Life is precious

Last night while driving home from the yoga joint I work at, it started to rain. I wasn't expecting it at all so I slowed down on the high as my windshield wipers don't actually fit my car and don't really work properly, thus making vision a little blurry...not too safe when you're driving 65 on the highway and its raining and a little foggy. My sympathetic nervous system kicked into gear and my heart was racing a little fast as I got nervous about getting into an accident. As I rolled off the highway I was relieved to be close to home. But, ya know what they say...most accidents happen when you're only 5 minutes away from your house.

Well it wasn't actually me who got into an accident, but I was fairly close. I was driving down the street and I looked in my rear view mirror and the car behind my swerved. I wasn't really sure what to do so I sped up and turned off onto a side road so they couldn't hit me and I saw out of my mirror they went up on the side of the road, half of their wheels on someone's lawn, and then kept driving right off on the lawn and down the road. My heart was beating out of its chest at this point and my hands were shaking. I couldn't believe that just happened in front (or well in back) of me and the fact that their car could have hit mine and then that would have been quite a mess.

When I drove the rest of the way home, I couldn't help but think about that person in the car. How shaken they probably were and I hoped they were alright. When I got into bed later, the whole situation flashed in my mind again and I thought, alright what can I learn from this experience. I've been leaving my house at the very last minute to drive 20 minutes away to get to this yoga joint on time and basically rushing, which has been thrilling, but not safe. I used to leave a lot of time for myself to get from point A to point B, but lately I just find myself putzing around later and later. If I am truly going to incorporate slowing down into all aspects of my life this means also being safe with my life and driving carefully. We're all in such a rush these days to get to where we are going, but if you enter anywhere with a smile on your face and a calm presence about you, no one will ever really ask or care why you're late.

I remember hearing a story one of my yoga teachers once told me. She was in charge of getting this famous monk (I honestly can't remember which one) to a college to do a lecture. They were already running late and he was stopping on the street and saying hi to everyone as well. She was naturally worried and freaking out because they were 1. late and 2. it was her responsibility to make sure that everything went smoothly. When they got to the college though, the monk, not worried by time at all, just smiled at everyone and people were so glad that he was there that any frustrations of having to wait vanished. Time truly is of the essence and merely a perception. So take the time you need to take care of yourself and everything else will work itself out.