Being mindful whilst driving

[sunflowers894]

Ok - this is speech recognition working for me so please bear with me. Also I might not be able to reply until another day. Here goes.

Can you give me some tips on mindfulness whilst driving. I am all over the place when I drive. How should I do this? Can you give me some advice. It is the one area where I really struggle and any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

[Gareth]

Looks like the speech recognition is working just fine to me.

When you say you are "all over the place" when driving, what exactly do you mean?

I'm a bit of a music nut, so when I drive, I've usually got my tunes on. I've always found music to be a wonderful anchor. When the mind goes off, the music is always there to come back to. I find the radio a bit too random for mindfulness purposes.

[jdandre]

Mentally "all over the place?" Or, swerving in and out of lanes and traffic?

I'll assume the former, not the latter. The ultimate goal of most practices is to bring mindfulness to everything you do in your life. Mindfulness, as I'm sure you know, is being fully present and focused on the task at hand: if eating, eat; if working; work; if conversing; converse; if driving, drive.

When you sit and practice, you develop the skill of watching your mind without getting caught up in it. When you observe that your mind has wandered, you return to your point of focus (breath, mantra). Observe and return, over and over again. This cultivates the state of mindfulness you can bring to your "non-meditation" time.

Back to driving - you say it's the one area where you struggle. Why is that? What is different between the activity of "driving" vs. other activities where you feel you are mindful? Or, put another way, is there something specific about driving that makes it harder for you to be mindful?

I know you are asking for suggestions, but I feel that exploring the cause of your struggle may help you better deal with it.

Having said that, my biggest suggestion would be a post-it note strategically (and safely) placed where you can see it: on the dashboard, the control panel, the lower corner of your windshield. Just write "mindful" or "where's your mind at?" on it. If it's in your line of sight, you will have a constant trigger to observe where your mind is and return to the present and focus on your driving.

Be safe, and good luck!

[Gareth]

Great post, Jon.

[sunflowers894]

Thank you. Yes, John, I was mentally all over the place and was not able to see the wood for the trees. Whilst driving I am thinking of all sorts of things that pop into my mind as well as taking notice of those things around me and I struggle to clear my mind. You very carefully did some pruning for me and enabled me to see the wood. I tend to try and do what I shouldn’t be doing and try to take in everything that is happening! I will do as you suggest – remember to drive when driving and also use the “mindful” sticker so that I have a constant trigger to bring me back to just “driving”. Thank you for all your help guys. Much appreciated. I’m off for a drive – carefully and mindfully, hopefully

[jdandre]

Thanks for the feedback Gareth!

And to the opening poster, one last thing - don't get frustrated or judge yourself as you are trying to reverse your previous conditioning. That's just your mind trying to sneak in through another door (so to speak).

Remember, you've had this challenge while driving for a while. So, it will take a while to change it. Be patient and gentle with yourself, and that will actually allow change to come faster.

Observe and return, over and over. Take care!

[JonW]

jdandre ,
You are a huge asset to this site.
Thank you,
Jon

[sunflowers894]

Thank you so much. You are all amazing and do such a brilliant job giving support, help, guidance and more to others. I may be quiet but I find this site invaluable in relation to my practice.

[aly4519]

If this is helpful, this is what I focus on while driving.

The feeling of the steering wheel against my hands.

The feeling of my body against the seat.

The feeling of my foot against the pedals.

The noises that from the car and surrounding cars.

I found that trying to notice everything on the highway actually makes me feel stressed, because you're going at a certain speed and everything around you is moving so rapidly.

[FeeHutch]

If this is helpful, this is what I focus on while driving.

The feeling of the steering wheel against my hands.

The feeling of my body against the seat.

The feeling of my foot against the pedals.

The noises that from the car and surrounding cars.

I found that trying to notice everything on the highway actually makes me feel stressed, because you're going at a certain speed and everything around you is moving so rapidly.

This can be applied when you are a passenger too (well sort of, having your hands on the wheel and feet on the pedals could cause a problem!) I find it so easy to totally switch off during car journeys but try and use them where able to use them as a practice in mindfulness