Newsletter No. 31 Ruswil - March 2005

Table of Contents

Foreword 1 

Jodokus the monk looked in the diary 3 

† Can. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann 6 

Paolo Stirnimann 8 

Forum "Time Management" 10 

Miscellaneous

Dear relatives and acquaintances

Dear members and friends of our family Association

"Everything takes its time". With the quote from Voltaire (from: Amabed's Letters) I warmly welcome you in the new year of the association. Yes, another year is over and the emotional impression that time flies faster and faster, gets bigger from year to year. To our reassurance, however, we know that time does not run faster or slower, despite our perception. But we know that there are other factors in modern society that you will certainly experience in your own situations. Stress and increased hustle and bustle are indications that you want to make the most of your time. In professional life, time costs expensive money, which must not be wasted. On holiday, on the other hand, the time just melts away, so that you hardly dare to cut off a small piece of it for your needs, because you could miss something exciting.

In everyday life, the saying has crept in here and there "I do not care." Do you remember situations in which you seized on these words? And were you aware of what you said? For me, this saying would have to be in the hit parade the unvoices belong, because considered, this statement can not be true. The fact is that each one of us has time, our lifetime. Some have a bit more, the others a little less. There is something else hidden behind this saying, such as the fear of saying no or having a guilty conscience, when I have to make clear to my counterpart that his concerns are unimportant to me.

Basically, you always take the necessary time for meaningful and important things in life. No time or just have time for me is the expression of a personal rating, which is important to me or unimportant. I find this attitude absolutely legitimate, because ultimately it must and should be in your own hands to recognize meaningful and important things in life. The difficulty is usually only to become aware of the important thing.

In a course I attended last fall I learned, under the topic "time management", the story of the old professor, who had to give a lecture to the future managers over time. You will find this text, whose author is unfortunately unknown, in this newsletter under the heading "Forum". Take the time to read the story. At the end you will see in amazement how much time you would actually have available. In any case, I wish you many conscious thoughts and a new time consciousness.

Many things need time, our life has its time. Our board of directors had to take note of the surprising departure of our esteemed honorary member Prof. Dr. med. theol. Joseph Stirnimann, choirmaster of the Kollegiatstiftes zu Lucerne. On Wednesday, October 13, Joseph Stirnimann was buried at the age of 89 years. At the solemn farewell service in the Hofkirche, Probst Johannes Amrein read the obituary. With his agreement, this is published again in this newsletter. With Joseph Stirnimann we lose not only a founder of our family association but also a fellow human being whose untiring work was a stroke of luck for our association. On behalf of the Board, I thank the deceased for his great service and express our sincere condolences to his sister Maria Stirnimann. "Lord, give him eternal life, and the eternal light shines on him, Amen."

Many things take time, many things come from time to time. So three years have passed since our last family meeting in Buttisholz. The Board has decided that the 12th Family Meeting will take place on Sunday, September 11, 2005 in Sempach (Economy for Battle: www.schlacht.ch). The beautiful landscape around the Sempach Sea, but also The traffic-favorable situation of Sempach were reasons to decide us for the historical place "battle". Take some time to travel to Sempach on this autumn Sunday and meet relatives and acquaintances. The board is trying hard, together with the business part to put together an interesting program. Again, a brunch is planned. Let yourself be surprised. All you have to do is reserve the date and if the invitation is sent with the detail program in July, do not miss the registration. In any case, I am already looking forward to many interesting encounters.

Many things take time, many things are "in" time. Once again, Franz Stirnimann and his son Roland Stirnimann got ready for the interview series and found a conversation partner in the person of Paolo Stirnimann, sales manager and marketing manager of the company "CHICCO D'ORO" in Balema TI. I would like to thank Mr Paolo Stirnimann for the interview and of course Franz and Roland for the coverage.

Incidentally, the Executive Board is pleased when suggestions and ideas also come from the members of the association. Just contact a board member.

