Hot Chocolate...

A friend sent this to me this morning... I thought it was really nice...

> A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking
> at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor,
> now retired.
>
> During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress
> in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the
> professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot
> chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some
> plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help
> themselves to the hot chocolate.
>
> When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said,
> "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, 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. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality
> of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in
> some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was
> hot chocolate, 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 hot chocolate; your job, money and
> position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and
> contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality
> of life you have.
> Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot
> chocolate. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They
> just make the best of everything that they have."
>
> Live simply.
> Love generously.
> Care deeply.
> Speak kindly.
>
> And enjoy your hot chocolate!