Experience this Bus Passanger Metaphor...!
The bus-passenger metaphor describes the ways in which our thoughts, emotions and memories seem to drive our life.
Close your eyes. Imagine you’re sat in the driver’s seat, steering the wheel and watching passengers walk in and out.
The bus represents our mind and the passengers symbolize our thoughts and feelings. You are the driver who exists separately from the passengers.
As the driver, you’ll make important decisions about the direction and speed of the bus. Some passengers may loudly express opinions about your driving, others may sit in silence.
The scared passenger: “Don’t go there, it’s unsafe!”
The impatient passenger: “Stop driving so slowly!”
The self-destructive passenger: “Turn around!”
The passengers get louder and louder and you begin to listen to their demands. You get overwhelmed, anxious and stressed because instead of acknowledging that it's okay for the passengers to feel this way, you shut them out.
Whilst feeling a rush of emotion, you forget that the passengers cannot touch you. They cannot move the bus. The passengers will always have a seat but they will never drive the bus, only you can.
Similarly, your thoughts will never control you. They can never touch you. Negative and positive thoughts, neither can define you because they are simply passengers passing by.
Would you ever refuse a nasty passenger from boarding your bus? No. Similarly, listen to both your good and bad thoughts, acknowledge their existence. Instead of hearing “I’m worthless”, rephrase the thought with, “I am having a thought that says I’m worthless”. By doing this, you are objectifying the thought, rather than yourself.
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