Many things just need time, all things have a conclusion, as well as my preface. I wish you, dear members of the association, many interesting moments when reading the Newsletter 2005 and I look forward to welcoming you in September in Sempach.

Best regards

President Beat Stirnimann

The monk Jodokus looked in the diary

(Continuation)

Father Jost Stirniman (monastic name Jodokus, Jodok) lived from 1654-1706, of which 36 years in the monastery Muri, AG. In the years 1695 to 1697 he followed attentively the course of the construction work on the today's monastery church.

The original of his diary is in the archive of the College Sarnen. In the next newsletter we publish a part of this diary. Here already the 1st episode.

1681

At the beginning of the year, a comet of appalling length and size was observed for several weeks. 

On April 17, when our Lord Abbot assisted and supervised the workers in the garden of the women, who were to raise a wall which they had torn during the preceding Lent, that same apoplexia was hit at 9 o'clock in the morning. For this reason, he was in great danger for a long time and could not move his left hand and his arm as well as his foot for a long time.

On the 18th of June, our abbot set out for the Baden Spa. 

On June 8, our French lay brother Spéni from Bern died.

On July 12, Father Prior set off for Baden in the Valais, with our Joachim as a traveling companion. 

On August 10, our Father Prior Wäber, who comes from Lucerne, returned from the cure that he visited in Valais.

On the 19th of August [unles.] Returned from the bath. 

On September 4, I called our surgeon Jaco- bus Suter to my cell, four hours after supper, to have him check and see if I did not have a break on the right side, or if I was not in danger of breakage , But he looked, touched and checked the passage, noting that there was no break, and no sign and no danger of breakage - thank God - but that it was something else, some unhealthy excrement, with the help of remedies could easily be expelled again. So he told me to heat some wine full and a meager point full of saffron in which thuon ought to anoint it with ointment, that is how it would pass. but when it did not go away from its ointment, I had it examined and felt again on the 12th of this month, and he again told me that there was no danger of breakage, for if it were a break it would be so To leave the pretty book in the book when you touch it with your finger, and if your finger would go into the book, but because it would not let you dig into the book, it would not be a rupture, but I'll have it again but it has no other effects on it, and even more about it, just under the other and larger, so on the 17th of this month I called the doctor into the hypocausus of the monastery and had him examined again And again he assured me that he did not find any sign of any break, any danger, and that therefore the substances mentioned no longer needed, since it would be better if I did not use anything. Then, according to his mine of chathars, and down-flowing rivers, it could happen that this beautiful lady was brought together to one ear, and thus a larger egg would come out of it, which would have been better off than on white.

On the 8th of September the Father and Venerable Capuchin Marcus of Aviano visited the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Because of his arrival there was such a casserole of people that they could not be counted. But the number of careful men has been estimated at [unles.] A thousand of both sexes, who attended his holy blessing, which he bestowed on the stage of the upper church, where he went to church. It had such a great and wondrous effect that the doves heard, the lame walked, and the sick healed according to their faith. Everyone was happy when he could hear, see and touch him for his sanctity. For with all he stood in the greatest hope and expectation of holiness, because of the many wonders he had performed here and elsewhere.

After this blessing, he was led to the monastery church by the crusade, where he confessed to me by the confessional door, to us religious men, all of whom had been serene, with sapmt the gracious heren of the twentieth: the biblical encyclopedia has given, after which one has his into the Churches were opened, the chancel, everywhere he knelt in front of the high altar, under deme one sang something by the örgalin, after the … ... he was called up in the gracious leader Capel, when he was asked to bend the articles of the religious aldorten, brought together, waters, win also tree oil et alia fluida geledicierdt; After that, he was sent to the chamber-house, though that would be the first time, but which was narrow and small, true, he did not eat meat, his drink was half-water and half-wine, and not much. 

On September 15, in the presence of the Abbot and the other Conventuals, we publicly entered the Convention, entering into legal studies under Professor Aegidius, who was called from Beinwil Monastery to teach secular and canon law.

