In life, there is room for big and even small things, if you find time and space for them in yourself.
Whenever you feel like you're losing control of your life, whenever you feel like the day is too short, think of a big jar of pickles and remember this stories.
—
The professor was standing in the lecture hall waiting for the students to start his lecture on philosophy. He was hiding some objects behind him.
When the lecture began, he wordlessly lifted a large empty glass in front of him, which had previously contained pickles, placed it on the chair and filled it with tennis balls.
He then asked the students if the glass was full. They agreed that it was. After that, the professor took a box full of pebbles and slowly poured them into the glass, which he shook slightly. The pebbles rolled into the empty spaces between the balls.
He asked the students again if the glass was full and they answered that it was.
The next box the professor took out was full of sand. When he poured it into the glass, the sand filled all the remaining empty corners between the balls and pebbles. He asked the students again if the glass was full. They reluctantly answered that it was.
Then the professor took two cups full of coffee from under the chair and poured them into a glass. The coffee soaked the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to imagine that this glass represents your life. Tennis balls are important things in your life - your family, your children, your health and the things you devote yourself to. These are the things with which life would still be fulfilled if everything else disappeared!
The stones represent other things that are important to you - your job, your house, your car. The sand represents other things. Those little things. If you fill the glass with sand, there is no more room for balls and pebbles.
It is the same in your life. If you spend all your time and energy on small things, you will never have room and time for important things.
Take care of the things that are essential to your happiness! Play with your children. Find time for your physical and spiritual health. Take your partner out to dinner. Visit your parents. Act like you're 18 again.
There will always be time to clean the house and make repairs. First, take care of the tennis balls - the things that really matter to you. Determine your priorities. Everything else is sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and asked: "And what does coffee represent?" The professor laughed. “I love that you asked that! I pour the coffee into the glass to show you that no matter how full you may think your life is, there is still room in it for a cup of coffee with friends!”
