Early morning ponderings

Things here seem to be levelling out for the most part. Although the ideas for blog posts seem to be mounting, (I have literally four or five things I'd like to document)one in particular came to mind as I woke up this morning. It may be an ages-old story, I'm not sure, but I'd heard it a couple weeks ago and it's been sitting in the back of my mind burbling away.

It's the story of the University professor who is prepared for a talk in front of his students. In front of him is a tall glass jar filled with golf balls and two glasses of wine. The question he poses to his students is this:

"Is the jar full?"

The students all nod in agreement; of course it's full... of golf balls.

The professor then produces a container of small stones. He pours the stones over top the golf balls and they begin to fill in the spaces between the balls.

"Is it full now?"

The students look at each other, some laugh; of course, we hadn't thought of that.

The professor smiles and brings out a container of sand. Sure enough, the sand filters through all the remaining cracks between the small stones.

"Is it full NOW?"

Of course, they agree, the glass jar is finally full. The professor asks,

"Now, what's the point of all this?"

They're not really sure.

"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your 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 good things that are important to you.

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. Play another 18 holes. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. 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 two glasses of wine represented.

The professor smiled, took the two glasses of wine and poured the contents of both into the jar over the golf balls, stones and sand.

"No matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend."