coffee, not the cups

just saw this in facebook. tot i will share. don't know the origin.

life is like a cup of coffee - author unknown

a group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. conversations soon turn into complaints about stress in work and life. offering his guests coffee, the professor 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.

he told his guests to help themselves to the coffee. after everyone had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said

"if you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups have been 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 all your problems and stress.

be assured that the cups add 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 begin eyeing each other's cups to see who had the best one.

now consider this... life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. they are just tools to hold and contain life. and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. sometimes, but concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.

savor the coffee, not the cups!

the happiest people don't have the best of everything. they just make the best of everything".

- live simply (how ar??) -

- speak kindly -

- care deeply -

- love generously -

poor little rich

i was just told that it is apparently accepted by the ones married long enough, and have seen enough.... that you have two choices :

1) poor and he loves you

2) rich and he fools around

then tell me, should all girls not go for rich men while they are young and desirable?

should they choose one poor, and nurture him till he is rich... only to find him in someone else's arms? and then you are suppose to accept it?!!

i think not.

unconditional love, is there such a thing?

i suppose a mother's love is unconditional. no matter what the circumstances are, the mother will love the child (barring the exception where mothers love themselves more)...



how about pets? i used to know of a dog which would do anything for M&Ms... which is why i "used to"... M&Ms are not good for a dog's health... that dog's love was not unconditional... it was food based.



how about children's love for their parents? I think the love is stronger the other way round (parents' love for children are stronger than children's love for their parents). it's true until they grow up and become parents themselves. then children appreciate their parents more!



friend's love? if you think about it, it's not really unconditional. there was a story, prologue section of the "the al-chemist" (if i remember correctly, though not word for word) which was about a beautiful boy who looked at himself in the lake every day, admiring himself. when he died, the lake wept salty tears. when it was asked why it loved the beutiful boy, the lake replied "beautiful?"... it did on cry for the beautiful boy, but it cried because it thought somebody who thought it was a wonderful lake has passed on...


i think most would like people who brings the best out of ourselves. those who sees the good side of ourselves. i suppose it brings out more of the good side... ?

expectations

i think this has been one of the major topics mentioned in this blog. it keeps coming back to haunt me!

sometimes before one has anything, one's expectations are not high. and one even claim to have no expectations whatsoever. does it stay the same?

never!

once one has something, there is "attachment". why? because it now belongs to you. there will be expectations. and love is not "unconditional". then there is suffering.

so nice

so nice to just read, sleep, play luminex, do ironing, sleep.... whenever..... with no awareness of time....

how to run the race

i have learnt

1 that nobody really wants the truth. most wants to hear the good stuff.

2 to appear positive is a big plus... whether you are or are not really positive...

3 to gain people to your side is easy. just look for their achievements, no matter how small, no matter how inconsequential, no matter how much they were suppose to have achieved that in the first place, and rain praise! (which is why most people find it acceptable to be doing only 40% of what they are suppose to be doing... since expectations are so low)

4 to gain credit for other people's ideas, just listen hard, paraphrase and say the same thing to as many different people as possible and the idea becomes yours.

5 just ask questions. look at the situation and question. no need to follow up. no need to do any real work. just ask as though you are going to do something about it. in meetings of course. that is when you are being watched!

6 say what other people want to hear

7 forward other people's worksheets so people think you did work

8 follow policies quietly and religiously as the management would have thought long and hard before deciding on them and we should trust management (even when they come out with very "interesting" policies after having thought long and hard..??!!! $%#$@#$)

9 work only when the work brings you visibility

10 delegate the rest of the work


any other tips for all those running the race?

why am i here?

why? i asked a good friend of mine. i am disgusted by the way people work here. the politics. the nonsense. the fakeness.

and he said, because you wanted to learn their ways.

thank you for the reminder.

for i did. i said i wanted to learn their ways. do i?

yay! comments! :)

spurred on by a bff... yay! i am superly happy that i have received a comment on my first blog post since... the dawn of iphone (?)

i am actually trying very hard, to think of an entertaining topic for my beloved readers (yes, there is more than one). however, the only topic that keeps coming into my mind is work!! horror of all horrors... i have become a workaholic!!!!!

or have i? (am i in denial or am i just an optimist :))

i am not thinking about doing work. i am just thinking about whether my work means anything. i am not particularly fond of my existing work environment. i am working (very hard actually). but i am being held back by my fellow colleagues. it is an internal war i am fighting. what is at risk? my reputation. my client's happiness (which, by the way, is very important to me).

joining my current company, i felt like i was dropped into the middle of a war zone. i had an AK47 and a M16 in my hands. i then dropped the AK47. a month later, i dropped the M16. i held a parang in my hands. i was accompanied by an aspiring rambo. handcuffed by the artillery people. received 1 swiss knive and 1 torchlight. and told to enter battle.

why am i in this battle? it is actually a suicide mission! why am i not commissioning the next available sampan out of this battlefield?

is it ego? am i concern about people saying that i left because i could not handle the fight?

it is curiousity? am i just curious how far i can go once the booby traps i have painstakingly set are all in place?

is it stupidity? knowing all i know, i decided to stay on and belief that good will prevail?

is it worth it? i don't really know. actually i really don't think so. not that i am going to practise what i have learnt so far in this company. i did learn alot. learnt what not to do when i have a company of my own! not that i need to prove anything to the people out there. which is only necessary if i am planning to work for another company. perhaps it is a need to prove something to myself? nope. pretty sure i am pretty capable by now. then why?

why?

i am back!!

with new insights...

i have gone from big company.... to small company.... to very small company.... now in a medium size company

what is the difference?

big companies have systems, policies and procedures for all activities. they may not be good systems, policies and procedures. but they have them.

big companies tend to hire very ambitious people. these ambitious people tend to be smart in a small picture way. maybe not so smart in a big picture way. and universally selfish. everybody is working towards their own goals, which unfortunately, more likely than not, are not congruent with that of the company.

so, in big companies, you tend to get a lot of very smart people (not necessarily wise people) working very hard to achieve their personal agenda, very often at the company's expense, which I suppose is why companies tend to be in their glory years for limited period of time ie. when it is actually led by the owner(s)/ founder(s) ... and in time, succumb to different management styles which may result in short term and unsustainable results, which serves only to put certain people in the limelight.

enough said...

too busy

dear blog, sorry to have neglected you... however, i have re-entered the rat race. so now, i have more excuses to not do stuff that i should be doing with my life!

how easy it is to say i am too busy... too busy for my family, too busy for my friends, too busy for my tortoises, too busy to start my own business, too busy to invest, too busy to go to gym, too busy to blog, too busy all the time...

i shall resolve to not say that anymore. and proud to have proven it by going to the gym today! AND blogging! wow my first post since.... forever!