The Buddha Habit (tm): Mind Awareness - Traffic and Anger SOLUTIONS

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We have all succumbed to it at one time. Anger is a tough emotion as it happens so fast, it is hard to stop. Once it takes over us, it is even harder to not be swept away by the energy and grow ever greater. It starts with being cut off in traffic. You're offended by the rudeness and complete disregard by this person. You honk your horn, flash your high beams or tailgate them to teach them a lesson, they slam on their brakes to teach you a lesson, and so it escalates into countless negative possibilities. Throughout the day or night you keep thinking about the encounter. Your ego just can't let go of the injustice. You may even call a friend to vent and re-tell the story to re-live the moment. There is some twisted part of you that relishes in the self torture even though you know it does you no good.

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The key is the power of your thought of which you have control. With practice you can catch yourself getting angry, feel the heat rising up in your body, observe the thoughts of hate being directed at the offender, then choose not to follow that energy. Here are a few ways to break the cycle.

The first and hardest part is to catch yourself getting angry. Re-direct your vengeful thoughts outward, instead to intensely observing how your physical body feels. Your mind will constantly try to pull you back to those outward thoughts, but hold onto that intense body awareness and focus. Focus on how your heartbeat is pounding, focus on how the perspiration on your brow feels or how the muscles in your arm tighten as you clutch the steering wheel in anger. Feel how the muscles in your whole body tighten up or how quickly you are breathing in and out. FOCUS on your body, not your mind or thoughts. After a short while you will notice how your mind has calmed down as it is no longer thinking about the other person. It's actually not thinking at all, as your focus has shifted. You've broken free of the cycle of anger. This is the power of your thought.

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Don't do this while driving, but if anger or frustration start to take over me, I close my eyes and imagine where my hands are in space in front of me. You start to feel a warm, buzzing sensation where you "know" your hands are even though you can't see them. The more you focus on that feeling, your mind stops it's path to anger or frustration. It's a technique by Eckhard Tolle that really works.

Another trick is to start staring intensely at something, REALLY stare at it and focus on it. Study every single detail, the light, the shadows, the shapes, the geometric patterns, the colors, textures, etc.

Another I like to do is to focus on my breathing and then all the physical sensations I'm feeling at the time. It might be the warmth of the sun on my skin, or the wind tickling the hairs on my arm. It might be my toes grabbing onto the fibers of the carpet or the sensation of the skin of my feet rubbing on the floor. I move from sensation to sensation, directing my thought energy to different parts of my body.

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All of these techniques are simple things you can practice. Before you know it, your mind's negative thoughts have subsided. You're no longer a helpless victim being swept up by your emotions and mindlessly reacting to outside influences. With practice you become a positive factor in the world, not perpetuating aggression or negativity but instead re-balancing it. You will find people are drawn to your calm energy as they can feel it within themselves. This is how you do your part to improve the world, every interaction you have has a ripple effect on everyone you come into contact with both positively and negatively.