[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 49 – The Worst Day of the Year

Good morning, guys,
It’s 5 degrees here in sunny downtown Stewartstown, Pa. We got about a foot of snow over the weekend and high winds with a lot of drifts. I heard on the news today that a doctor from England has somehow calculated that today is the worst day of the year. He based his calculations on the weather, the post Christmas depression, the holiday weight gains, incoming credit card bills and the realization that New Years resolutions have fallen by the wayside. Well the weather has only provided me with a good cardio workout. The post Christmas depression only gives me a chance to look forward to spring. The weight gains are gone. The incoming credit card bills are not incoming. And the New Years resolutions were never made because I have made lifestyle resolutions that I have kept for four years and only set new goals.

But, since it is considered the WORST day of the year, I thought I would share a story that was passed on to me that tells about dealing with adversity. Enjoy.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

A CARROT, AN EGG AND A CUP OF COFFEE

A young man went to his mother and told her about
his life and how things were so hard for him. He did
not know how he was going to make it and wanted to give up.
He was tired of fighting and struggling. It
seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

His mother took him to the kitchen. She filled three
pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon
the pots came to 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 him, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," he replied.
His mother brought him closer and asked him to feel the carrots.
He did and noted that they were soft. The mother
then asked him to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, he observed the hardboiled
egg. Finally, the mother asked him to
sip the coffee. The young man smiled as he tasted its
rich aroma. Then he asked, "What does it
mean, mother?"

The woman 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?"

The carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity or
hardship, it wilts and becomes soft and loses its strength?

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 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 the
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?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Have a great day and ENJOY THE COFFEE.

In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler