I was telling my husband about a good friend. “I just met her by chance,” I said.
“Who haven’t you met by chance?” he said.
Oh, right. Of course. “Thanks for pointing that out,” I said, feeling a little foolish.
But it made me think about how we meet people and it’s true. Mostly it’s by chance, except for blind dates—and I have to say that none of my blind dates turned into romances.
So, what’s the lesson here? To stop planning and trust everything to chance? Probably not, but maybe to plan a little less and trust a little more.
I recalled a passage from a favorite book, “The Snow Leopard” by Peter Matthiessen.
The author is embarking on a dangerous journey into the Himalayas and before departing, he visits his spiritual teacher, a Buddhist monk. “[He] rose from his black cushion,” Matthiessen writes, “and, taking me by the shoulders, touched my forehead three times with his own … and sent me on my way with a great shout. ‘Expect nothing!’”
I read and reread that advice. What could it mean to “Expect nothing”? Finally I realized that if you have no expectations, you can be open to whatever happens.
You can take a chance and let it take you where you need to go.