# Mum left him on the High Street

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-lost-child-high-street
- Themes: trust, childhood, London, family
- Life situations: parenting, abandonment fears

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

As a child in London his mother leaves him outside on the High Street while she shops — early lesson in trust, fear and return.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

my mother took me not to the shopping center in London those days were just the High Street

## Teaching point

Early separations teach both trust and over-reaction when trust breaks.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

According to his grandmother, baby Ajahn Brahm was once left outside the shops on Acton High Street while his mum went home without him. He seems to have enjoyed the solitude. We start life with blind trust, then get hurt and stop trusting at all. Better to keep trusting, with wisdom alongside it.

## Source

- [The Value of Trust | Ajahn Brahm | 10 Feb 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiohzd0zgIQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 2:30 to 2:38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiohzd0zgIQ&t=150s