Urban Buddhism
Posted: March 24, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, Buddhism, Commuting, compassion, cycling, exercise, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, joy, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, nature, nebraska, Omaha, passion, perspective, simplicity, writing, yoga, Zen 13 CommentsKeep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you-
” … Get your bike off of my road asshole!!!”
Last summer I built up an old Jamis road bike in order to make it more efficient and useful for commuting back and forth from work. For me – This is the perfect way to get a bit more exercise, heal and rehab some old injuries, save a couple precious dollars on gas, and in all honesty – I enjoy the ride, alone, the peace and quiet of spinning along in the early light. (I’ll save my rant about saving the environment for later this summer)
On my afternoon ride two Thursdays ago … I was waiting at an intersection near home for the light to change, when an Audi Q7 (affectionately adorned with five look at how many kids I have created stickers in the rear window) squeezed past me to get to the front of the line. The “kids” driving turned sharply in front of my front wheel and the driver kindly shared her advice mentioned at the beginning of the post.
My first reaction was one of slight amusement, as an avid cyclist, events like these happen all too often. I was simply waiting to cross the last intersection after a long day of work, when out of nowhere I was called some rather amateurish names. Instead of reacting, I simply crossed the street when the light changed, and then gently rode home.
When I arrived home and started to remove my helmet, I thought for a moment what was shared with me 15 minutes earlier … The recalcitrant behavior of our society is nauseating.
Daily Meditation:
Why do so many people feel the need to make these kinds of remarks in the first place? I’ll share with you my theory as to why: There are critical thinking flaws present in the way we live our lives, especially pertaining to unwarranted inferences from others.
CultFit 
“look how many kids I’ve created” sticker, LOL! They say letting go/forgetting/forgiving is the best available conflict resolution and I believe it. I just have no idea how to implement in real time. You seem to have a handle on that.
I wasn’t always this laid back and easy going … Years ago I would had relished the confrontation – having my say so to speak. But for what – to what end? My method now is to simply smile and take a deep breath, and maybe pour a cocktail when I get home. 😉
I guess you can only assume that she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know but will likely end up having to figure out the hard way. You can only go around being an asshole for so long before life has a way “educating”. In the meantime, you do not have to make her problem your problem. Great post!
Life can indeed be very humbling at times … I’m just trying to get home alive, in one piece. 🙂 Its always a pleasure having you over – Thank you and be well this week!
I felt your calmness in reading this. And I agree with your theory.
You are too kind my friend – thank you 🙂
🙂
It’s great that you could not react. I don’t know that I would have stayed that patient. It is still sad to me that there are so many people out there like this.
I don’t know, it’s moments like these that really highlight the negatives during our daily lives. Although I don’t stay in these sour places very long, well, until the light changes that is. 🙂 I hope all is well, take care this afternoon!
Unfortunately people are getting increasingly selfish. In Glasgow, we have advance stop lines for cyclists, so they can get away from the lights before the cars. It’s illegal for the cars to stop on them, but the majority of drivers do.
There’s also a cycle lane on the main road where I live, that runs outside a large sports centre, that has a huge car park. Drivers park on the cycle lane, rather that use the car park and walk an extra 20 yards to the sports hall. This forces cyclists onto a very busy main road during the rush hour.
Again, it’s all just selfishness.
My apologies for the late reply, and thank you in advance for stopping over – It truly is appreciated! Selfish and an utter lack of awareness of the world spinning around them – Which leads directly to unsafe conditions out on the road, for anyone – cyclist – other drivers and pedestrians included. At the end of the day, ride safe and take care my friend.
Thanks for peddling by 😉
~Sea
Likewise! There are a lot of cool and inspiring blogs out there, and I’m glad I was able to spend a little time at yours – Take care and be well!