On the 10th of October I was enrolled in the Society and Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel, which was the scapulier bruederschaf, by a Father of the Carmelite Order, who had the authority and permission to enroll in the Brotherhood and to spend the scapulars, and who was a guest in our monastery.

On October 28, a chapter was held in which three boys from the school were included in the novitiate: Philippus Mattler from Baden, Florianus Luther from Uri and Muritius Acklin from Zurzach.

On the 8th of December, at the time of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the named boys were dressed as novices.

There was a chapter in which two lay brothers were included in the novitiate, namely Casparus John [unles.] And Lucas [unles.], Our tailor.

1682

On the 6th of January the two lay brothers Casparus Johannes [unles.] And Lucas [unles.], Our tailor, were dressed for the novitiate. 

On the 19th of March, on the day of St. Joseph, I was arranged with Father Martinus Glutz in the afternoon to receive the confession, because this St. Joseph's Day was the Thursday before Palm Sunday (April 10). Because I was in doubt as to whether I had limited or unrestricted authority, I went to our Abbot Jerome Troger and questioned him about it. Then he told me that he gave me the authority he gave to the others; and as the others would have them, I too should have them; and what the others could do and with good conscience, concerning the absolution and the further circumstances of the confession, I should be able to do that and behave in everything like this; and that I may exercise rights like the others, those who perceive others. He also told me that he would not deny me the authority to receive the confession, but that I should continue to receive the confession. But he instructed me to carefully heed the following and the like: 1. that I should approach confession with maturity, 2. that in confession I should only discuss that which has something to do with the inner conscience, 3. that I 4. Do not undertake anything with the penitents outside of confession, 4. That I do not receive any girls for confession, 5. That I should pray in the fear of God nothing but the salvation of souls. Likewise, I asked him if, if I asked him to exempt me from confession, he would grant it. He answered me that I had to wait and see what he would tell me if I asked for it.

On May 20, our abbot set out for Pfäfers for a cure, and with him Fr. Gregorius, the master of the kitchen, who also bathed, and Fr. Victor, who drank only, and Fr. Carolus, who also bathed, but at the beginning his cure fell into a frosty fever. 

June. In the month of June there was a terrible cattle-raiding, which, as it was said, was done by master-magistrates, or otherwise evil magicians. but, as it is said, so that the cattle-Prussia had originated in Germany, and had passed through the fake Bernese Hunderer in the right territory, and also in many other countries, than in Burgundy, in the Bonichraudt pischoffts, in Alsace and has continued at a rapid pace, which in a short time passed through the whole of Switzerland. And as it was said, every day, for three hours, to a great distance; looking for the flying cancer genambt. but the presten was dissert: the cattle, as hens, Oches, Schaff, Schwein, pffärdt, and what it has on larger, came over the prstenest at the tongues, at some the tongues became smoke and came over plottren, to which the tongues were split up: Some snubs sometimes have a tendency to smell tongues, and if one does not know how to do so, the tongues would need to degenerate their tongues within 24 hours, and fall out of their mouths, and then they would be invaded, and they would not be able to secrete them. But you did not notice the presten, or you would... Open their mouths and look at their tongues. Then they eat and drink, as if they wan each other until their tongues were purged and turned out to the mouth.

It remains, however, that there is no addiction, and that it is not prone to sin, that after four days or five, nothing would be attacked and invaded.

The milk, as well as the meat of the inveterate livestock, did not ate: the instruments that were used to keep the cattle out had to be sauffer cleaned and washed. This is said to be the case of a seiye who, with a taller cow, scrounged the tongues (as it was necessary to drive the addiction away), to swallow the taller in the mouth, because he could not possibly place him anywhere else he was soon obeying and dying, but where it happened he was not aware of me.

June 23rd Alhie to Muri has started the cattle-priests on the 23rd of June in Vigilia S. Joannis Baptistae: the other day the disagreeable addiction has already turned into a train and has shown.

