Do you ever really stop learning in life? I’m genuinely curious, because I really hope I’m the rule and not the exception in this regard. There’s the more typical methods of education and life experience, and or the one’s you explore on your own whether that’s through art hobbies nature etc. Or, for better and worse, learning from those that are opposite of you energy wise.

Take an experience last week while stuck in traffic; I had two passengers that continually make me think positively despite being negative individuals themselves. By no means are they bad people, but they’ve just never been able to see the positive in much… They also don’t embrace anything above even keel energy wise either, so that doesn’t help much.

Now let’s just call them P1 and P2, respective for passenger one and two. And in this article I’ll recount what went on and how I could only shake my head and smile; thanking the universe for once again reminding me of who I am at my core.

“Your entire existence right now, is my car and this traffic jam.”

When one minute became two, and three and four after that, and then double, the topic was still the traffic… And by topic, I mean the vulgar and negative griping about said traffic. Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t ready to get out and dance, for a few reasons, but it’s traffic; it sucks but happens sometimes.

But it’s all they could talk about, and consumed them and their entire beings. Sure, living in the present is important, and believe me I know I need to work on that better through focus and meditation. However that’s not how they were embracing the concept of living in the present, but using their presence to go below the energy line. It’s like they had no identities, no pasts or futures; just traffic, and negativity.

And this was only at the beginning.

“Wait, you’re actually getting out of the car? Yep, this is new.”

If you think you can’t be surprised in life, boy you should have been me when P1 got out of the passenger’s side and started yelling. Not one to exactly cross a line like that, this was new for sure. He didn’t go much beyond my door, but that he was going even that far was surprising.

Now yes, it’s one of those things you had to be there to understand it… And if you’re from a low traffic and or sparsely populated area, good for you, trust me! But because of the volume and people trying to make the light, when the light did turn they were stuck in the intersection, and we couldn’t move for a while. So it’s not exactly one person’s fault, and even if it is; again, it’s not the end of the world.

Well where P1 didn’t quite cotton to my logic, P2 and I were able to eventually get him back into my car. But I thought to myself, to be that incensed upset and or any other way to describe such negativity, was definitely a learning experience.

Great, Now I’m Getting Out!

While P1 was complaining with short outbursts and vulgarity, P2 was in the back displaying his negativity in a different way. From yelling like P1, he’s one to also keep giving suggestions from the backseat, while never actually wanting to drive his car instead. Don’t get me wrong, if one was viable sure, let’s take it, but none of them were. Not one thing he said would have saved any time and chances are, he wasn’t the only one thinking the same thing.

So because the energy was hitting a high negative wise, I needed a breather and got out myself, lazily leaning into my driver’s side door. While doing so I gestured around the road we were on and said; “Look around us, there’s traffic and cars as far as the eye can see. There’s nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait, so stop being a…” Okay, this is where I’ll trail off quote wise because as positive as I am; I’m still from Jersey and find it necessary to sometimes lace my language with let’s say, a blue sense to get my point across.

I essentially said if they both don’t stop, just take my keys and wait, as I’ll just walk to our destination. Now we’re talking traffic, so there wasn’t exactly fresh air and natural surroundings to enjoy, but it would have been far better then to spend more time with them. And thankfully that helped quell the situation a minute or so later.

In The End

Recently and on more than one occasion, regularly now actually, I’m being reminded by the universe how to focus on my internal positivity. And in talking with others about recent instances, I’m also learning that I’m becoming conscious in a new way. Now there’s no doubt I could write a lot on that, or maybe not yet as I’m still learning.

With the above example though, I didn’t experience any active negativity with what was going on, which was weird. Think about the physical and or mental stresses associated with what I’ve described, dealing with traffic in general and or highly negative individuals. But again, I wasn’t upset or agitated in the slightest; and if nothing else, felt a weird sense of calm in knowing how happy I was that I’m not like them… And sure, my creative and sarcastic rebuttals to their subpar energy was kind of enjoyable too.

But as these experiences teach positive lessons, even when they’re negative, I especially love how they reinforce my standard operating energy. They also help sayings like “keep calm and carry on,” have more meaning, even if they’ve become various and creative memes of sorts. And that quote is especially logical here because guess what happened? The traffic let up, and we got to our destination.

However, I didn’t lose a couple months off the end of my life from the stress, and was able to hopefully help others through this experience. P1 and P2 on the other hand? They kept carping about the traffic while I busied myself on my Android phone, organizing texts and updating apps… My second win for the night.

Matt Preston is the last of 5, uncle of 10, and lives in Jersey. A walking contradiction for any number of reasons, he strives to use his ample energy in a positive and artistic manner. Writing is one of his passions, body mind and soul wellness one of his goals, and belief in destiny his motivation. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook. 

Image courtesy of Matthew Henry.