Last week I shared a story in my blog about storks. A friend replied that she had seen storks nesting on top of columns in Ephesus where she and her husband had gone for a trip.  I love that! It reminds me that all our lives intersect in the most amazing ways.

One way was on a recent trip when I had a conversation with a cab driver who told me his name and then, when I had trouble pronouncing it, said that everyone just calls him Baba Gee (old man).

I had arrived very late that evening to the airport and had been in a snippy mood. When I got in the cab I didn’t feel like talking. At all. But Baba Gee wanted very much to talk, so I had listened. I could tell he was a Sikh by his turban, and he soon told me he was a “Sikh priest.”

As he talked on I barely responded, but he was not the least bit put off. He explained to me that he “was trying always to have a clear mind.” I couldn’t help asking how he achieved that. He said he was completely quiet for half an hour every day; that he did his yoga every day; and that he stayed away from social media. “The phones are very bad for a clear mind,” he explained. “They make you want things you don’t need, and not want things you need.”

By the time we arrived at my hotel I was a different woman. His gentle acceptance of me, even in my bad mood, his desire to share his love for his religion, and his generous wisdom had been just what I needed.

Since that ride, I have tried to use his advice in my own life, in ways I can understand and practice. For instance, that evening I decided not to turn on my hotel TV, something I usually do when traveling. I remembered that it always disappoints, distracts, and annoys me, and I thought I would try to spend time in better ways, ways that would be more likely to produce a “clear mind.”

The next day I did the same, cutting out time online and replacing it with gentle stretching, reading,  praying  and being out in nature. It was wonderful.

Simple things, yes, but I think Baba-Gee would approve.

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