But it did not last long, because after four or five days it would have vanished again. It has not done much harm to us, since we would have to help the cattle by means of special means, especially with blessed things: for it It has not been heard that in ours there was anything corrupted: as an alein to Hafflin or Wilis a pig, but the monastery 5 Gänss.

On the 18th of July it burned in a village called Rottischil, not far from Hermetschwil. 

August. Towards the end of August, a comet was seen that was to be seen for 18 days or three weeks.

On the 9th of September we held a funeral at the altar of St. Leontius, with the deacons and the Ceremonies in honor of St. Leontius for the happy end of the division of Glarus, which today, as has been said, should meet.

On October 6, we held a chapter in which Mr. Studt, pastor in Boswil, was entrusted with the office of Sursee, previously held by Mr. Camerarius, Prince of Blessed Memory. The office Boswil but got Mr. John Casparus Wolläb from Uri, a relative of our abbot. 

On the 12th of October, Fr. Georgius celebrated his first Mass for the consecration of the monastery church.

On the 3rd of October, on the Saturday before the feast of the Holy Rosary, there was such a storm at the ninth hour of the night that it was astonishing: then it had flashed and tonnret, so that one must have blessed the waker: and rage over the wader as in the somer: they say that in the area of Zug by Steinhaussen, there was a great deal of haggling, and that they did great harm to the weynräben.

On the thirteenth of October I again took up the lovely beautiful bottles, which two years ago I gave a meidtlin of rüödisweil, which, with sanct Leontij heiltumb, had given birth to carry home, but which does not know how to lard it; and all the way to Mr. Joan's first sacillano was sold in hodorff … ... which he sent me to keep up my strivings, but with the condition that I ought to overthrow him for that, if he had it. Disse bottles are very well engraved, with blooms and bushes trimmed, with instruments Musicis, it also find some sacred biltnussen it stung, then she is six egen. On the one side of the page, S. Martinus is seated at the Pfardt, and the almuossen was prettily engraved on the baker: on the other, the biltnus S. Augustini, in the footsteps of S. Dominicus, on the fierdte, S. Carolus Boromeus, auff five S. Benedictus, on the sixth, the wapen Herr Jacobi gigers, with disser undergres. the crafted Mr. Jacobus Geiger, organist of the famous monastery Muri, has made in affection this vessel Philip Ruos. In 1631, on the ground, there are no words. Philipus Ruos fecit. and also the Jahrzall darbey. 1631. and a twelve-line dash.

On 15 October, a chapter was held in which Messrs. Hidt and Johann Caspar Wolläb should present their request for office (which had already been transferred to them from the chapter on October 6, but which had not yet been officially notified to them by the chapter, because they were not present at that time), … ... so that they have now been officially and solemnly transmitted to them from the chapter, according to our custom and custom. Compare what was said above on October 6th.

In this chapter, Father Nicolaus has been appointed Professor of Philosophy.

On the 1st of December, a chapter was held to accept novices, and professors were admitted to them, Br. Philippus Mattler from Baden, Br. Florianus Luther from Uri and Mauritius Josephus Acklin from Zurzach.

On December 8, the novices Fr. Philippus Mattler from Baden, Br. Florianus Luther from Uri and Mauritius Josephus Acklin from Zurzach did a good job. And they have been called or named with the following names: Br. Florianus was called Andrew, Br. Mauritius Josephus was called Philip, Br. Philip was called Josephus.

On 19th December a chapter was held for the lay brothers and novices John Casparus [unles.] From the Zuger Land and Lucas, our tailor. In which both were taken up by the chapter to do profession on the coming Epiphany.

sequel follows

† Can. Dr. Joseph Stirnimann 10.07.1915 - 09.10.2004

Dear Joseph,

As the mildness of the setting sun brings evening to you after a happy, but also after a turbulent day, your old age has brought you, after a certain not always easy life, the kindness and gratitude that I admired. 

