Who’s Driving Your Bus?

There is a metaphor that I find very helpful in my own life and in the lives of the people with whom I work. Imagine thinking of life this way. Imagine that your life is a bus rolling along down the road of life. If you really want your life to work well for you there are two important questions to can ask yourself. First, Who’s driving the bus? and secondly, Who and what is on your bus?

Who’s driving your bus?

Consider this way of looking at life. All we ever have in our lives are what I call “moments of now”. And the more fully present we are in each and every “moment of now” the better our life works. And at every “moment of now” our bus is being driven by either our Soul (strong, loving, wise, compassionate, playful, curious) of by our Ego (insecure, fearful, angry, selfish, guilt ridden, resentful, shamed, addicted, etc ). So whether our bus is being driven by our soul or by our ego really matters in determining the quality of our experience of our lives. 

Who and what is on our bus?

My notion is that if there is anything or anybody we want on our bus (such as a particular job, relationship, substance, cause, an activity/hobby, or even a belief system) then we need to find a way to have it on our bus that is healthy and is “soul nurturing”. If it is not “soul nurturing” it will become what I call “soul robbing” and it will create problems and sufferings such as insecurity, fear, anger, selfishness, guilt, resentment, shame, addictions, etc. in our lives. 

There is a voice I have heard several times in my life. It is always the same big, warm, loving voice. And each time I have heard it it has said something that has positively and profoundly changed my life. I once hear the voice say, “If you can’t say no to it , it’s running your life.” 

NOTE: It is also useful to understand that everything that comes out of our ego when it is coming from fear creates all the problems in our life. It is very important to understand that our fearful ego is coming out of an innocent but misguided strategy/response to a fear of death, not being in control, fear of abandonment, of not being seen or respected - a fear of loss of love. Our ego is not evil and it is not the enemy. It simply is afraid and seeks safety and the unconditional love if for which it longs. And it only knows to look out into the world of physical reality (money, sex, power, etc) to find that safety and unconditional love. But the world of physical reality does not make it in the size package our ego needs it - an omnipresent unconditional love. It is only through our soul that an omnipresent unconditional love be sourced to our ego.