Could a human being be like a taxi?

A few days ago I decided to take a yoga class in Ubud (Bali, Indonesia). I know: this is the typical topic for any Western tourist visiting Ubud.

The class was for really beginners but the instructor started with a beautiful metaphor comparing the body with a car and the mind with the driver. And he upgraded the concept by adding a passenger in the car, who is the soul.

That inspired me, after the class, to explore more mimetic between human beings and taxis.

The car is the physical element that transports the driver and passenger to the final destination. Then, the driver is the one who selects the route to take to reach the destination safely and quickly. And what the passenger does in this story? And then, BOOM! It hit me!

The passenger is the one who chooses the destination!

As in life, our body is our physical expression, and it allows us to navigate the world, experience events, take actions and perform in the physical plane.

And the mind is the one who drives us where we want to go. It’s the perfect servant able to plan actions, calculate risks, and decide to execute (or not) more or less complex actions.

But who chooses the destination, the purpose to fulfill along our journeys is the soul.

Can you imagine jumping in a taxi and, after the driver asks you “where do we go?”, your answer is “I don’t know, wherever you want… any place is ok”?

You will be passing the responsibility to the driver, to the servant. Because you had no time, courage or whatever to decide where to go.

And in the end, when the driver reaches “any place” and it’s the moment to pay for the ride, you will be in “any place”. Only that probably this “any place” was not what you expected. Your soul expected!

Is that maybe the reason that many people don’t find their life fulfilling enough? They feel they are constantly doing things but they don’t have a clear idea about where those actions are leading them?

Is that maybe the reason for so many people having a “mid-life crisis”? (I also had it, no shame on it! ??). Maybe at a certain age, our souls are finally able to speak out what is the destination they really want to reach...

There is a trend, a kind of dogma that came a few decades ago of body – mind – soul that states there is an intimate interaction between the three of them (nothing not stated before by ancient cultures, and the basis of yoga).

Nowadays, we can feel and grow the body by feeding it, working out and taking care of it when it is ill.

We developed ways to train the mind in schools, universities, etc (currently, more than ever before!).

But how we can develop our souls, and allow them to tell us what is our purpose in life?

In my opinion, I don’t think religion was a valid answer due to religion puts the focus on God, not on the soul.

Then, there is a space of emptiness when it comes to developing your soul on a solid basis. We can get some moral principles and values from our families and community, but it looks like society, in general, is not taking the discovery and development of our souls as a priority.

So, how to get out of this trend of letting the mind decide about our life? How to listen to where our soul wants to guide us?

How to don’t waste the ride?

#purposeonlife #lifegoals #lifeofpurpose #enjoythejourneyoflife #lifestyleforhappiness #livingthejourney #bodymindsoul #yoga #selfawareness #selfdevelopment

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