It has been a while since I last used an acronym. It has also been a long while since my last muse. This acronym came to me at a moment where I realized my reaction to a certain situation was not making sense. It transported me to a recent past moment that I’m just getting over. I hear the question coming…so what’s the acronym?
W.H.Y.
What
Happened
Yesterday?
The lessons of yesterday help to shape our today and tomorrow. If you were to trip on an unevenly paved path yesterday, I’m sure that today you wouldn’t be caught by surprise.
How often do you allow your yesterday to shape your today? Of course there are positives and negatives to each story. Today I’ll focus on the negative, so that I shed more light on the origins of the acronym.
The hurts of yesterday…the let-downs…the doubts…the unanswered questions…of yesterday, can cause one to lash out or overreact to seemingly tiny things. How well do you know yourself to realize when it happens?
Because I love stories, let me attempt a borrowed one.
Potatoes, Eggs, and Coffee Beans
Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.
Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.
He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.
After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”
“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.
However, each one reacted differently.
The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.
However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “
Moral: In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.
Which one are you?
*****
So what does the story have to do with the beginning of the muse? Well, everywhere we look, we see opportunities to either be an egg, potato or coffee bean.
The boiling water of yesterday, could have made a potato of you. It could have also made an egg of you…seemingly unchanged on the outside but hard on the inside. However, in the boiling water of today, you have the option of being the coffee bean. Stronger and better with each rising degree of heat.
The hurts of yesterday, can make you love better tomorrow.
The let-downs of yesterday, can make you stand stronger tomorrow.
So, W.H.Y?