I love taxi drivers. They have a certain wisdom that never ceases to inspire me. Most of us meet the same people every day, but taxi drivers meet and talk with many different people during their workday. Over the years, they become amazingly interesting people.
One day, my car was at the garage, and I had to take a taxi home from work. On the way, I had an interesting conversation with the driver, and when we arrived at my house, he stopped the car, but we continued our interesting conversation.
I don’t remember exactly how our conversation began, but since the driver was an interesting man and was in a philosophical mood, I felt free enough to share my dreams with him.
The Conversation with the Taxi Driver
“I have big dreams,” I said.
“Like what?” he asked
“I want to lose weight. I want to be rich. I want to end my mortgage payments. I want to be financially independent and stop working so hard, and I want to travel abroad often, without the need to look for cheap flights and hotels.” I answered.
“For how long have you been entertaining these dreams?” The driver asked me.
“I have had these dreams for lots of years.”
“Does anything in your life indicate that you are going to achieve any of them?
“Quite the opposite,” I answered.
“Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“What do you mean?” I asked
The taxi driver began sharing with me his life’s philosophy, and this is what he said:
“For many years, I had big dreams, and often fantasized about them. However, life’s circumstances led me to realize that I am not going to achieve them and make any significant impact on the world, nor to win the lottery.
Gradually, I began to understand that I must make peace with myself, enjoy what I have and be pleased with it.”
“I came to the conclusion that aiming too high causes only heart aches and disappointments,” concluded the driver in a serious tone of voice.
“All this pep talk about thinking big and aiming high, is one big lie, and the quicker you understand it, the better you’ll feel”, advised my new “guru”.
I thanked the driver and got out of the taxi, feeling confused, agitated and unsure of myself.
I did not know how to handle this information. On the one hand, the taxi driver was right; all I had was a bunch of unrealistic dreams that I stopped believing in them long ago, but on the other hand, I was not willing to crash my dreams.
Finally, I said to myself, “I need a new approach. I need to embrace with love what I have and decide to be content with it.”
I liked this new attitude, as it gave me inner peace and self-acceptance.
A few days later, I saw on TV a very impressive music video clip of the singer Lady Gaga. For a few minutes, she gave am amazing performance of dancing and singing while wearing extravagant outfits.
“This music video clip was not created overnight,” I thought to myself. Then, I made a little research on music video clips.
As I “suspected”, these few moments on the screen required months of hard work, endless rehearsals, learning the steps of the dance, and working with a team of musicians, dancers, producers and dressmakers.
This insight and understanding made me think again about the conversation I had with the taxi driver a while ago.
I realized that the desire to lose weight, to be rich, to end my mortgage payments, and the desire to be financially independent could never come true, unless I was willing to step beyond my comfort zone.
I understood that fantasizing and daydreaming occasionally about the things I want would bring me nowhere, unless I was willing to back up my dreams with real actions.
These thoughts made me realize that taxi driver was indeed a smart philosopher. He wanted me to think and to change my attitude.
His words led to two options. If I agreed with what he said, then I would crash my dreams and learn to be okay with it. However, if I find his words annoying and do not agree with what he said, (which finally happened), I shall begin TO THINK BIG, and look for ways to realize my dreams in real life.
About the Author
Dorina Sasson has been trained in Louise L. Hay’s teacher training course, and is a certified teacher for “You can heal your life” study course, and “Love yourself, heal your life” workshop.