Insta-Addiction and Mindful Traffic

  I think I may actually be addicted to Instagram. It's been around a long long while and I never really thought to try it until I was finally nudged by a friend.  I am actually enjoying it A LOT.  In fact, I am spending more and more time there and less time on Facebook.  Not sure if it is just me, but it seems FB is a hotbed of negativity and politics (both one in the same really.)  It is getting harder to weed that out lately.

So, I am over on IG if you have one, please find me!

<---- I am also working on more Pocket Hippo adventures. I am pondering giving him his own IG as he seems to have more fun than I do LOL

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I am discovering all sorts of ways to deal with my anger in traffic issues.  First it was movie soundtracks but more and more I am just turning the music off and trying to practice my mindful breathing. Staying with each breath when I feel my jaws clench because most people are either driving while looking at their phones or most likely don't even have a valid license.

Since I am stuck in my car for about an hour each way to work, it is a excellent time to center my mind and remember to breath.  My lesson for the day was to practice sending and taking alternately.  It is part of a practice called Tonglen.  Basically you send out happiness and take in suffering. But you take it in with compassion and send out in the same way.

I do suffer in traffic so it makes plenty of sense to use that suffering in a positive way. Although to be honest, I realized that when I get angry in traffic I am totally mindful with it. I am with my anger and I am that anger.  We be rolling together in the here and now, traffic and I.  But it still isn't the best way to deal LOLOL

​So, what do you do when stuck in traffic? *Curious minds*