The Zen of Traffic Lights

I have friends who curse traffic lights. They curse about them. They curse at them. They want others to know about their hatred and cursing of traffic lights. They are obsessed.

When I was younger I, too, hated traffic lights. How dare some arbitrary colored lamp interfere with my beautiful, swift journey!

Then something happened…

It’s hard to fix the exact time and place—it was really more gradual in nature.

Instead of resisting the concept of traffic lights, I began to embrace the flow of traffic. I began to become acquainted with the timings and proclivities of traffic lights, subtly adjusting the speed of my vehicle to accommodate their regulation. Actually appreciating the role traffic lights played in allowing people to interact peacefully with one another.

Instead of selecting the next foul phrase from my unimaginative queue of curses upon seeing a yellow light, I began to appreciate how people in the cross traffic were about to be allowed to proceed.

Rather than dangerously raise my blood pressure and cortisone levels, I embraced the opportunity to be thankful that there were guides in place, ensuring justice and fairness. I used the slow down to look at the beautiful people around me, all carrying the presence of God in them.

Over the course of the last decade, driving in town has become a pleasure for me. It is yet another chance to say thank you to kindness, goodness, order, beauty, society, creation and cleverness. Which are really all the same thing anyway.