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Would you rather be the carrot, the egg, or the coffee bean?
This is a story about perspective, adversity and how you view the things that are happening in your life. There are 2 sides to every coin. Everyone has a story to tell. Your perspective is your reality. So many times we get caught up in our own dilemmas and drama, and forget that many of the truths we subscribe to are based on our point of view our perspective.
Everything has an opposite. Up-Down, In-Out, Right-Left. You can't have one without the other. There are many ways of looking at everything, and that's what perspective is. Perspective is our point of view. Perception is a mental tool and like all tools they are meant for our use. We control how they are used. they don't control us. You wouldn't let a hammer tell you what to build would you? so don't let your perspective control you either.
you see your thought causes your feelings. Your feeling's cause your actions. Your actions cause your results. If you don't like your results take a look at your thoughts. Change your perspective, your point of view. This in turn will cause different feelings. which in turn cause different actions. which change your results. you are in control of you.
If you can see something and you can think of why it can't be done. lets change our point of view, and maybe from changing our point of view we'll figure out how to do it.
Back to our story:
The story goes like this: 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 if as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled 3 pots with water. 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 20 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 ladeld the coffee into a bowl. Turning to her daughter she asked, "tell me what you see?"
Carrots, eggs, and coffee, she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noticed that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell she observed a hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aromatic flavor.
The daughter then asked, "What's the point mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity...boiling water-but 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 being through the boiling water, its insides 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 coffee beans?'
- author unknown-
Ask yourself this, Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seemed strong? but with pain and adversity, Do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a soft 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?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water. Those various circumstances that bring the pain. When the water gets hot it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you are like the coffee bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours of the darkest trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle adversity?
are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
This story was a real eye opener for me.
Things are never as bad as they seem and there never as great either. having this perspective on things helps us overcome adversity even if we struggle.
"When it rains it pours. Maybe the art of life is to convert tough times to great experiences; we can choose to hate the rain or dance in it."
-Joan Marques-
thanks for reading, Patty