Mayonnaise Jar

Submitted by: Doug Warburton

Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, When 24 hours in a day is not enough; remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and start to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - Family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --
The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first -- The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'
 

Written by someone who has a great understanding of life......


Chuck
written by: Chuck


In Eattherich's defense, an observant person would have noted that the two cups of coffee for which we all seem to have time gets absorbed by the small stuff, regardless of which is put in the jar first -- meaning, the innocuous act of taking a little time for yourself is either ineffectual or the way to make an icky mess of it all. Moral: 1.) Take all analogies with a grain of salt, and 2.) sometimes things are more important than you'd assume/like them to be.
That said.
@ETR: people find their inspiration in myriad places. Some want to share with others the places they have found theirs. To think that someone reposting, or even the author of the original story, wants you to think they're better than you means either you're pessimistic to a spectacular degree or you just misread the intention of the post.
Personally, I think it's cheesy too. But it works for some, if not for you.

HSA
written by: HSA


The mayonnaise jar:

Quite interesting, the author is simply awakening the oversight we portray in our daily lives.

Another great philosopher Mahatma Gandhi, "only pick what is worthy, the rest can always find a suitable place"

We need only to look and accept the good content

Great article.

EatWhatsLeft
written by: EatWhatsLeft


Eattherich needs to grow some golf balls.

michael
written by: michael


first time i seen this and very opening.

EatThePoor
written by: EatThePoor


EatTheRich's mayonaisse jar is obviously full of sand

EatTheRich
written by: EatTheRich


I must have read 20 versions of this over the years. Sometimes it's coffee and sometimes it's beer. But no matter how many times I read it, I'm constantly surprised by the smugness which the writer portrays. Almost as though they are passing on some long lost wisdom of the ages or some shit like that and the reader is supposed to drop whatever they're doing, cry and fall to their knees, have an epiphany about their position and place in life and become a monk. It says more about the beliefs of the author than anything if you actually felt this was important enough to reproduce. It's like the author thinks he's the professor.

written by: Kenda


Absolutely great story!  I don't know where you found this, but the simplistic view is wonderful.  The  perspective it gave me was nothing less than amazing.

 

Thanks bunches,

Kenda


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