Even for the smallest service that I could do you, you thanked you every time impressively. You have given me your brotherly trust in all your affairs in a mass that is only possible among trusting friends. I thank you for that. But I am also relieved that you did not bitterness and grudging at your age. This testifies to your human size. That does not mean that you could not talk about your difficult hours, your bitter disappointments in your professional life.

I already met you in 1947, when you were a chaplain in Grosswangen, always dressed with the usual priest-priestess, slender and elegant, and people said "ghdudiert and clever." When I entered the seminary in Lucerne in 1949, our chaplain von Grosswangen had become professor of fundamental theology and church law, as the successor of the then very popular and adorned with many anecdotes Chorherrn and Prof. von Ernst, better known under the pseudonym “Bubi."

But you've become a professor quickly in this resume. You were also a boy, born on July 10, 1915 in Nottwil. Already after 3 years you lost your father in the flu-time of 1918 and your younger brother was born when your father already died. Your mother brought the 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys, with the income from the special store in Nottwil, where she sold food, cloth and wool. The fact that your family and the whole family of Stirnimann of Ruswil meant a lot to you is also shown by the extensive family research you did as a hobby. Your sister Mary, who has accompanied you in your life to this day, I say my heartfelt condolences here. After the elementary schools, you have completed the high school with the Matura at the Benedictines in Einsiedeln Abbey. 

After studying in Lucerne, Milan and Rome, you were ordained a priest on 2 July 1941 in Solothurn and sent to Willisau the same summer by Bishop Francis of Streng as vicar. You have your further studies graduated in Rome with a doctorate in canon law and thus equipped, taught at the former seminary from 1949 - 59. It was a hard experience for you when, in 1959, Bishop Francis deprived you of permission to teach for reasons I do not even know. You then devoted yourself to research in the field of periodicals and in 1974 became a titular professor at the Theological Faculty of Lucerne. In 1980, the Government Council appointed you the choirmaster of this Collegiate Church of St. Leodegar.

After this rather objectively dry part, I allow myself to say something quite different from you. When many visited the newly restored provost, you said in the staircase at a window opening, "should not be inserted here a rod, it could fall down a child." That's what no one else said, and probably not thought of children in the provost, but the bars are there. 

You have shown a sensibility which, admittedly, I would not have expected without further ado. - Your favorite animal was the cat. You had two cats in your household. Currently these are a black and a tiger. And your sister told me the day before yesterday: I think the cats are looking for the brother. Its possible. I do not want to do deep psychological thinking about cats, but I think it also testifies to human sensibility when a person loves animals. Maybe it will make it easier for him to show his feelings. - "The zeal for your house consumes me", not without reason I have chosen this gospel text with this psalm quote (69). 

I have often had the impression that such zeal for the house of God has determined your actions and speech, lying or inconvenient, understood or misunderstood. - And last but not least: I really did not know that you played the violin. But it seems to me, as if in this game the whole thing rounds off. The violin only plays with tense strings. May all the tensions of your life dissolve in the harmony of divine love. Amen.

Johannes Amrein, 

Pen Probst

Paolo Stirnimann

Italianità with Swiss quality

The Ticino coffee roasting plant Chicco d'Oro - the golden bean - was founded in Balerna near Chiasso in 1949. The family-owned company employs around 60 people in its new, approximately 6,000-square-meter building. Another twelve people work in the store in Italy, ten are in the field service are traveling in the field and about 60 women are at Chicco d'Oro tastings. In addition, Chicco distributes d'Oro tea, chocolate and Cigarettes. In Ticino, the Main clientele, the hospitality industry, directly supplied. In German-speaking Switzerland, Chicco d'Oro can be found in all major sales channels. In addition to Migros (35 percent market share) and Coop (30 percent), the South Tyrolean company, with its approximately 15 percent market share in Switzerland, is one of the largest coffee roasters in the country.

