Counting Green Lights

Dear Solitary Reader: I commute pretty close to 2 hours a day and I don’t like the process.

Some people, who count themselves wise or perhaps just read it on the side of a Starbucks cup,  say its not about the destination, its about the journey but to those people I say: bean curd! The whole point of driving is to get from point A to point B as safely and quickly as possible. It’s too bad not everyone can share my opinion.

I could go into a whole host of reasons why I don’t like driving (okay, its not that I don’t like driving its that I don’t like driving with other people on the road) but that’s not what this is about. The other day I had myself a realization.

I was on the way home from work and it was one of those days where I seemed to get every red light – even the ones that are pedestrian controlled that never turn red. I tried for the most part to let it slide of me, and was fairly successful, for I have come to the realization that I can rage against the machines in front of me and get home at 4:15, or I can take it easy, relax and listen to some music and get home at quarter after four. This is not the first such day that I have felt that all the lights were against me.

But the light changed  for me yesterday when I realized that its not that all the traffic lights in my path were red; its that I only noticed the red lights and ignored the green ones. I was taking the green lights for granted and the red lights as a personal affront. This is more than just a red light green light situation, this is a realization of my own view of the world.

Where, along life’s highway, did I become so bitter that I stopped looking for the good things and appreciating them for being in my life; have I become blind to all the green lights in other areas of my life? Simply, yes.

Many people have said it in many different ways: it all amounts for being grateful for the good things you have. And its not to say the bad stuff isn’t bad – because bad stuff happens and bad stuff sucks – but its about shifting my viewpoint just a little.

And so, for the first time this morning I counted green lights on the way to work, and you know what? I WAS RIGHT I GOT ALL THE RED LIGHTS!

Heh, just kidding. Seriously, I got at least 3 times more green lights than I got red. So if you’re going through a rough period and things are getting you down a) I hope you get through it but b) take a look around and count all the little green lights life has given you. It won’t solve the problems you have, but maybe it will make you feel better.

There, that’s my motivational speech for the day. Tony Robinson has nothing to be afraid of… well except looking in a mirror… man that dude is ugly… (red light)… but he IS rich (green light!).