Road Rage - A Surefire Quick Joy Buzzkill

So I love to write about driving, probably because I live in LA and spend so much time in my car. In a way it's my second home, and with the traveling between group homes and things throughout each day I get a good amount of time with Drogon. That's what I named my black 2007 Nissan Frontier when I got it a couple of years ago, named after one of Daenerys' dragons on Game of Thrones. Oh yea, total nerd, there's also a POP! Drogon figure on my dash. Anyway, my truck and I are close. I listen to music about 90% of the time, talk on the phone about 5% of the time and just think every damn second. I think that is why I love driving so much, because of the thinking and the traveling. The gentle and steady thrum of the engine and pull of the wheel combined with the passing trees and mountains or cities and hills helps bring my mind to ease like no other. Almost nothing else on Earth can make my mind still like that. The peace that comes then allows me to really think about the things going on in my life that I really need to sort out and go through. On top of that is getting to see everything while I drive. Everything is constantly changing so there is always something new to see, even if just something small and seemingly meaningless. There's the soundtrack too. With my iPhone and Internet radio the possibilities are endless. Of course I stick mostly to my favorite songs and albums and that's it. I'll have to share with you guys sometime my best albums list. Sufficient to say, it's time that you really can make your own. 

We all know how meaningful, valuable and rare Time is. We only get a limited amount with limited interactions. It's up to us to make the most of it and use that time wisely. Not just that but also to make that time, whatever we are doing, Joyful. Driving affects our mood and our mood affects our driving. When we almost get in an accident on the way to work it stays with us and affects us all day, when someone cuts us off on the way home we get angry or bitchy with our loved ones when we get home. It has an effect on us, but that also means that we can change or control it so that the effect is positive. 

What is road rage exactly? Couldn't it be any number of things? Well, yea. Road rage is anything that you do out of an emotional reaction instead of a logical or safe one. Granted there are good emotions, but logic is the prevailer in situations such as this and logic says to do what's safe for you and everyone around. When you react to a situation emotionally - a person, a driver, an accident, a closure, a backup, a fender bender - anything from an unexpected pothole or puddle in the road to a four-car-pile-up, you react without control. Our brains were made with and wired for logic for a reason. Use it. 

I've been working on my anger in general and my shortening fuse, driving being no exception. I can't stand slow drivers, or people who can't make up their mind, or elderly drivers who don't pay attention, on and on the list goes. Driving all throughout the day I give myself plenty of opportunities to influence my day one way or another, meaning I can react to everything on the road emotionally and make myself emotionally volatile and unlike myself when I'm interacting with people or I can put myself in a good mood; I can keep myself in a Joyous mood throughout the day by focusing on the Joy even when I'm driving. When someone makes me angry and I want to honk or flip someone off I just relax into the music, take long deep breaths and think about the important things I have going on for me. Writing, my job, my marriage, my family, my husband. So much and so much more. Beyond how we are impacted, now imagine all of that in reverse as well, not in-leiu of but as well as. We also impact others, when we cut someone off or yell at someone who accidentally made a wrong turn because they are lost, we also set into motion events that affect others. That's important to note as well. Our reactions aren't just those to protect oursleves, but to spread or not to spread our Joy to others. 

We are all in our cars a lot, well most of us. If you aren't then you probably have buses and bus stations or taxis and terminals or whatever it is that makes your life unique and special. You have a chance to set up your day right, to keep it going the right way, to end it the right way even. The Joyful way. It may not be everything, it may not even be a lot, but it's another small step on the way to a life full of Joy.