Decision Making

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things
were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted
to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one problem
was solved, a new one arise.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed
each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first she placed carrots, in
the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She
let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and
placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then
she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?” “Carrots, eggs,
and coffee,” the daughter replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and
noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and
break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the
mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its
rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity
—boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and
unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and
became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its
liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became
hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the
boiling water, they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door,
how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and
adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts
with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but
after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become
hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and
tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very
circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the
fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you
get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is darkest and
trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you
handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you
strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything—they just
make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will
always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of
your past failures and heartaches.

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