After work, I got into my car and drove to my wife's office to pick her up from work. In a haste, I turned into a highway and after a few minutes ran into a massive traffic jam. I could see a thought arising "Oh no, I should not have taken this road". And almost immediately, I could start to sense the arising of an unpleasant feeling. It felt like regret, irritation, hopelessness and a hint of self-loathing all in one. I then found a turnaround: "I should have taken this road." "How do I know that?" "Because I did take this road". The thought hit me that I was arguing with reality when I believed the thought "I shouldn't have taken this road". At that point, it was clear that I could actually choose to believe the turnaround and when I did, the unpleasant feelings left!
After a few slow movements on the road, I found a side road and I took it. After a second turning, I turned into another road and realized that I had taken another wrong turning. The thought "I shouldn't have taken this road, I should have turned the other way" arose again. And again, the unpleasant feelings followed. Almost immediately, the turnaround came "I should have taken this road - because the reality of it is - I did take this road". And the unpleasant feelings vanished!!
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