It was about a young woman who went to her mother and told her how hard her life was and that she wasn't sure if she was going to make it through. She was tired of struggling and was on the verge of giving up.
Her mother took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water and placed each on a high flame.
She then placed carrots into the first, eggs into the second and ground coffee beans in the third.
After twenty minutes of silence and just watching the contents boil, she turned off the burners.
She fished the carrots and eggs out and placed them into separate bowls. She then ladled the coffee into a large mug.
The mother handed the first bowl to her daughter and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted they were soft.
The mother then asked her daughter to take an egg and break it. She did and, after peeling off the shell, handed her mother a hard-boiled egg.
Finally, the mother then asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich flavour and then asked: "What does it mean, mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had undergone the same "trial" - being boiled in water.
Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and relenting, but came out softened and weak.
The fragile egg, with its liquid interior, became hardened after the ordeal.
The ground coffee beans, however, were unique. After they were steeped in the boiling water, they started to change the consistency of the liquid.
She then went on to ask her daughter: "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"
You may want to ponder these questions: Am I the carrot that seems strong, but who, with pain and affliction, wilts, becomes soft and loses my strength?
Or am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart and a fluid spirit, but after a death, break-up or a financial crisis, becomes somewhat hardened?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean that actually changes the boiling water, the very circumstances that bring it pain. It releases its fragrant aroma and flavour within those adverse conditions.
If you are like the bean, then when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is at its darkest, you elevate yourself positively to a whole new level."
So to quote Geoff Tan, 'Go forth and live life like a coffee bean!'
