Impatient Tai Chi Student

If I were to buy a car, I would love to own a hybrid car. I believe it is a good interim solution to car ownership and environmentally friendly.

Imagine my horror when I saw someone driving Lexus hybrid while flooring the accelerator.

I don’t know what got the driver so impatient.

All I know is, if you own a hybrid car and drive like a mad man, there is no need to buy a hybrid. You will still clock up the same fuel consumption. You’re still causing rage on the road.

Let’s just hope you won’t regret your impatience.

While driving down the highway, the lollipops whoosh past me, urging me to keep to the speed limit. My right foot however, urged me into depression. I did. I went faster.

My impatience tells me that I should ignore the speed limit.

My tai chi training tells me I too should ignore the speed limit, but for a different reason.

It tells me that I should move with the traffic. If the traffic is slow, go slow. If the traffic is fast, go fast.

You don’t go faster when every other car is crawling. Just as you won’t slow down when all the other cars are speeding right past you.

If you want to go slow, go to the slow lane. If you want to go fast, go to the fast lane.

If there are no slow or fast lanes, go with the flow. Otherwise, just park your car down and relax. Maybe enjoy a lollipop.

Impatience won’t get you anywhere fast, except certain death.

You are lucky if it’s your own death.

If someone else dies because of your impatience… may you have the strength to learn to be patient from now on.

Sometimes, I just get furious about getting stuck at traffic. I want to just fly over all the other losers in front of me and shout out:

so long, suckers…

This is when I realise I could have done much much better, before I even step out the door. I believe these questions are a useful checklist to avoid getting impatient.

1. Do I need to be physically present at the destination?
2. Will a phone call / email / phone message solve the problem?
3. Is there some other time that I can go when traffic is smoother?
4. Can someone else go on my behalf?
5. Can I take public transport / walk / cycle there?

Answer each of these truthfully, and often, I will find that by merely making a phone call or going through the thought process as above, I don’t actually need to be there, and hence avoid the major distraction of modern living… traffic jam.

The most important phone call i’ve ever made to avoid me getting impatient in a traffic jam?

Can I just check if the appointment is going ahead?

This one phone call has saved me countless of pointless journeys. There are a number of reasons appointments can get delayed / postponed. Just make sure you know about the delay before you need to get there.