It’s the coffee, not the cup

How many cups of coffee do you drink every day? Are you drinking too much? And how do you tell? I got this funny material from the internet and it may have a ring of truth to it.

You know you’re drinking too much coffee when...

You answer the door before people knock.

You haven’t blinked since the last lunar eclipse.

You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.

People get dizzy just watching you.

You lick your coffeepot clean.

You sleep with your eyes open.

Your lips are permanently stuck in the sipping position.

You have to watch videos in fast-forward.

Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.

You chew on other people’s fingernails.

You’ve worn out the handle on your favorite mug.

You get a speeding ticket even when you’re parked.

You speed walk in your sleep.

You just completed another sweater and you don’t know how to knit.

The only time you’re standing still is during an earthquake.

You’re the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don’t even work there.

You’ve worn out your third pair of tennis shoes this week.

The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse.

Your T-shirt says, “Decaffeinated coffee is the devil’s blend.”

You’re so jittery that people use your hands to blend their margaritas.

You can type 60 words per minute... with your feet.

You can jump-start your car without cables.

You don’t need a hammer to pound nails.

You don’t sweat, you percolate.

You go to AA meetings just for the free coffee.

You walk 20 miles on your treadmill before you realize it’s not plugged in.

You forget to unwrap candy bars before eating them.

You’ve worn the finish off your coffee table.

Your favorite coffee place owns the mortgage on your house.

Instant coffee takes too long.

You channel surf faster without a remote.

When someone says. “How are you?”, you say, “Good to the last drop.”

You want to be cremated just so you can spend the rest of eternity in a coffee can.

Your birthday is a national holiday in Brazil.

You go to sleep just so you can wake up and smell the coffee.

You’re offended when people use the word “brew” to mean beer.

You name your cats “Cream” and “Sugar.”

You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug.

You short-out motion detectors.

You don’t even wait for the water to boil anymore.

Your nervous twitch registers on the Richter scale.

You don’t tan, you roast.

You don’t get mad, you get steamed.

Your two favorite things in life are... coffee before and coffee after.

You can’t even remember your second cup.

You introduce your spouse as your “coffee mate.”

I love coffee. I think that is an understatement, I am adventurous with coffee.

I do not know if there is veracity to the thought that coffee is the gasoline that fuels speakers, but one thing I do know, before I speak or do training; a cup of coffee really helps in sharpening my mind.

Years ago, a good friend of mine sent me this story: A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other’s cups.”

“Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn’t change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.”

Don’t let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee. Life is not about material things, it’s all about living it in the Will of the One who gave it to us in the first place.

The pace of life continues to accelerate. Doing business and delivering excellent work is not easy. I have been invited to an increasing number of wellness programs and company executives understand that unless their people are well, they would either burnout, quit their jobs, or fail to deliver excellent work.

Somebody with wisdom says: Peace of mind is the new riches; health is the new wealth; and kindness is the new cool. Enjoy the coffee, don’t be obsessed with the cup and never compare your cup with other’s cup; as well as monitoring posts and pictures through your social media spaces as this would never give you the joy and fulfillment you are looking for. Enjoy your coffee. Good to the last drop.

(Two exciting and inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong is about to happen. Attend this highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar-workshop on July 17 and 18 at Seda Hotel, BGC. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)