for serene and quiet moments. I despise pretence and the crowded bars in the Metros. I’d rather stay home and watch TV than stay in those places. I love going out of town to unwind and retreat from the busy city life. I love to read books, especially novels that deal with love and romance,


I am looking forward to meet someone that can take me away and live for a day without any worries, drop what he is doing when I need him, romantic, passionate, caring, understanding and would love me as I am. But I know that this can’t happen because such idealism will just break my heart and would hurt me in the end. That is why I erased these preferences already in mind for I know that they only appear at the night screen and in fantasy to fulfil my fancy. I’m open for any conversation that may tickle my fancy and bond with you. I despise pretence, what you see is what you get from me. And mind you, I don’t put my best foot forward in meeting other people, and I don’t believe in the saying, " First impression last forever. " Anybody can wear their best smile and fool the world of being nice but it would take time to know a person well.


When you’re out there looking for that perfect person, keep these things in mind. People change, no matter how hard they try not to. As you grow older you mature, and with each new level of maturity comes different ideas, different needs and wants. The person who was perfect for you at twenty could be the person you hate when you’re thirty-five. You have to find some one who will grow with you, change with you, laugh with you and cry with you. A person who fills in where you lack , a person whom you can fill in for when they are lacking. But what about the perfect person, you ask? They do not exist. Even the person you’re with was not perfect because the perfect person in your dreams was supposed to stay with you forever. There are no perfect people, only people who are perfect for each other. You deserve to be happy not in the arms of someone who keeps you waiting but in the arms of someone who will take you now, love you forever and leave you never.


Sometimes we ask ourselves why love leaves us when we have given so much of ourselves that there is little left for us to start all over again. A lot of us have built dreams with people we hoped would be with us forever only to realize that there is nothing permanent in this world. Love comes and goes. People share their lives with us and leave us. Life is a constant cycle of finding and losing, of making and breaking, of dying and living again. When our heart dies, it stops beating. But love is different. Don’t believe that love ends permanently even when we feel that love has died. It would only go into deep slumber and could one day be awakened by someone who could unlock our hearts. Always remember that in life, there are no mistakes, only lessons learned. In loving, there should be no regrets, only the appreciation of the joy we had. There is a time when life stops and when loves ends. But, we don’t have to stay in one place forever. Our life should move on even when everything else around us makes us feel that it shouldn’t. For there can only be happiness when we stop living in the past. Love will only find its way back when we give others the chance to share little of themselves with us. We might be miserable now, but there always would be someone out there who could ease the pain and bitterness in our hearts that had kept us from daring to love again


Sometimes, in our relentless efforts to find the person we love, we fail to recognize and appreciate the people who love us. We miss out on so many beautiful things and simply because we allow ourselves to be enslaved by our own concerns. Go for the man of deeds and not for the man of words, for you will find rewarding happiness not with the man you love but the man who loves you more.


The best lovers are those who are capable of loving from a distance, far enough to allow the other person to grow, but never too far to feel the love deep within your being. To let go of someone doesn’t mean you have to stop loving, it only means that you allow that person to find his own happiness without expecting him to come back. Letting go is not just setting the other person free but it is also setting yourself free from all bitterness, hatred, and anger that you keep in your heart.


Do not let the bitterness rare away your strength and weaken your faith, and never allow pain to dishearten you, but rather lets you grow with wisdom. You may find peace in just loving someone from a distance not expecting anything in return. But be careful, for this can sustain life but can never give enough room for us to grow. We can all survive with just beautiful moments or sad memories of the past but real peace and happiness come only with open acceptance of what reality is- today.


There comes a time in our lives when we chance upon someone so nice and beautiful and we just find ourselves getting so intensely attracted to that person. This feeling soon becomes a part of our everyday lives and eventually consumes our thoughts and actions. The sad part of it is when we begin to realize that this person feels nothing more for us than just a friendship… don’t be so bitter about it! For it is a kind of FRIENDSHIP that will last for a LIFETIME!!! We start our desperate attempt to get noticed and be closer but in the end our efforts are still unrewarded and we end up being sorry for ourselves.


You don’t have to forget someone you love. What you need to learn is how to accept the verdict of reality without being bitter or sorry for yourself. Believe me, you would be better off giving that dedication and love to someone more deserving. Don’t let your heart run your life, be sensible, and let your mind speak for itself. Listen not only to your feelings but to reason as well.


Always remember that if you lose someone today, it means that someone better is coming tomorrow: If you lose love that doesn’t mean that you failed in love. Cry, if you have to, but make sure that the tears wash away the hurt and the bitterness that the past has left with you. Let go of yesterday and love will find its way back to you.


And when it does, pray that it may be the love that will stay and last a lifetime. "When I lost you, I was the one who loved you most, but between us you lost more. For someday I can love someone the way that I loved you but you will never be loved again the way that I did."


"If you love me, let me know; if you don’t, let me go…"

Choose Happiness: Coping With Broken Tiles

Yesterday night couple of friends gathered at out home.  We focused on the broken tile syndrome.  This concept is based on the fact that our eyes may be more focused on a broken or missing tile in some great mosaic versus appreciating the larger work.  Oftentimes we do the same in our lives – focus on what’s missing versus what we do have.


Once you determine your broken or missing tiles, then what?  Dennis Prager, in his book, Happiness Is A Serious Problem, tells us that we have three options:  Get It, Forget It or Replace It.


Get It  I shared with the group that one of my missing tiles is that I have a need to write a book(a cookery book or say owning a restau).  It is something I have postponed for many years and it continues to weigh on me.  This is something I feel very strongly that I need to do.  Whether or not it gets published is not important, but the mere fact that I can complete it and make the effort to get it published is enough.  I already have the idea in place, however it calls for action


Forget It   I lost my grandparents parents(maternal as well as paternal)couple of years ago.  There is nothing I can do to bring them back, so although those are two huge(maternal 1 and paternal 1) missing tiles in my life, I have to forget it.  Not to forget them.  I never will.  I have come to accept that the best I can do is to carry their legacy forward, to honor their memories and if I can be half the woman my grandmom(maternal) was nothing like it...


Replace It   John Walsh, the host of America’s Most Wanted, came into his role in finding criminals after his son, Adam, was kidnapped and murdered in Florida.  He turned that tragedy into something to help others by creating legislation to protect children and to help law enforcement find criminals.


What we all friends realized is that in talking for 90 minutes or so we learned so much about each other. I hope a number of us identified some broken tiles and will find the time to determine how best to address them to help increase our happiness.  May you think about your own broken tiles and do the same.




Stay Happy My Friends!