priorities in life………
November 17, 2007 by wmwatchn
as i was walking today i saw a woman carrying a big empty jar! cant help my mind bring memories back of my childhood years.
and there i see my grandfather holding a big empty glass jar instructing me and my cousins to gather some pebbles and big stones and sands and to bring glasses of “buko” (Pilipino for young coconut) juice, agreeing to meet him by the shore afterwards.
we all like our grandfather. he is funny, has lots of stories to tell and behind the many creases on his face lie a thousand wisdom.
playfully gigling around our “lolo” (Pilipino for grandfather), we lay down the stuffs he asked us to bring. he starts filling up his jar with big stones and he then asks us if the jar is full. “YES!” we agree laughingly!
then he asks my cousin to pour the pebbles from his sack into the jar. shaking the jar lightly, the pebbles roll in between the spaces of the big stones. “Puno na ba itong garapon?” (is the jar full?) he asks us again. “Opo!” (polite term for YES) .
he nudges my other cousin to pour the sand into the jar and it fills up every spaces. same question, same answer.
without any sign of approval, he pours inside the jar two glasses of coconut juice and in effect, filling everything there is. looking at our eyes and trusting our worldly minds, he serenely speaks:
“i want you to remember that this jar is similar to your life.
the big stones are the important things; the pebbles are your secondary choices; the sand is everything else: the minor ones.
if you put the sand into the jar first there is NO room for the pebbles or the big stones. it holds true for life. if you spend all your time and energy on the minor things, you will never have room for the important ones.
try to select carefully which are critical to your happiness: close family relationships, long lasting partner, health and well-being, meaningful work, long term friendships, supportive community, creative pursuits, travel and adventure, financial freedom, spiritual life, etc.
take care of the big stones first - the things that really matter. focus on your top five priorities and every 6 months, evaluate how much attention are you giving them.
list your priorities. the rest is just sand.
don’t let anything come between you and what truly matters most to you!
raising up my hand i ask: what about the coconut juice? smiling he says: “no matter how full your life may be, there’s always room for a glass filled of coco juice with a friend.”