Selling a fridge to a Eskimo is not easy. It is just as difficult when a foreigner wants to make his coffee tasty for the Italians. The Ticino coffee roastery Chicco d'Oro did the trick. The brand with the golden bean and the cornucopia in the signet. Paolo Stimimann is also in the family business in Balerna near Chiasso. We visited the 42-year-old sales manager at the headquarters in southern Ticino.

"It takes time, but now we are also accepted in Italy and are successful," says Paolo Stirnimann satisfied to the successful market entry in the land of coffee. "Our mix - Italianità with Swiss quality - is well received, knows Stirnimann, who has been working at Chicco d'Oro for a good eight years." The Swiss love Italianità, the Italians appreciate the Swiss quality. "We benefit from this mutual image," says Stirnimann. But that takes patience. And that has the family business, which was founded in 1949. "At the very beginning of the company's history, two to three hundred kilograms of coffee were roasted per day," says Stirnimann. Slowly it went up then. The many Italian guest workers in Ticino brought their compatriots home to the golden taste of southern Switzerland. Today in Balerna an average of 15 to 20 tons of coffee per day can be roasted. In peak times it is even around 40 tons, explains Stirnimann.

But leaning back and drinking coffee at Chicco d'Oro despite the success not. Although, in the guest room where we meet Paolo Stirnimann, it smells very seductive of freshly roasted coffee - as in and around the entire company headquarters.

The golden bean wants to continue to conquer the world. Russia, China, Hong Kong and, surprisingly, South America are the new sales markets. "Just imagine," enthuses Paolo Stirnimann, "if only one percent of the Chinese would drink coffee! "Chicco d'Oro is working on it. And with her Paolo Stirnimann. "It's the most interesting thing I've done so far." He travels a lot, gets to know new cultures, languages and mentalities. "I have to do with the whole world," enthuses Stirnimann. He was the born salesman. Even as a child, in the bakery and the grocery store of his parents, he helped out all the time. However, Paolo Stirnimann accidentally came to the taste of coffee, so to speak.

For 10 years he worked at a bank, 4 years in Chiasso, then 6 years in Zurich. In Scotland, he attended school for a year before returning to Ticino. For two years he worked as an insurance agent. "A very tough job and the commissions are barely enough for newcomers today," says Stirnimann. He switched to a company that made insulation. The business was splendid, too splendid. Stirnimann: "The company was too fast, too big." Then the company collapsed, went bankrupt. Stirnimann started again - at Chicco d’Oro.

But where is the secret of the success of the family business? Chicco d'Oro imports eight different coffees from around the world along the Equator. From this the optimal mixture is created. "Using only one type of pure would be risky," explains Paolo Stirnimann. "Because it's a natural product that changes its taste." That's why the fragrance and taste are always brewed before and after roasting. "The coffee beans must be fresh, the mixture must be right and roasting must be slow," reveals Stirnimann. That would be more expensive, but the quality is much, much better.

There are also some tips to be followed when making the preparation, so that the coffee spreads its full taste. The grinding, the water pressure and the softest possible, ie low-calcium water, is what Paolo Stirnimann calls. Which coffee maker does the best, decides the personal preference of each. The huge coffee museum at the headquarters of Chicco d'Oro, which is full of exclusive rarities from all over the world, bears witness to this: coffee mills in all shapes and sizes, coffee sets from England to Vienna to the deep the Orient, pots and jugs and, and. A good 2,000 exhibits are displayed in the spotless room. Again, so many camp out of lack of space in the basement. A true paradise for coffee and culture lovers.

Culture, together with coffee, is also the other passion of Paolo Stirnimann. "But there is not much time," he regrets a little. If, then he is on his way with his mandolin. In a 30-member orchestra on big stages - or in a trio on a cozy Grotto tour. "Music calms down, that's my second world," he reveals. He also walks, goes fishing or picking mushrooms. And how does it live as Stirnimann in Ticino? "I'm a bit divided," he says, who has the civil rights of Emmen and Knutwil and grew up in Ticino. To be a Stirnimann, but make him proud.

