Story: Carrot , Egg and Ooloong tea

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and places each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots , in the second she eggs, and in the last she placed Ooloong tea. She let them sit and boil , without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes , she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and places them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the Ooloong out and placed them in a bowl. turning to her daughter , she asked , "Tell me what you see." " carrots , eggs and ooloong tea, she replied/

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the Ooloong tea. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter asked , " what does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each od these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. the egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior , but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside become hardened.

The ooloong tea was unique. After the boiling water, they had changed the water colour and taste. " which are you?" she asked her daughter. " when adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or Ooloong tea?

Think of this: Which am i . Am i the carrot that seems storng but with pain and adversity do i wilt and become soft and lose my strength?Am i teh egg that starts with a malleable heart , but changes with the heat? Did i have a fuild spirit, but after a death , a breakup , a financial hardship , have i become hardened and stiff?

Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am i bitter ad tough with a stiff spirit and the hardened heart?

Or am i like hte Ooloong tea? The tea actually changes the hot water, the very circumstances that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you like the tea, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation arounf you.

When the hour is at the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make your strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don necessarily have the best of everything: they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgetten past, you can't go forward in life until you let go your past failures.