There is something special in overhearing other people’s conversations on public transport. You only get a limited amount of time next to strangers during travelling but can have insight about their life and their core values. Or you only capture a sentence of their conversation but that activates your mind to apply the listened aspects to your own life or wonder about how the heard things can be relevant in your current unsolved situation.

This morning’s journey was a prime example of this. When I got on the train towards London Victoria, I overheard a long conversation between a younger, very motivated guy and a quiet older man. I don’t usually listen to other people’s conversations but it caught my attention that the young guy was talking about Jesus and how this reflected in everything he does in his life. He was talking about corporate mission of embedding spirituality into even sparetime activities like football. I am neither religious nor spiritual, but it was good to hear that there are still people who believe in Gods and rituals and I really enjoyed listening to this information exchange. The young guy dominated the conversation and his passionate views about religion and his vision of the direction of his area was very motivational for me to hear. I reminisced about the time when I was part of a Buddhist group in SW London for a while but I never really believed that chanting one japanese sentence for half an hour can change my lifestate. Yet I loved the Buddhist philisophy of life especially the teachings about karma. One of the best thought on this was from president Ikeda:

“This is the time to surely and steadily create the causes for your future victory – to sow seeds that will bear fruit later. In planting a forest, some of the seeds might be carried away by birds. If that happens, just plant some more. Some of the young shoots that emerge may be destroyed by the elements. Again, just plant some more. As you repeat this process again and again, eventually you will create a vast forest. This is the principle of Buddhism.”

I also overheard one sentence on my way to the tube which was a very heavy topic at 8.00am on a Tuesday morning: “You are not getting any younger, are you?” This sentence always makes me wonder about my life decisions, especially nowadays as I am getting closer to 40 and so any decisions I make now would influence my next years tremendously.

Having known that I am in an emotional turmoil at the moment, I am very observant about any kind of information in my environment as I think we can learn from anyone in our lives and I strongly believe that overhearing certain things are not coincidences but life’s way of diverting us to certain paths. We just need to be opened to any information that crosses our path as one may be the missing puzzle that helps us to step into the best path possible….