driving in a snowstorm; incremental shifts

Ohio usually is an ok place to be through the winter months, but driving home from consulting in Cincinnati has recently been a test of nerves and driving skills. 

If you live in northern climes, you know the drill when driving home. Winter daylight descends early, temperatures drop fast.  Snow squalls and freezing rain demand the driver’s attention, even while energy lags at day’s end.    

A few night’s ago, I unknowingly drove into a snowfall that had been going on all day.   The road northward became messy and dangerous.  Trucks slowed, turning into the right lane, while the foolhardy plowed onward at high speeds.  As nightfall took hold it was more difficult to see what lay ahead.  Snow blowing across the highway was mesmerizing and made me drowsy.

I was afraid, driving into that storm. It took 2.5 hours to cover a 45 minute span of highway.  I was tired, my breathing shallow, a sure sign of stress. My back was tight, my right leg cramping from tension.  Despite being tired and fearful, I had no choice but to keep driving toward home. 

Driving in a snowstorm offers a great metaphor: Mindfulness in action.  We’ve all been there.  There was no choice, but to hang in, stay focused.  I had no option but to continue driving despite conditions within and without.  The only choice was to  stay present to what was happening;  holding, observing gently, the internal condition, all the while doing what was needed. 

Mindfulness is not tuning out or numbing down the negatives.  Its multi-tasking at its best.  Aware of anxiety, emotions, what’s happening in the external surroundings, and all the while, doing what’s needed. 

Being present to what is happening creates incremental shifts;  held tension can melt into a sense of spaciousness. I breathed deeply; internal stressors slowed somewhat.  I consciously relaxed muscles where tension held tightly, while keeping both eyes on the road.  (Breathing truly helps here).

It goes on all day long, every day, we are tense and reactive, we humans.  But there are moments when we feel this presence, a sense of being fully alive such as, driving in snowstorms, athletics, heightened moments of clarity.  These are all situations when we are engaged in a way that is solidly present and aware.

Once I reached the city limits traffic increased, and everyone slowed so much that speed was no longer a danger.  The drive continued, at a slow but steady pace.

With practice, those incremental shifts of awareness becomes simply the way it is. That experience of being present during heightened moments flows into the normal, mundane moments.  Mindfulness prevails as  authenticity.  And life takes on more focus; emotional intelligence grows (self awareness, empathy, attuned relationships, motivation).  

Mindfulness;  being in the middle of what is, and that is, constant change.