Last night’s Compassionate Atlanta Meetup speaker, Tavye Morgan, mentioned… “using Atlanta traffic as a spiritual growth opportunity”. Wow – way to reframe! So often, when speaking about compassion, driving and traffic come up as a hot topic. How does one remain compassionate in traffic?

So, while it seems that this is a spiritual growth journey for all of us – here are a few tips to get you started:

1. What are your triggers and how can you start recognizing them and shifting the response? What if instead of yelling at the other drivers, you take 3 deep breaths when you get triggered? See how that works.
2. Use traffic as a time to catch up on podcasts that you missed. What are your favorite shows? Suggestions last night included NPR’s On Being or 1A. Or just boogie down!
3. Let cars in. Yup, it won’t make you late(r) for work, etc. if you let that car go in front of you. And even if they don’t do the typical thank you hand-wave, you know you did the right thing. WAY TO GO _______________! (insert your name here.)
4. Try some relaxing scents in the car – lavender, eucalyptus, citrus or peppermint. These calming scents can effect the parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and stress levels. So put a few drops down and breathe in.I wish you safe travels and a spiritual journey to and from home each day.

Leanne Rubenstein
Executive Director
Compassionate Atlanta