A Cup of Coffee Taught Us About What Matters - 從一杯咖啡洞悉事物本質

Photographed by @myday

The Sun came out today. I had some spare time in my hands, so l decided to visit the office to catch up with my ex-colleagues. We sat on​ the balcony and just talking about life.

I asked A:" How are you doing?"
A said: "I'm moving back to parents because I want to save up to buy a house"

I asked B:"How are you doing?"
B said:" I'm applying for an MBA so people can take me more seriously."

I asked A:" How about you?"
A said:" Not so well, to be honest, I'm just keeping myself above the water. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the promotion that I wanted, and I'm thinking of leaving."

We went inside and each make ourselves a cup of coffee from the kitchen. As people come back with a cup of coffee in their hands, what's noticeable is that everyone of us grabbed the nice fancy cups from the drawer and left the plain mugs behind.

It's normal that we all want the best for yourself, but this also becomes a source of our problems and stress. Rest assured that the quality and material of the cup adds no difference to the taste of the coffee. All you want is just coffee​, ​ not the cup. That's when your focus becomes the external attraction and not the inner meaning to the coffee. You miss out on what's worthwhile.

In fact, Life is the coffee. Jobs, money, position, ​and status in the society is the cup, they are just tools where we hold to contain life. The material and quality of the cup shouldn't define the quality of the coffee - the quality of life we live in. Of course, we still need a cup so that we can contain the coffee. Sometimes when we concentrate on getting the best cup for ourselves, we forget about the coffee - the essence and intrinsic value.

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今天陽光燦爛，反正我有空，還是拉起根筋去了一趟以前公司辦公室。看看一幫舊同事相聚，聊聊天。我們坐在陽臺，說說笑笑。

我問A：“最近好嗎？”
A說“最近搬回父母家。存錢買房。”

我問B : “最近好嗎？”
B：“最近不太好。失去了升職的機會，想跳槽。”

我問C小姐 ：“最近好嗎？”
C說：“我在考慮讀個MBA，大家回重視我一些。”

我們走到咖啡機前各自做了一杯咖啡。我發現我們大家都選擇花俏，看上去高檔的杯子，而沒人碰那白色樸素的杯子。 沒錯，我們都想擁有最好的，不想做一個平庸的人。但杯子的材料，質量卻不影響杯中的咖啡。 如果我們過分注重杯子的外形，往往忽視咖啡才是核心。

人生也是如此：杯子好比工作，金錢，社會地位- 都是謀生的手段，承載生活的工具。這些都不應該影響我們生活的質量。