And Maybe Not

Spiritual Story by Louis Szabo

Sometimes, insights come in unexpected ways and that is what happened to me recently. I was quietly sitting in a bus when two young women stepped in and sat, one beside me and the other one in front of me and to my left (this part of the bus had 4 seats, two seats were face to face). The lady sitting beside me wore a rucksack, and the lady across moved seats so that the woman would have a place to put her rucksack.

The lady with the rucksack then spoke up and said, "Oh, I'm used to it and I keep it with me in case someone wants to sit here". The other one responded " And maybe not."

I wouldn't have been more surprised if I had a Buddhist master facing me. That was the most surprising insight I had for a long time. I discovered suddenly that my inner talk with a dreadful tendency to picture the worst – you know the little story you keep telling yourself – could be wrong (or at least a negative outcome).

And what if all that could be a big mistake? And what if I didn't always have to believe in it? I discovered that all I had to do was introduce a simple "and maybe not."

What a relief...