I just got in to work on the west side of Indianapolis. My commute takes me north on I-65 with a brief stint on I-465, and I have to say that traffic was especially manic today. There were far more aggressive drivers than usual, and several were to the point of recklessness.
No joke, dear reader(s), by surrendering that space I instantly felt better.
Having inherited a distaste of aggressive fellow motorists from my father, I found myself at times speeding up faster than I normally drive in order to reduce the space between me and the car in front of me. My hope was to cut off any potential avenue for knuckleheads to come swerving in front of me at high speed. I guarded that lack of space. Claimed it for myself. I was tense, wanting the drive to be over, and actually considered pulling off to the shoulder and just waiting until the traffic thinned out. The tension was palpable. Then I had a flash of recognition.
I heard my own voice giving advice to a friend of mine who was a bit wound-up recently. “Relax,” I told him. It all starts with a good deep breath.
The speedometer was at 65 (in a 55mph zone… and I was STILL getting passed by cops. That’s another post for another day). I usually hold firm to the “speed limit + 5″ standard, so I was clearly acting from my tension. I eased back to my normal speed, which created some comfortable space in front of me. No joke, dear reader(s), by surrendering that space I instantly felt better.
It all starts with a good deep breath.
As I looked around, chaos still reigned on the road around me. All I had done was take and deep breath and choose to not be a part of it. Funny, that, because I couldn’t remember ever choosing to BE a part of it in the first place.
Several things jumped out at me from the 20-minute commute:
- Chaos will happen around us in any place at any time, and our natural tendency is to jump right in and try to keep (or beat) its pace.
- Choosing to disengage from chaos doesn’t bring order to the world, but it does bring order to you.
- It all starts with a good deep breath.
My pattern is to take moments like this and draw deep, spiritual parallels to my life. I have, but I won’t force them on you. Feel free to take my experience and draw from it what you will.
Filed under: God | Tagged: Life in general
Isn’t that what being mediocre is about. Not trying to reach the top because everyone else is but taking a breath and looking around.
Mediocre – of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad;
What really matters who is judging the mediocrity. If it is your wife and child then I would imagine you are well above that bar. If it is an overachiever then you are taking to many breaths.
Which group do you listen to?