A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I had been practising mindfulness, but I wasn’t sure that there were any concrete benefits yet.

This weekend, I was involved in a fender bender.  A driver in the right line decided he wanted to make a ninety degree left hand turn without checking to see if there was any traffic in the left lane.  There was.  We collided.

For a brief moment, I was livid.  I couldn’t believe that the other driver would drive so carelessly and dangerously.

I pulled over to the side and took a deep breath.  The accident had happened and getting mad at the other driver wasn’t going to “undo” the damage.

I decided to let go of the anger and just exchange each other’s information.

I think my practice of mindfulness helped me step back and deal with the issue at hand.  Prior to the regular practice of mindfulness, I would have spent a lot of time fuming about the accident and chastising the person for causing it.

I’m still flabbergasted at the maneuver of the other driver, but I can think about it without anger.  That wouldn’t have been possible a couple of months ago.

© 2019 Peter Gruner