The Mindfulness Challenge of this week focuses your attention on driving. If you currently do not drive a car or a vehicle but rather ride in cars, all of my suggestions will still apply to you although you are not actually driving yourself.
I have a confession to make at the outset. I have been practicing on this particular challenge now for several months. It has been a true challenge for me to convert my normal practice of scatterbrain driving to one of mindful driving. What I discovered for myself before I decided to issue this challenge to you is that when I drive typically, I consider it to be a secondary function. I don’t wish to “waste” any of my precious time so while I drive I am planning out my next activity of the day. I was surprised and shocked to discover that there would be blocks of time, sometimes five minutes sometimes ten minutes, when I was literally somewhere else. I was not attentive to where I was at the moment or even where I was going for that matter.
I converted this habit of driving to a habit of mindfulness, but only after I realized that I typically consider driving to be a secondary and unimportant function. The task is anything but that, especially if you want to avert accidents and other serious problems. When I say mindful driving what exactly does that entail?
Pay close attention to every aspect of the experience of getting into the vehicle, sitting down wherever you elect to sit and becoming totally and completely aware of how your body is positioned in the seat including where your legs are positioned. Does your body feel as though that’s the right placement for you in terms of the height of the seat are sitting in?
How does it feel when you take the key and insert it into the ignition, if in fact that’s the way your car works? Does the metal feel cold or slimy or wet?
How does it feel when you put your hands on your steering wheel? Is it sticky perhaps? Is it warm or is it too cold?
As you turn the car on, be mindful and pay attention to how that engine is running. Treat it as a child. How you feeling today, dear? Your engine will tell you what is really up in the moment. As you begin to engage that journey of the drive look, notice and be totally attentive to every moment of the drive.
Be aware of persons that may be riding bikes or walking on the side of the road. What do you do when you see such obstructions or do you consider them to be just that? What do you do when a driver comes up behind you wanting to travel 20 more miles an hour than you are driving? As you look in our rear-view mirror you happen to notice that they are two-inches from your bumper. What do you do when that happens? What is your reaction?
Become mindful of the present moment. Become aware of all the motions, all reactions and all thoughts that are connected to the driving experience in the moment. Do you typically drive right at the speed limit, below the speed limit or faster than the speed limit? What are the thoughts that drive your decision? Are you one who has the thought that the police never stop a person who drives less than ten miles over the speed limit and so you choose to always drive ten miles faster? Become aware then of whatever thoughts and whatever feelings you experience as you drive moment to moment.
The most important aspect of this challenge is of course to be present to the moment, unlike myself who tended to space out and be totally unaware of what I was doing. It is true that as we drive year after year it can become very automatic. It is also true that to be totally aware of all of the traffic behind and in front and to the sides we have the opportunity to avert potentially dangerous and life-threatening accidents for ourselves and for others.
Being mindful of the driving experience also enriches that experience. We have an opportunity to observe all of the beauty that we actually pass by such as the flowers and the trees. We actually get to observe and experience the smells, the feeling of what it is like to ride in that car and be vibrated as we bounce. It is also exhilarating to be attentive to the different road surfaces and how the driving experience shifts when that road surface becomes smooth or bumpy in transition.
Notice your habit of driving. Become aware moment to moment of the experience when you get into a vehicle whether you are a driver or passenger. Mindfulness means being present in the moment. When you drive you are not being mindful when you are planning your evening. You are not being mindful when you are evaluating something you might have said to a person earlier in the day. Live in the present moment. When you live in the present your life is enriched immeasurably. Most importantly stress dissolves like an ice-cream cone in the sunshine.
Robert
© Parkinsons Recovery