'Whatever is your right will come to you'

image from http://barakadefoto.com

I enjoy hanging out with monks.  They have a very simple yet profound take on things.

"How will I know the right path for me?", I asked Sister Sushila, the coordinator of the retreat center I volunteer in during my weekends.  She gave me a one-liner , "Choose that one which makes you happy".

I was waiting for a long lecture but she didn't say anything else.

My heart tells me that it is the right thing to do but my left brain wants to get to the how-to's.

So, I  posed the same query to Sister Natalie (the same one I had a chit chat with the other time).  Her reply was shorter, "Do not think."

These monks are driving me crazy.  I went to them for answers but I end up asking more questions, such as "How do you do that?!"

"Just flow", she said.  "Just as the water from the river follows the jagged path until it reaches the ocean".

For a week, I've been pondering about the idea of 'not thinking' until Sister Agnes, the resident in the meditation center in Manila unknowingly blurted out the magic words.  In her usual upbeat voice and smiling face (sometimes, I mistake her for a clown) she enthusiastically related, "Karen, whatever is your right will come to you!".

In that instant, all the puzzle pieces fit.

I don't have to split my head thinking about the future because if I'm ready the next track will present itself.  I always hear the line "When the student is ready the teacher will appear".  In the same way, if I am happy with where I am at the moment, the right path will surface.  It is best to accept how things are (a.k.a. flow).  Overthinking and discontentment serve as a fog which covers the roads I have to choose from.  When it has dissipated then it is easy to make the right decision because I can clearly see which road truly makes me happy.

My monk friends are right, it doesn't take rocket science.  I simply have to just be and 'whatever is my right will come to me'.