You know when you hear something and you know it is a good thing to remember? As I am moving from London to Oslo the quote “just go to the bus stop” came to mind.
I was at a silent meditation retreat and our teacher was talking about how he had stayed with a meditation teacher in India, far away from civilisation, when he was in his twenties. He was there for a couple of years. One day it was decided he (the student) was ready to go back to England. He didn’t have much possessions, just a bag to bring with him. The day before leaving he asked his teacher how to proceed with his travel back and his life going forward. The teacher answered: “Just go to the bus stop”. The student said: “But what do I do when I arrive at the bus stop, what if there is no bus that day, what do I do then? How do I pay, I don’t have enough money. How will I find a job, what is the right job for me? What do I do next in my life?”. The teacher looked at him and calmly replied: “Just go to the bus stop”.
The student did what his teacher had told him to do. He went to the bus stop, and once there he met someone who offered to help pay for his travel. The bus arrived the same day. A few days later he landed in London. He got a job right away and met his future wife at his new workplace.
I haven’t thought of this story since I was at the retreat five years ago. But what a wise story! As I was selling my house this past few weeks and moving everything into storage, it was helpful to remind myself that all I actually needed to do was to “just go to the bus stop”. For me, that meant:
- take the first step (= sell and move)
- trust what is happening (= don’t worry about whether I am doing the right thing or not)
- remember that I don’t need to have everything figured out to make things work (= let go of the need to control).
Maybe this is a story that is helpful for all of us, wherever we are in our life?
I wish you well! Annette X
(My teacher at the retreat was Martin Aylward. Apologies if the story is not retold exactly the right way – this is how I remember it!)
