I realized yesterday that it’s been going on for two weeks now. Everywhere I drive someone unexpectedly pulls out in front of me, then slows to fifteen miles per hour below the posted speed limit. Whether I was simply driving one mile to the post office or twenty miles to shop, it happened on every route, every day.

At first I was annoyed and thought about creating multiple new routes for daily activities. I even tried that once to see a friend for morning coffee. Because it was a new route for me I did not know the morning school bus took the same route at the same time.

After a few days, I thought, “Seriously! Is this some kind of cosmic message or something?”

I haven’t even been speeding lately. It’s been years since I got a ticket.

By the seventh day in a row, I was laughing whenever I turned the first corner and someone pulled out in front of me. Yesterday was day fourteen.

I left home late to attend the funeral of a friend’s last living parent. Unbelievable! Not even a mile down the road a van pulled out in front of me, slowed below the posted speed limit. For the entire twenty-five minute trip, at every turn from one two-lane road to another, the gray van was in front of me. I decided they must be going to the funeral, too. However, as we approached the church, they continued on when I turned into the parking lot.

I was not late.

By the time I drove home, my perspective had changed. Funerals have that effect. I barely noticed the small white car turning in front of me, slowing below the speed limit. I looked at my surroundings as I drove.

 

I saw small patches of grass trying to turn green in the sunny yards of the larger homes I didn’t know were on that road.

 

 

 

There were barren branches of trees standing stark against the clear blue sky. There was trash along the road no longer buried under winter snow. I realized it is spring, a season when conditions in nature foretell new growth.

I wondered about the perfect conditions for my own personal growth.

Oh yeah, I’d have to slow down.

 

Mentastics minute:
– Take one minute to notice what you are seeing with your eyes in the landscape around you – what do you see when you look down, when you look up, when you look left, when you look right?

– Take one minute to look up from the computer/phone/tablet screen – move your eyes up for several seconds, down, to the left, to the right – close your eyes for 10 seconds before going back to screen time

– Fertilize your visual perception by practicing every day