How Is Your Happiness Today?

A daughter came home one day and sat down with her mom in the kitchen. Her welcoming was over shadowed by her glum and morose nature. The mother asked her daughter what was wrong. The daughter responded with how everything had gone wrong, how hard life is, why do these things happen to me, and how she can't handle it anymore.

As the daughter started telling her story of her day the mother got up from the table and walked over to the cupboard and started to rummage and grab things; some carrots, eggs, and coffee beans. She then grabbed three pots, filled them with water, and placed them on the stove. While the mother filled each pot with one item, the daughter sat there looking at her in wonder.

Moments later, the mom emptied the pots out and sat by her daughter and saying, "Look at what has happened here."

The daughter looked down and saw the carrots, eggs, and coffee, "What do you mean?".

The mother looked at the food and said, "All of these items have gone through the same experience. All have been taken from a place, placed in boiling water, and have under gone a change."

The mother grabbed a fork and started mashing the carrots, "The carrots were put into the water which caused them to be soft and lame, when they used to be use solid and strong."
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She then grabbed an egg and started to crack and peel the shell, "This egg used to be smooth and soft on the insides, but since dealing with the water it has now become hard and like its guarded shell."

The mother then went to the coffee beans to filter and drain the water, "But these beans, when put with the water, had no effect on the beans. The water could not change the beans, but the beans changed the water and made coffee."

The mother set the food aside and grabbed her daughter's hand saying, "Which are you to be? What are you going to do? How are you going to let the world affected you? ...... Are you going to be a carrot and let the world weigh you down? Or are you going to be an egg, putting a hard shell around yourself till you are as hard inside as you are on the outside? Or, will you be like the coffee bean changing the world and the problems around you, not letting the world change who you are?"

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I hear this story and I wonder, "What am I?". How much do I let the troubles of my day affect me? How often do I dwell on a situation that was unfair or on a person who was so rude. Many things happen every day and most times I have no control over it. I want to be one of those people who is able to let everything slide off their back, to not be dragged down by the sad things that happen throughout the day, to always be able to see the important stuff at the end of the day.

I am a fairly happy person, usually able to smile and laugh at most things thrown my way, but I know that I have stewed in my emotions over something, cried over how unfair somethings are, or worked myself up over an uncontrollable situation and guess what..... IT NEVER DID ANY GOOD. Never, not once! If this action seems to have never worked for my problems, then you might be asking your self why have I done it so many times? Because I have never taught myself not too.

I know I am not the coffee bean, but I hope some day I can be. I hope that slowly I can start working on myself to be able to control my happiness. I want to be able to see disasters heading my way and really see new opportunities. How wonderful would it be to know that you will always see the good, the bigger picture, or what truly matters? That you are the captain of your happiness!

So hopefully, rather sooner than later, I will be strong too. I will be able to stay true to myself. I hope that I can remember this story the next time something troubling comes my way..... I hope that I can be a coffee bean.