Just move. These two words are very, very juicy. Often in our life we come up against circumstances that we try to shift, to change, to make better.
I am reminded of a story that the teacher, Gangaji tells that her teacher told her. It’s about a man in India. India is a very, very busy place. This man went to his teacher with a great problem. He told his teacher, “I cannot meditate.” In India and for him meditation was like water, it was like air. He said to his teacher, “I cannot meditate because I live above a machine shop.” In India and for this man, the machine shop ran 24 hours a day. He told his teacher, “It is too noisy. The noise goes on. There is never a break. I cannot meditate. I have tried over and over and over. I come to you to tell me what am I to do?” His teacher looked at him and told him, “It is very simple. You must move.”
It is very simple. You must move. Clearly, moving for this man was not that simple. Meditation was like breath to him, was like water to him. Let’s look at the advice. Just move. How often is it in our lives that we have an issue, something we’re trying to fix, something of great importance, and we don’t see the simplicity of the decision, just move. We see it as a great issue. A big deal. We get wrapped up in the big deal that we think it is. Very often, just moving is not a seemingly easy decision. There are many steps to take. However, moving was the answer.
If meditation is like breath, and the other situation is not changing, we need to change our situation. This has great relevance to many of us at so many points in our life. How many times have we been in a relationship where we’ve discussed things, we’ve explained our position to someone else and they’re not shifting, they’re not moving. What happens is instead of us moving out of the situation or changing how we feel in the situation we look to the other person to make the shift.
The beauty of this lesson isn’t just about this man moving, out of his home, it’s about him moving and not expecting the other situation, the other person to make the shift. We need to look inside ourselves. What is it we can shift in us? What is it that we actually have to shift about our physical circumstances, our perspective?
The lesson of the teaching is it’s all about us. It’s not the job for the other person to shift. It’s not about circumstances changing. We can bring awareness about how we feel about any situation. We can ask and bring conversation in a loving, kind, respectful way if there is another person who is involved. Ultimately, if we can’t find compromise, if we can’t find cooperation in this situation, we always have choice to move ourselves in the situation, in the way we feel about the situation. If,after we shift how we are and the situation is still intolerable, we can always make the choice to move out of the situation.
Just move.
Know each experience is an opportunity for you to grow. You have choice. Know the responsibility is always yours. The circumstances that you experience are always your experience. Just shift how you see each event. Shift how you feel about each event. When that shifting has not been effective, your job is to move.