The Shifting Nature of Moods

I continue to be fascinated by the shifting moods we experience as human beings.

My twin sister finally moved from the Mid-West to Pacific Grove, California, several years ago. We have seen each other every 3-4 months since then. The trip from my hometown to see her on a good day takes about 2 hours. Maybe 2.5 hours. On a high-traffic day, it can take up to 4 hours one way. Sigh.

Early one morning, several weeks ago, I was on my way to PG. I checked my map and it said time to PG was 2 hours. Yay! I drove with little to no traffic for about 40 minutes, then traffic began to get sluggish, then slow.

And now I can see that people are coming to almost a complete stop. We are on an 8-lane freeway at this point, 4 lanes in each direction. I am getting annoyed and tight about the loss of time and the inaccuracy of my map program. And I can’t see what the issue is. No red lights, no accident scenes, no reports on the radio of any traffic. So what the heck???

 Suddenly, coming into view right in front of me are two long necks with geese heads on them. I can’t see bodies over the nose of my car, but I can see those necks and heads. At this point I am almost stopped myself. As I creep along, I realize there are about 18 day-old goslings that these two momma geese are shepherding across the freeway. The babies are in the middle, and the adults are keeping them in a circle as they move them toward the far right of the freeway. I suddenly have an instantaneous mood change. All the tightness is gone, and I am stunned that they have made it through almost 6 lanes of traffic, unscathed. As I come to a halt, they move in front of my car, then inch into the next lane. Everyone around me now is helping them by blocking the lanes they are heading for. As I get past them, I see in my rear-view mirror that they have made it to an exit and are safe!

And I am giddy with how much I love all the people around me.

The thing is, it was only my own thinking that had me in such a tense mood. I was assuming that people were driving recklessly, or that road construction was not listed on the map. And I was annoyed, making people wrong. The moment my thinking switched to how carefully other drivers cared for these little beings, my mood came back up, and all my tenseness disappeared in an instant. I was reminded that I always have the choice to assume that life is working on something that is completely appropriate and may not fit what I think it should be doing. When I agree with what is happening, I rise above my own preferences and opinions. I reconnect with all of life and move back into serving life, not my own opinions. It was such a great reminder.

Try it out! The next time you are frustrated, try imagining that something is happening exactly as it is supposed to. For instance, someone is driving way too fast. Come up with at least one reason that explains why this might be happening and make sure that reason doesn’t annoy you. Maybe it is a young family who is rushing to the hospital because the mom to be is suddenly in labor. Or they have a sick loved one in the car. The more you practice, the more quickly this way of thinking will come to you unbidden.

If this resonated, you may also enjoy Peace of Mind from a Pull Tab.