We are living in a very competitive world.  Competing and comparing is all a part of the game. This story about the professor and hot chocolate doesn’t fail to resonate with my class in almost all my sessions.  Personally too, I love this anecdote.

Life is Like Hot Chocolate- ( Sharing from the Net)

A group of graduates all well established in their respective careers came together for a reunion.  They then decide to visit their favourite professor, who had since retired.  From recollecting happier times, the conversation soon turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.  It is then the professor offers his young guests hot chocolate. He goes into the kitchen and returns with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. Some of the cups are made of porcelain,  some glass. He even had cups made of crystal.  There were plain looking cups, some exquisite. Some of them expensive, some of them looked cheap. A few were cracked and chipped too. He asked them to help themselves to 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 unconsciously went for the best cups.”

There were a few embarrassed laughs. He went on,  ” Not only did you pick the best cups, you also eyed each other’s cups and compared them to yours- unfavourably, I am sure.”  The laughs ceased and some of them looked at their feet embarrassed.

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.   Does the cup matter at all? or is it the hot chocolate that is more important. Now, you know the root for your stress. Concentrate on the chocolate and not the cups.”

With a twinkle in his eyes, the old professor settles back in his chair enjoying the rest of the evening happy that he had driven some home truths.

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Whenever I narrate this story, I give a pause in the class because this story deserves one.  It is not just for the students to assimilate but each time, it gives me an opportunity to take stock of my own action too. Am I concentrating on the cup or focusing on the chocolate?

After I had read,  Suzanne’s letter to Nicholas by Nicholas Spark, I had to pen down an article titled: The Glass Balls in our Lives which was published in The Hindu. 

It ran in somewhat similar lines. What is it that actually adds value to our lives or are we spending our lives chasing insignificant things?

During Covid Pandemic, when the world closed down, I felt there was much more humanity than ever before.  Idly watching two carts, I was tempted to pen down this fictional tale.  The Tale of the Two Apple Carts was published in Reflections Live.  I hope that somewhere it just doesn’t remain a fiction.

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla
in collaboration with Ratna Prabha (https://storiesmadesimple.in )