Kevin Bemel ·
How to Profit from Frustration
I confess to be very glad to be back in Los Angeles. Despite its shortcomings I love the match of weather and urbanity here. But the drivers are certifiably insane. Within two hours this morning one driver ran a red light and almost hit me and another ran a stop sign and cut me off.
Maybe I lost my immunity to it while away with the navy for seven years. But it seems people drive worse than ever. Sitting in my car causes Pavlovian road rage. Many times my daughter being in the car is the only thing to keep me from screaming.
On the one hand, I get it. Everyone is busy and traffic makes like exasperatingly inefficient. So for the last few weeks, I have pondered what to do. Today it hit me.
As an advocate of exercise for all areas of fitness: Physical | Mental | Spiritual, I am challenged to find time to fit it all in. So from now on, I am going to use all the ridiculous, unsafe things that drivers do to exercise my mind and spirit. For example:
- When a driver cuts me off in traffic and screams at me as if it is my fault, I am going to practice being calm in the face of stressful behavior.
- If a driver runs a red light or stop sign, I won't rail or comment on his stupidity. I am going to say a brief prayer that he did not run into me.
- When a driver does not go when the light changes to green I'll sit calmly and let other people honk.
Driving develops spiritual and mental toughness.
By coming up with ways to productively use frustration from driving, or any other aspect of life, you can better maintain a positive outlook. And you train your mind to deal with frustrating situations thereby significantly improving your mental and spiritual fitness.
Does it work? While out shopping today I got behind a car at a stoplight who despite sitting through two cycles of light changes did not realize he had to pull up to the limit line to trigger the left-turn light. I calmly got out of my car and politely explained to him what he needed to do . . .
The divers behind me clapped!
Please take just a minute to share what one technique you use for overcoming frustration
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