At The Traffic Light

A traffic light can be a great zen master, because it teaches us to stop. Paolo proposes four different exercises that everybody can practice at the traffic light, designed to deminish stress at the traffic light. Waiting at the traffic light could easily involve an unnecessary sense of urgency, that day by day increases our amount of anxiety and stress. It is not necessary to run all the day, we need to come back periodically to ourselves and the traffic light is there to help us.

Transcript

The trophic light can be one of your greatest Zen masters.

Here is how you can practice when you are at the trophic light and the light is red.

First of all,

You can take advantage of this to relax the areas of your body that accumulate tension.

Repeat to yourself.

Breathing in,

I relax my body.

Breathing out,

I relax my neck and shoulders.

Breathing in,

I relax my body.

Breathing out,

I relax my neck and shoulders.

Alternatively,

You can focus on the movement of your abdomen.

Observe how your stomach expands and retracts with your inhaling and exhaling.

Breathing in,

I feel my stomach expands.

Breathing out,

I feel my stomach contracts.

Expanding,

Contracting.

A second possibility is to take advantage of this time to learn a lesson of equanimity.

Imagine that the light is telling you.

If I impose you to stop even when you are late for an appointment,

I didn't do it to you on purpose.

I am programmed to alternate from green,

Orange and red at regular intervals.

For me,

All of you commuting around the city are equal.

And then,

Don't believe that you are at the center of reality.

I do my part.

All you have to do is to accept that not everything will happen as you wish it to.

The third possibility is to observe everything that is passing in front of you.

People,

Vehicles,

Animals,

In the sky and on the ground.

Listen to the sounds.

Notice how everything enters your field of perception,

Passes by and then finally leaves,

Just like it entered.

Of all that you see or hear,

Don't label anything.

Don't judge.

Don't try neither to grasp it nor to push it away.

Try to understand that out of all the things that pass through your field of perceptions,

There is nothing that you can claim to be right or wrong.

A further possibility is to take advantage of the red traffic light for regaining contact with the present moment.

Simply repeat to yourself.

Breathing in,

I am calm.

Breathing out,

I smile.

Breathing in,

I am calm.

Breathing out,

I smile.

And then the last exercise that I propose to you is to practice mudita,

Which is the capacity to feel joy for the joy of the others.

It is the opposite of envy.

You had to stop with the red light,

While the others have the green light,

So they can go as they want.

Feel joy for them.

Be happy for the joy of the others.

We can generate positive feelings,

Starting from a neutral state of mind,

And this is a possibility to do it.

This practice is really able to make the traffic light your greatest master of wisdom.

Reviews

A fantastic experience and lesson.

That was lovely, thank you

Lovely meditation for urbanites. Bravo Paolo. 🙏

Did he say "moodita; the opposite of Envy"? I believe so, but I'm uncertain. Really relaxes your mind. Thank you.

Very helpful directions on an everyday "negative" situation into an opportunity for practice.

Very cool philosophy based on a simple everyday device!

A very good idea to come up with a Stoplight practice. Going to try a few things tomorrow and see what resonates with me! Thank you!!!

I will look at traffic lights differently now.

I loved this meditation. The traffic light treats everyone equally. A good reminder that I am not the centre of existence and everything is as it should be. Thank you :)

Thank you, 🌷🌷🌷

Awesome! I'll start using some of the suggestions today. 🙏🏼

Thank you for shining the light on every-day opportunities to practice equanimity 🙏🏼💝✌🏼

Very UNIQUE and an Interesting perspective❣️🙏🏻💕

Thank you! You expand so beautifully on my experiences in patience, responsibility, being present, relaxing, and surrendering to being safely in God’s care while at traffic lights, behind slow vehicles, or any other driving situations I have a hard time accepting. Acceptance and surrender! And now you’ve given me some new tools. (What is the word you used that is the opposite of envy, being happy for others?) Thank you again.

Thank you for offering all those possibilities at a traffic light. JOY🙏😁 ... also reminded me of Thich Nhat Hanh, my teacher❤️