Driving and the Power of Positive Thinking

I recently read an article in a local health/alternative medicine publication about Driving and the Power of Positive Thinking. The author quoted famous "Positive Thinking" gurus such as Norman Vincent Peale and the author of "The Secret" (a book whose viability is, in my opinion, questionable at best, but that's another article), and put his own twist on their teachings, arriving at the hypothesis that Positive Thinking could affect his daily commute. I was intrigued. My daily commute, or any commute in this city of bad roads and worse drivers, is usually Not Quite So Positive. I am not an inherently negative person. Even during driving I attempt to live in the moment, and breathe properly, but until I read his article I thought those efforts only affected me and my attitude, and not the rest of the world.

But according to "W. Smith", "traffic flows better...I catch green lights more often...and I get to work on time, even when I've left home late". All this, he says, from repeating the mantra, "Smooooooth". Think smooth, speak smooth. Before you start the car, say, "I am going to have a good drive in and a good day". Be grateful. If someone pisses you off, well, don't get pissed off. If someone cuts you off or otherwise drives like an incompetent fool, say a little blessing for them. If traffic starts to congest, just say, "smooth".

I decided to take his advice. I envisioned myself arriving on time. I envisioned myself smiling and no longer spewing streams of profanity at other drivers. In short, I envisioned a happier world.

I said a little prayer of thanks as I put the key in the ignition. I turned it. Nothing. Rattled it -- nothing. Apparently Positive Thinking does not apply to periodically faulty ignition switches.

But once I got on the road, I was Positive again. The man at the gas station was very friendly. Gas prices weren't so very high, and it wasn't too terribly cold as I fueled up. So far so good. I pulled back onto the road...right behind a woman in a pickup driving exactly 25 miles per hour. Here we go.

Twenty miles an hour under the speed limit on a winding two-lane road, and she brakes at every turn. Finally I find a place to pass her. It starts raining. Smooth. Smooooth.

I pull onto the highway...right behind a van going 40 miles an hour. Traffic is wizzing by in left lane, and I am unable to go around him. Car behind me, who has not been waiting patiently for a long time as I have, takes the only opportunity to merge left. That was my spot. Mine.
Smoooooth.

I finally merge left, and am forced to speed up to 80 to maintain the flow of traffic. Up ahead is a cop. I have to slow down, causing all the other drivers, who want to go 80, to tailgate me angrily. I turn into a construction zone. The roads are terrible and bumpy. Again I am forced to chose between driving 30, and driving 70. It keeps raining.
Smoooooooth.

I take mental stock of myself and I am not happy. Possitive Thinking has not made traffic any better. It has not made the other drivers any less of the (insert blessing here) that they are.

Then I begin to think of a verse. "A time to laugh, a time to cry".
"A time for sunshine", I think, looking at the dreary opaque sky, "and a time for rain".
A time for good days on the road, and a time for bad days. A time for balance between the left and right lanes, and a time for inbalance.
Positive Thinking is not always going to make the traffice any better. It certainly won't improve others' driving, or fix the potholes in the exit ramp. But I find that if I accept these things for what they are, and release a little of my attachment to that notion of "smooth driving", I can find a little happiness.