Finally, Paolo Stirnimann reveals the anecdote about the origin of coffee: Monks in Ethiopia, as the legend knows, discovered one day that their goats are much more alert when they have nibbled on the beans from the coffee bush. The monks also tried, but at first made a bitter experience and threw the inedible green beans into the fire. It was not long before a seductive fragrance swept the monks. The coffee was discovered.

Roland Stirnimann

Coffee has conquered the whole world in the last few centuries. Originally from Ethiopia, the brown bean in North Africa, Turkey and finally in Europe and the rest of the world thrilled the connoisseurs. 

Incredible 590 billion cups of coffee are drunk worldwide today. Record holder: the Swiss! Nowhere else there are more coffee makers per capita in the world, as in our country. The latest development with the capsule systems is booming just like the cold Caffè latte. Central Swiss milk producer Emmi already sells around 5 million cups per month. In the next few years 100 million will be sold. Worldwide, about 25 million people live directly from the coffee business.

The brown bean has it all. But of the approximately 80 types of coffee trees, only two of them still have significance today. The Arabica and Robusta beans. The differences:

Arabica:

Makes two thirds of the coffee production worldwide. The tree grows best at altitudes between 600 to 2000 meters, especially in Central and South America and on the east coast of Africa. Arabica beans contain little caffeine, their taste is rounded, mild, aromatic.

Robusta:

In contrast, the robusta coffee tastes edgier and rougher and contains almost three times as much caffeine. Robusta is cultivated at heights of up to 600 meters - especially in the tropical regions of Africa and Asia as well as in Central and South America.

FORUM

Time Management

A famous professor was to give a talk on time management at a well-known American university at a seminar for managers.

The old professor stood before this elite and watched them slowly, one by one, and said: "We will make an experiment!”

The professor took out a large glass and put it on the table. Then he took a dozen stones, about the size of tennis balls, and carefully placed them one after another in the big glass. When this was filled and it was no longer possible to add another stone, the old professor looked back into the audience and said, "The glass is full" - everyone saw that the glass was full and they nodded in agreement. He waited a few seconds and added, “Really?"

He then leaned down and produced a container of gravel under the table. With care, he tipped this gravel on the big stones, shaking his glass lightly. The gravel penetrated through the stones to the glass bottom.

The old professor looked again at his audience and asked again: "Is this glass now full?" This time the students saw through his game. One of them replied, "Probably not!" - "Good," the professor replied. He bent down again and this time he took out a cauldron of sand under the table. Carefully, he tipped the sand into the glass. The sand filled the holes between the stones and the gravel. He asked again: "Is the glass full now?”

This time the staring participants answered together and without hesitation "No!" - "Good!" Said the old professor. And as expected, he took a jug of water and filled the glass to the top.

He then looked at his group and asked, "What is the experience of this experiment?”

After thinking about the topic of the course, one participant replied, "It shows that even if you think the agenda is completely full, you can always add new, important dates if you really want to!”

"No!" Called the professor. "It is not that. The great truth that this experiment shows us is the following:" Unless you put the big stones in the glass first of all, the others will not let you in! “

There was a big silence suddenly. Everyone became aware of the truth of this statement.

The old professor then asked, "What are the big stones in your life? To realize health, family, friends, dreams, do what you like, learn, serve a thing, relax, take your time, right? - What you have to remember is how important these big stones are in our lives. If you do not bring them into your life first and foremost, you run the risk of destroying your life. If one gives precedence to happiness (gravel, sand), one fills one's life with trivialities, and the precious time to occupy ourselves with meaningful and important things in life will always be lacking. So do not forget to ask yourself the question: which are the big stones of your life? After that, you deliberately put it in your glass first. “

With a friendly hand movement, the old professor said goodbye to his audience and slowly left the hall.

Author unknown