Several years ago, in a prestigious American school, a professor delivered an exceptional lecture on social economics to his students. The professor carefully placed a glass jar on the table, without any explanation. He then took out a bag full of rocks and placed them one by one into the jar, until it was full. After that, he asked his students: “Is the jar full?”
“Yes,” the students agreed.
The professor chuckled. He then pulled out another bag filled with gravel from under the table. He managed to fit smaller pebbles in between the larger rocks in the jar. He asked the students again: “Is the jar full now?”
“No,” came the reply. The students already understood that something was coming.
And they were right because the professor brought a bag of fine sand. He managed to add some sand into the jar full of rocks and gravel. Once again, he asked the students: “Is the jar full now?”
“Knowing you, probably not,” the students responded.
Chuckling at their answer, he brought out m But he poured a pitcher of water into a container filled with stones, gravel, and sand. When the water no longer fit in the container, he lowered the pitcher and looked at the class.
“So, what can you learn from this?” he asked the students.
One of them responded: “No matter how packed your schedule is, you can always add something extra to it!” After all, it was a business school.
“No,” the professor thundered. “This demonstrates the following: if you want the big stones to fit into something, you must first put them in.”
It was a lesson on priorities.
What are the “big stones” in your “container”? What is the most important thing in your life that needs to fit into it? Please, ensure there is a place for the “precious stones” in your schedule first. Otherwise, you will never find space for it, you will never reach it.
Selected by: Nives Lozar
From the book: Ajahn Brahm – The Cow Who Cried and Other Buddhist Stories of Happiness