In Traffic. . .
I was sitting in traffic the other morning… not moving, just inching forward one car length at a time. You know the kind of traffic where you’re not really going anywhere, but you’re also not fully stopped. Just enough movement to keep you paying attention, but not enough to feel like progress.
This moment in traffic is not exactly what one would call enlightening. . .or is it?
That quiet irritation that shows up out of nowhere. At first it’s subtle… just a little tightening. Then it builds into a story:
“I’m going to be late.”
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
“Why is it always like this?”
It’s funny how fast the mind fills in the gaps. Because if you really look at it… traffic is just cars on a road. That’s it. But we layer meaning on top of it. We turn it into a personal experience, a problem, something happening “to us.” And in that moment, I caught it. Not the traffic… the reaction.
I realized that nothing about the situation needed to change for me to feel different. The cars weren’t going anywhere. The road wasn’t clearing up, but my relationship to it. . . that could shift instantly. The moment I stopped being agitated with what was happening, something softened – the tension didn’t have anything to hold onto anymore.
Buddhism talks a lot about suffering, but not in the way people think. It’s not just about pain or difficulty. It’s about resistance. The gap between what is and what we think should be. Sitting in traffic is one of the simplest places to see that clearly.
Life isn’t always going to move at the pace we want. Sometimes it’s slow. Sometimes it’s stuck. Sometimes it feels like nothing is happening at all. The important thing to remember as a Buddhist is that the struggle doesn’t come from the situation – it comes from the story we attach to it.
So the next time you’re sitting there in traffic (or anywhere) not moving, just inching slowly along, remember you don’t need to fix it not react in dramatic ways to it. You don’t need to escape it. You just need to notice it – and let it be exactly what it is. That is our practice and whether we are sitting on a cushion or sitting in traffic, we can observe our moments and seize them for what they truly are – our teacher.
Peace and Love, Jim
#lessons #thedailybuddha #tdb
