The ZEN of driving

My wife learnt to drive a car about a year ago. We tend to talk about driving, styles of driving, how to drive etc.

Almost every time you drive, somebody will make a mistake or be deliberately rude on the road. My wife usually get’s nervous and upset when that happens and starts to shout, curse and sound the horn, raise the finger - stuff we all do. However, I have practised something else for many years: I just let it pass.

It’s like trying to find calm when meditating. Thoughts clamor for attention and the art is to just let them pass, let them float away, trying to leave your mind blank. I try to do the same thing when driving. Everything is in flux - if I focus on a particular incident or my anger at the stupidity of someone else (or myself for that matter) when an error happens, I find that I’m driving worse, become more aggressive.

So I just let it pass. I don’t honk, I don’r raise the finger (in general), I don’t shout. I may utter a curse and then promptly forget everything about the incident, making my mind blank again, concentrating on driving.

A couple of days ago, when driving through the city with all the x-mas crazy people around us in cars, we talked about this phenomen and I coined the term “the zen of driving” and that I was going to write a book about it.

Now it’s only an entry in a blog - and I’m not even sure, it deserves this much space - but alas: that’s my zen of driving.

May you drive safe