What I see is a form of vengeance.
I have been known to be a somewhat…assertive driver.
Ok, truth bomb. Sometimes I get aggressive.
When I was in college I even kept a cursing jar in my car to try to curb my driving angst.
I would gripe about people driving slow in the fast lane. Let a string of expletives loose when someone would drive too closely behind me. I even posted on Facebook about it to solicit others to my cause.
The thing I didn’t understand about these “other” drivers was why they didn’t want to get there just as fast as I did. Why they were getting in my way and obstructing the flow of traffic.
Fast-forward 20 years and I began listening to Pema Chodron-meditation guru and hilarious spiritualist. She suggested a Buddhist mediation technique called Loving kindness. For the unfamiliar, you essentially mobilize metta-positive energy towards others.
I modified the traditional script to these words: May you be safe. May you be well. May you live at ease.
And, given my propensity for anger in traffic, it seemed right to try it first there. At first-nothing.
Nada.
But very, very soon I felt a peace well up. A release. Compassion. I had been distracted before driving. I had been late to work. I had been just where all of these other drivers had been at one time or another. And…gradually, the tension seemed to ease.
Lesson 22 reminds us that what we see (even in traffic) is a form of vengeance of our own making. That the people, things, or moments we believe are attacking us, are often just as made-up as the personal vendetta I believed those drivers had against me.
To clear things up it asks us to ask, in these situations, if this is truly the world we want to see. To call upon our own version of Loving kindness And to invite our neighbors-known and unknown-to experience the beauty of feeling safe, well and at ease.
Try your own practice of Loving kindness today if you are feeling sassy. See how it impacts your personal vision of the world. And create a world of truth for yourself. One you can joyously greet every single day.
With love, Light Chasers!