carpool kids

50. How a Traffic Jam with the Carpool Kids Helped Me Find Peace

(This is a repost of an experience that happened to me in May of 2014)

I love to reflect on peace, when I feel it, etc.

I wrote in my journal about peace and said,

Peace

When I feel peace it is deep and still. It is calm. It is love. It is in my heart and mind. I love feeling it. 

I have peace while I meditate and throughout the day too. I have it when I am alone and still. I have it when I am interacting with my friends who honor my true self. I have it when I am serving others. I have it when I pray.

If stressful situations arise I can often find peace again as simply as taking some deep breaths and saying an affirmation reminding me of the Power of God. I call this Meditation in the Moment and teach about it in a free class on my website.

Except in the carpool line at school… though I try and try.

It is hard for me to find and keep peace. My boys tell me I am the only mom who yells and gets frustrated during carpool. It is mostly just the part of carpool when we are in the parking lot. I will know I have mastered myself when I can stay calm in the carpool line. I have been struggling with this for years!

Carpool Chaos Today

car pool

This morning we had a carpool mix up, where we ended up leaving late,

I was pretty calm.

I did have Carson (then age 14) turn on some calming music for me which helped.

Then we came to a traffic jam, which almost never happens because we travel on side roads. But there were 3 lights out on this main road and the traffic was STOPPED.

I started to get stressed, because we were already late. But then I stopped myself, acknowledged my feelings and told Carson to pull out the big guns, so he put on my favorite meditation songs.

Then I pondered on something else I learned in a class I was taking.

What if I was the only one on earth, it was just God and me?

Everything that happens, is to teach me something. 

(It was more than this, but the idea can help you change perspective.)

So I pondered on that. What if it is just God and I?

Why did he create this traffic jam for me?

I started to laugh out loud when I found the answer. He created this GIANT CARPOOL PARKING LOT at least a mile long!

What a wonderful opportunity for me to practice staying calm and finding peace.

Gratitude shifts everything!

So I said, “Thank you God!”

Then I shared with Carson what I had learned, thanked him for being my DJ, and I thanked the other kids in the carpool for being calm.

I even mentally thanked my carpool sister (the other mom) that I ended up driving for today so I could learn!

We had a great ride to school, though it took almost an hour instead of 25 minutes.

Another bonus was that the kids were not marked late because a LOT of people were late today.

Perspective is Power

Our perspective and the power of the words we use are great tools.

I feel blessed I had a great opportunity to put them to use today!

Please share a time when shifting your perspective or changing your words changed how you experienced something.

Meditation Resources

You can see a list of resources I like to share about meditation here.

Also you can sign up for my free email class below!