It’s Not Who Has the Most, Is It?

I was riding around with a friend today when the conversation turned to wealth and success. He turned to me and said..”I HAVE to be wealthy!!”..I thought this was an interesting statement and asked him why he felt this way. He replied to me, that he “liked the feeling of how people treat you when they think you have money.” This kinda hit me and got me thinking about how we view “things”..

I remembered a little story that I came across a few months back and decided to share it. Let me know what you think about the story and the philosophies shared.

A group of grads, well established in their careers, were discussing their lives at a class reunion. They decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired, who was always an inspiration to them. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work, lives, and relationships. Offering his guest hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups. Some cups were porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He invited each to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor shared his thoughts.

“Notice that all the nice looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you are 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 each of you really wanted was hot chocolate. You did not want the cup…but consciously went for the best cups. And soon, you began to eye one another’s cups.

“Now friends, consider this: Life is like 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 does it change, the quality of life you are living. Sometimes by only concentrating 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 they have. The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.”

So..what do you think? Would love to hear your comments below.