Happy Monday! Episode 3
Taking loving kindness on the road
Transcript
Good morning and happy Monday! If you’re wondering why I am coming to you from my car this time, it’s because for many of us the work week actually begins with that first commute on Monday morning. And how that commute goes can set the tone for the whole day.
Do you remember the George Carlin routine where he says everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot, and everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac? The reason that’s so funny is because it is exactly how most of us feel about every other driver on the road!
While we can’t do anything about the idiots and maniacs, we can control how we respond to them, so this week I’m inviting you to participate in an experiment I call “Taking loving kindness on the road.”
Here’s how it works. For the rest of the week, every time you find yourself getting annoyed with another driver, stop and instead of seeing him or her as an anonymous driver, picture them as a complete person, with hopes and dreams and fears and struggles, not unlike your own, and then wish them well by saying aloud, “May you be safe. May you be happy.”
So when that guy cuts you off on the freeway, you assume he is in a hurry to get home and help his wife with the sick kids, so you smile and say, “May you be safe. May you be happy.”
When you look in the rearview mirror and you see a woman following a little too close, you’re sure she is on her way to the animal shelter to rescue puppies and kittens, and she is so excited, she didn’t realize how fast she was going. You smile. “May you be safe. May you be happy.”
It may feel strange at first to be talking to someone who can’t hear you or respond to you, but let’s be honest, you’ve never let that stop you from cussing out another driver.
We have enough road rage on our highways. Let’s try to counter that with some loving kindness, and in the process, set a more positive tone for our own days. It’s a win-win.
And that’s it for today, short and sweet. I wish for you a safe and peaceful commute and a happy Monday. Enjoy your week! I’ll see you next Monday.
Oh, Christie, as you know this post hits close to home for us this week. Not that road rage was a part of the events of last weekend, at least not on the part of my sweet MIL.
I used to be a very hurried, harried, angry driver. And I can still get pretty hot around the collar if I am in a hurry and no one else in the cars around me seems to be. It does help to see others as humans with lives, just trying to get where they are going. I am more patient with senior drivers now that I am one!!
PC is 6 years younger than I am and not a senior yet, and not quite as patient as I have become in my ‘advanced’ years. I will remind him of your wise words next time I sense that he is getting angry behind the wheel.
I’ve been thinking of you and your family, Leslie, and hoping you will find some peace. As for traffic, I sometimes forget, but when I remember to consider the other drivers as people just like me, it does help me to be more patient–especially with beginning drivers and the seniors. I did not know you married a younger man. Good for you! 🙂
It’s so lovely seeing you and hearing you Christie, you have a great calming voice and I really enjoy your videos! I had an incident of road rage (I was the victim) when I was driving in England last month and it really scared me. I’m lucky in that where I live here in my small Australian town, we hardly have any traffic, so there’s not much chance of road rage here 🙂 . Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions on how to deal with it.
Thank you for the kind words, Deb. I’m glad you are enjoying the videos. That’s so scary to be the victim of road rage. I’m glad you weren’t harmed. With so much else you have to deal with right now, you don’t need that.