The other day I was apartment shopping with my friend. Before selecting apartments to view he had scoured hundreds of them on the internet, spending literally hours of his time dwindling them down to a select few. And so, we found ourselves on the road and ready to visit some of the top selections in person. The first apartment we came to sat in a quaint town centered in New Jersey. The location was good and the price was reasonable. The area was nice and while it wasn’t the most amazing apartment, it was a good choice. It was fine. Now, what he should have done then and there is signed onto the lease and without knowing or seeing any other places, been happy. However, as human nature dictates he wanted to find the “very best”. So we ended up visiting several other apartments and wasting many more hours of time. Some were extremely nice, glittered to perfection while others were not so appealing. Funny enough in the end he did end up selecting the first one we visited. But what consequence did all of his additional visits incur? While he is satisfied with the apartment there will always be that doubt in his mind that perhaps one of the others would have worked out better. That maybe his decision was the wrong one, and that he would have been happier making a different selection…

In life people always want to have the very best of something. The best clothes, cars, houses, TV’s, you name it, they want it. And often times they purchase what they think is “the best”. However, what is often thought to be the best is not. Because the best is often subjective and even if by consensus “the best” is really “the best” well then, you can bet that eventually there will be something better. And then they will no longer have “the best”. Instead, they will feel unfulfilled…

So what’s the lesson taken out of this story? Well, consider this. If we agree that the best is impossible to attain because there will always be something better or different, then why try to have the very best of something? Practice the art of selective ignorance. Know that whatever you have is the best and that trying to chase anything better will leave you feeling unrewarded and unhappy. Forget about test driving that second car or spending days picking out the perfect dress for prom. Life is too short to attempt perfection! And with that I wanted to conclude this post with a short story that it think proves this point well. Feel free to read it below.

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Life is Like a Cup of Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

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

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
-anonymous

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